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w2ec · 07-22-2009, 03:19 PM

Got sidetracked away from my luger and on to a C-96 I picked up at a gunshow.

I did do a little more with my Luger. Put the original spring back in, neither Winchester or Fiocchi will function, fail to lock back or feed next round. Pulled some bullets from both Fiocchi and Winchester, dumped the powder and used my 5.5gr AA#5 load and reseated the 93gr bullets. Every round functioned perfectly. So I'm going to pull all the bullets (got a couple hundred Fiocchi and about 50 Winchester left). Time consuming, but at least I can make the ammo work. Even 6.0 gr of AA#5 wouldn't function the Wolff 36# spring, so it must be far stiffer than the original. Used the tape technique across the back with the original spring and it gives a good crease, but doesn't cut through, so it looks like it is OK to use the original spring without battering the rear of the frame. Later I'll try cutting the Wolff spring down a bit.

Off-topic, but maybe of interest, picked up a C-96, very little finish left, but barrel appears clean with nice rifling, a little dark but it doesn't appear to be shot out. 30 Mauser. Pistol was pretty cheap (especially for a C-96) so I expected to find problems. I was surprised to find all matching serial numbers, maybe that is not unusual with C-96's. It's an M-30 but doesn't have the three "made in germany" chinese characters stamped on it. Took it apart to inspect, no damage to bolt stop or frame where the bolt stop hits. Finally found what was wrong, although the owner said it shot fine. The firing pin was snapped in two where the narrow part of the firing pin meets the full width part, i.e. where the firing pin spring threads onto the firing pin. If he fired this gun, he was real lucky the pin didn't jam and go full auto on him! Or maybe he fired it and one day it just quit when the pin broke. Anyway, I have a new firing pin, spring, recoil spring and hammer spring on order. Everything else looked to be in near perfect shape, except for the finish of course. So now I have my first Luger and my first C-96. Both obtained just from browsing and at what I consider to be reasonable prices.

More on my luger loads when I get back to it.

07-22-2009, 03:19 PM	#17
w2ec User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Apalachin, NY Posts: 12 Thanks: 6 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Got sidetracked away from my luger and on to a C-96 I picked up at a gunshow. I did do a little more with my Luger. Put the original spring back in, neither Winchester or Fiocchi will function, fail to lock back or feed next round. Pulled some bullets from both Fiocchi and Winchester, dumped the powder and used my 5.5gr AA#5 load and reseated the 93gr bullets. Every round functioned perfectly. So I'm going to pull all the bullets (got a couple hundred Fiocchi and about 50 Winchester left). Time consuming, but at least I can make the ammo work. Even 6.0 gr of AA#5 wouldn't function the Wolff 36# spring, so it must be far stiffer than the original. Used the tape technique across the back with the original spring and it gives a good crease, but doesn't cut through, so it looks like it is OK to use the original spring without battering the rear of the frame. Later I'll try cutting the Wolff spring down a bit. Off-topic, but maybe of interest, picked up a C-96, very little finish left, but barrel appears clean with nice rifling, a little dark but it doesn't appear to be shot out. 30 Mauser. Pistol was pretty cheap (especially for a C-96) so I expected to find problems. I was surprised to find all matching serial numbers, maybe that is not unusual with C-96's. It's an M-30 but doesn't have the three "made in germany" chinese characters stamped on it. Took it apart to inspect, no damage to bolt stop or frame where the bolt stop hits. Finally found what was wrong, although the owner said it shot fine. The firing pin was snapped in two where the narrow part of the firing pin meets the full width part, i.e. where the firing pin spring threads onto the firing pin. If he fired this gun, he was real lucky the pin didn't jam and go full auto on him! Or maybe he fired it and one day it just quit when the pin broke. Anyway, I have a new firing pin, spring, recoil spring and hammer spring on order. Everything else looked to be in near perfect shape, except for the finish of course. So now I have my first Luger and my first C-96. Both obtained just from browsing and at what I consider to be reasonable prices. More on my luger loads when I get back to it.