I just read this post, very funny, I can relate also. As a one time gunsmith my shop use to be in a cold basement, so in the winter I would sometimes migrate upstairs to the warmth.
At that time we had this very thick shag carpet. It is just amazing how small parts especially small nearly irreplaceable ones can get lost in a carpet. I never did lie to my customers however all I ever said was that â??the parts are difficult to find and that it would be a little longer than I originally told them to complete repairsâ?. That shag carpet is long gone but that very large magnet still comes in handy.
Please be extremely careful playing with your Lugers, if that extractor and ejector are not functioning perfectly your worst problem isnâ??t feeding itâ??s the ejection of the fired round. It may not show up for several rounds but a sticky extractor or bent ejector can rip the top off your breach blockâ??not a good thing.
If you go to a longer barrel, replace your springs with it. Your frame could get damaged otherwise because of the increased chamber pressures.
Always use the correct ammunition, +Pâ??s or even some regular ammunition with the wrong bullet weight can damage your guns in a very short time.
If your shooter is worn you may want to have over sized pins installed to tighten up your toggle action, all that free play is death to a luger shooting modern ammunition. Always verify head spacing after messing around with your toggle train and barrel.
I have seen people place a little synthetic grease on the ramps to help reduce damage as the toggle recoils.
Do not be tempted to make your toggle go back further to enhance feeding by filing away at the rear of the toggleâ??donâ??t laugh --I have seen this more than a few times. This may seem to be a good idea but extreme internal damage will result to the back of the frame.
Somewhere I read an article about placing padding on the back of the firing pin to help reduce damage, maybe one of the other collectors can explain it in more detail.
Be careful chambering live rounds with the gun disassembled; remember, lugers donâ??t need the trigger to be fired
Lugers are like old sewing machines, something else I use to do, keep them clean and properly lubricated, donâ??t try to do something they were not originally designed to do, and they will go on almost forever. Changing a partâ??changes everything, tread lightly.
One last thing, from experience, I can tell you, donâ??t fix something thatâ??s not broken.
Of course no one ever listens, why, because God knows that gunsmiths and parts salesmen need to make a living too.
Vern
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