done lurking
 

I've been lurking for awhile. I have a 6 inch mixmaster. 41 is stamped over the barrel & 42 on the toggle. Old reblue that is just starting to turn plum on the right side below the toggle. I bought it at the Portland gunshow a number of years ago for $450 as a shooter. Right now I'm trying to get it to shoot more than once without a stovepipe type of jam. Any ideas as to where to start?

springs......ejector..........extractor. That is what I would check first. What ammo are you shooting? Is the main spring strong, is the magazine spring strong?

John,

Aside from the barrel, are the serial numbers matching? According to Still ("Third Reich Lugers") there were only about 7,000 chamber-date 41, code 42 Lugers manufactured. You may have a more respectable Luger than you know.

--Dwight

thanks for replys. The springs have been replace with a Wolfs set. the original extractor had a chip on one side & its been replased. Managed to break the ejector & replaced it. Don't have any factory mags but do have a Macgar. Polished the chamber. What really causes me to pause, is the ejected brass has a pie shaped scratch or gouge on the mouth.

John,

Can you post a picture of the marked case mouth?

--Dwight

great minds think alike. Now if I can figure out my sons web cam I'll post a picture of a case mouth.

Mag lips might be spread in front. Give them a hug and try again.

Checked on serial numbers & found 4 differant ones. yep mix master. will check out the mag feed lips. I do have a picture now I need to figure out how to get it here. Thanks.

Hi John,

That pie shape is also present on ejected cases of my VoPo. It has a DWM-frame/toggle with a 1936 Mauser receiver and headspace between toggle and chamber is a bit wide.

It does however extract S&B factory ammo well, but sometimes the extractor slips over the case rim.

John, the photo posting tutorial in the top entry in the Site Help & Feedback forum...

Welcome to the Lugerforum.

Ok I'll give this a try. http://forums.lugerforum.com/lfupload/picture_2.jpg
After much thinking & shade tree monkey wrenching I figured out the the gouge is at about 10:00 with the extractor at 12:00. My thinking is that the ejector is throwing the brass to the left side of the frame & scrapping an edge.

John,

The marks on your brass looked somehow familiar, I picked up a couple of cases sitting on my desk and, sure enough, they exhibited the same marks. I shoot three or four different Lugers, and I didn't know for sure which gun the cases came from but I had a suspicion.

So I went to the range this evening, and did some experimenting. I shot a 1917 LP-08, a 1936 S/42 (my regular shooting gun) and my 5" custom Luger. The LP-08 ejected perfect cases; the S/42 seemed to have just the hint of a marking, but only sometimes; and the custom gun produced severe marks as you show above, every shot. As I suspected.

I marked a couple of cases, and inserted them single-shot into the chamber, mark at the extractor, and shot them. The case-mouth gouges appeared 90-degrees anti-clockwise from the extractor, that is, directly opposite the ejector.

Here's the experiment I performed upon returning home--try it yourself, you will see exactly what is going on.

Dismount the receiver group from the frame, insert an -empty- cartridge case into the chamber, and close the breech. Pull the toggle back very slowly. As the base of the cartridge case contacts the ejector, you will see it rotate--yaw--to the left. You should see it actually move into the barrel extension cut for the breechblock slide. Continue to pull the toggle back, and the ejector will push the case out of the breechblock face and it will fall out the bottom of the of the receiver.

Now put the pistol back together, insert the empty case into the chamber again, and close the breech. Put another -empty- case into a magazine, insert the magazine into the gun, and make the experiment again. You will find, this time, that the presence of the next shell in the magazine (or perhaps the magazine follower itself, after the last shot) is what actually pushes the spent shell upward.

If the upward motion occurs before the case mouth clears the receiver cut, the case will contact the inside of the receiver rail and this scrape will occur.

--Dwight

John, didnt see where you said you replaced the magazine spring. Is it strong. Are all the cases ejecting okay other than being marked? Is the hold open locking open each time? If the case scraping is taking up much of the energy the receiver may not be going back far enough. If you have a weak magazine spring, you will almost always have feed jams,

Dwight-I did the same experiment as you(great minds do think alike.lol) I ran my fingernail along the left side rails & found some very sharp edges. Which now explains how the spent case had a burr on them. I polished the sharpness off.
Thor-no I haven't replaced the mag springs. That will be my next move.
Thanks all