Hairy,
at first, when the Luger was first being invented, the toggle lock was put there to prevent the toggle from bouncing when the toggle closed after shooting. It was later decided that this was not necessary and no longer designed into the gun. I can not help you on replacements.
A little different movement is necessary to pull the toggle back on the 1900 Luger w/toggle lock than with a later year Lugers. More of a pull straight back than a 45 degree up and back. Maybe someone just broke it off because they thought it was a pain in the butt to do it differently than on later year Lugers. Maybe someone tried to force it and it just broke and someone decided not to bother fixing it. Lots of maybes, but it should be there for the gun to be historically correct.
Big Norm
|