[ithacaartist]

I did a few test rounds this evening. It chambers a round from either the mag that accompanied it or the flat-sided American Eagle mags from its stainless cousin. First single round fired with original mag did not operate the hold-open. Next tried a flat sided mag, which als0 chambered rounds OK. Every other round was a misfire-- a dent in the primer, but no bang. When I had it apart, the f.p. spring impressed me as a little wimpy--not as heavy a gauge wire used, and less resistance to compression. I came right in and changed to a new Wolff spring, but it's too dark to go back out. Next up, we'll see if it was light strikes to the Berdan primers, or bad ammo from SAMCO this time around. To be continued...

The grips are as they are, for now. If this ever develops serious collectibility, I don't want my grip work to detract from that. I am very tempted, however, to diddle with the grips of my other SS Luger to thin them down for a better feel, and extend the pattern all the way to the edges to improve their look (and quality), as well as try to dress some of the gun's wavy metal surfaces flat. The beauty of the latter is that there will be no need to reestablish the finish in the areas worked on--it has no finish! I also need to repair the million dollar chip on its left grip.