What to look for on a snail?
 

I hope to have a snail drum in the very near future.One of the forum member has one for sale we agreed on $1300 as the delivered price,he has been nice enought to offer to drop it off on his way up north on vacation next month,i have never even held one before.he says the spring apears to be strong and no dents in housing,should i try hand loading a couple rounds or what?Thanks

Henry, do some searches on snail drum or trommel magazine and you can see a welath of knowledge about them on this site.

I have held them a couple of times, but don't have one either!

ed

Henry,
I have only held one snail drum that I knew was a repro. I seemed that the edges were sharp as though the thing was recently punched out on a press or cut. Make sure that the thing holds 32 rounds. Some political places will not allow magazines that hold over 8 or 10 rounds. So people may have altered a real one to only hold the legal amount. The same holds for repro snails. Aside from that, follow Ed's good advice. Your not the first one to ask this question. Your price of $1300 falls within the range for an original snail drums. I hope that you got a dust cover with it. Its a nice addition but would not change the price. Is your snail drum a type 1 or a type 2?

I always feel more comfortable with a type 1 snail drum. It may be just coincidence, but I got it in my head that all the repros seem to be type 2's. If the darn thing looks too good, then I also worry just as I do when I find a Luger with a bore that looks too good for the condition of the gun. Or a Luger with a worn out bore but minty blue and grips.

I could be wrong, but I think that TomH said that he was able to load about 25+ rounds by hand. I guess that that would depend upon how strong your fingers are. But I think that if you get 20 rounds or so in yours by hand then you can be pretty well assured that it will hold the full 32 rounds that it is supposed to hold using a loader.
Big Norm

Hello Norm
Its a type two and I belive it does not have a dust cover,Its for my son he s the one that has all the guns ,i am the one who has to work for the money.

Hello Henry,

There were two different manufacturers. The first is AEG / Berlin, recognizable by a hexagon - stamp on top of the lid.
The second is Bing / Neurenberg, they used a logo of a 'B' above a 'N', separated by a '-', you will find it both on top and on the bottom.

There are two types, as Norm said. The first has a handle in the form of a small tube, you can pull out a rod in order to load the spring. this type has a flat bottom, and only one cicular ring on top.
The second type has a 'fold - out' handle. Here, on the bottom you see two concentric rings as a reinforcement, on the top again just one, but broader and flat in the middle.

Take attention to the Serial Numbers. The # on top should match the # on the bottom.

Try to wind up the spring. Attention, you could hurt yourself if you let the handle slip of. At 360 degrees, you can lock the handle by pushing the button down into the locking slide.

To load the cardridges without the loading tool,
you need a solid old fashioned pencil, or a similar sized wooden rod. Use the flat down side of it to push the top-cardridge down (on the lowest side of the magazine-bar, in between of the lips) and put the next cardridge in untill you touch the pencil. Use the pencil again to push the cardridge nicely in its place, pushing on top of the bullet. Repeat untill you meet too much resistance.

I could load in this way 26 rounds (but now I have the loading device - happy me). Getting the rounds out of the drum is also quite an operation. You will need someone to hold the drum, while you push with the pencil on the top cardridge just to compensate the pressure, and with a second, small rod, you push the round forward. Attention, these rounds can be damaged, examine carefully before using in any pistol.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.

Thanks Joop
Looking foward to trying it out,thanks again

well here is my new old snail drum,have ordered a loader from Simpson for $495,Can anyone help me and explain the purpose of the items on the mag such as the small button attached to the mag follower,that protrudes from the side of the mag?

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Hello Henry
The small buttom serve the hold open at the end of firing when the trommel is empty just like the "normal" magazine with his lateral buttom.
Hope we understand each other
Regards Pat

Henry, The spring loaded "button" attached to the follower retains the follower in the tube when unloaded as well as activating the HO device in the luger. TH

I read another thread on how to clean it, but which screws do I remove? The small screw at the base of shaft of the mag, or the two big screws on the drum its self?

Henry see my post A look inside a drum mag
You remove the screw and nut at the base of the mag tube. Then the screw on the front of the drum.

I have a snail drum,ser#3316XX With dust cover.my ? is.how do I unwind the spring without takeing my knuckles off? it has been like this for forty yrs. anyone. wilber

If the loading lever is back and locked in the key slot simply rotate clockwise until the pin pops up. Then SLOWLY unwind it counter clockwise. I hope that there is no perminent damage due to it being wound for so long!