Am I the first to notice this??

[Scottrt]

My latest acquisition, a 1917 DMW Navy, is fussy about how you pull the toggle to charge it, and I think I discovered why.

For reference, let say that straight rearward on the toggle is zero degrees and straight up is 90 degrees.

To cycle the Navy's toggle I must pull at an angle no greater than 30 degrees. Any higher angle and the toggle jambs up tight after moving the breech face about 1/2 inch. What happens is the upper doesn't move far enough rearward to allow the toggle heel to rotate without binding on the rear of the grip frame. The more rearward pull angle helps get the entire upper back far enough to avoid this as the toggle heel rotates.

I have two other 1917 DWMs'.... a PO8 and LP08, and they aren't fussy.

Comparison showed that the effective length of the toggle drop link is shorter by almost 1/8th ... due to the S bends being more compact. It looks to be the original as is everything else. It is not a numbered part, so can not be sure.

So is this typical behavior with some of these guns, and I am just learning about the idiosyncrasies of individual Lugers?... or does this sound unlike anything you have personally encountered?

Just picked it up yesterday and will test fire it Saturday. I am sure it will run fine because the slide runs all the way back before the toggle folds when cycling.

Thoughts?

Scott