[John Sabato]

Welcome to the Lugerforum.

I have not seen anything like this myself, and never heard that story about the hold-open being disliked. If that were the case, it would be a simple matter to remove the holdopen device and throw it away or simply store it, rather than modify it and leave it in place. No tools are required for removal of the holdopen.

I no longer have a copy of Datig's book, but I think I recall that the initial adoption of the Luger by the German army didn't include the holdopen simply as a cost savings measure, and then there combat officers realized how important it would be to realize you were out of ammo and quickly reload, than to save a few pfennig on leaving out the holdopen from the manufacturing specs and it was made a required feature... but I may be wrong. Maybe you could recheck what the book says about that?

Another possibility is that the magazine is worn or not a good fit with the holdopen. Try resting the butt on a hard surface like a table to make sure it is seated in the highest possible position and then work the toggle and see if the holdopen is functional. If it holds open the toggle it could be a work magazine latch or a worn mag catch hole in the magazine.