I Give Up on the P08

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by postino

I am informed by the Sales Dept at Hornady that the 3556 FMJ-FP bullet in 100 count boxes has been discontinued -

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately our SKU#3556 9mm 124gr FMJ-FP Bullet in the 100 count box has been discontinued. We suggest that you might look for SKU#35567B 9mm 124gr FMJ-FP Bullet in the 2900 count box.

Thank you again.

Hornady Sales Team

Phone 1-800-338-3220

I am wondering if there is enough interest in a 'group buy' for the 2900 count box...

Item Number 35567B
Ballistic Coefficient (G1) .160
Sectional Density .141
Quantity 2,900/Case
Price: $360.33

That works out to roughly $12.50 for 100 bullets...

You can still find odd lots of the 3556 bullets on GB, but not with any regularity...And the big dealers show the 2900 box as Out Of Stock...

Postino:

Well, at least they didn't quit making them altogether, as this must be one of their all time best sellers, but the MBAs, you know, they know better, ha!!

I already have several thousand of these, as I would, typically, order by the 500 quantity box.

I don't know how much or how often you shoot, but I'd surely get them while you can, and in large quantities!!!

Here is a really great alternative for you. It's made by ZERO Bullets (a much smaller company):

ZERO 9 mm 125 grain Jacketed Hollow Point-Conical, #136

This bullet has a full one calliber bearing surface, and when loaded to a 28.8 mm O.A.L., in the 9mm Luger Pistol, fuctions perfectly!! This bullet also looks quite a bit like the original DWM TC bullet, nice.

They are not cheap, but they are less expensive than the Hornady line.

Try some, as they are also highly accurate and are still available in "normal" quantities.


Sieger

PS:

Here is a one holer load with the aforementioned bullet:

WW Commercial Brass
Remington 1 1/2 Primers
O.A.L. 28.8mm
Powder Charge 5.1 grains of Power Pistol

With this load, my byf 41 will shoot three shot groups, all to one hole, to point of aim at 25 yards, all day long (once 9 targets in a row). Enjoy!!

[RAY1946]

Mike; frustration is a bad apple! There are very talented and knowledgable guys on this forum who can probably straighten out your problems. Contact one or more of them and find someone to work out your problems and help you resolve these issues. Send them your gun and let them do their magic.

The Luger is a fantastic work of intrinsic mechanical wizardry that sometimes can baffle even the most knowledgable of us all. Keep the faith!..................................

[Michael Zeleny]

Originally Posted by RAY1946

Mike; frustration is a bad apple! There are very talented and knowledgable guys on this forum who can probably straighten out your problems. Contact one or more of them and find someone to work out your problems and help you resolve these issues. Send them your gun and let them do their magic.

The Luger is a fantastic work of intrinsic mechanical wizardry that sometimes can baffle even the most knowledgable of us all. Keep the faith!..................................

I appreciate the encouragement, but the feeding cycle in a properly fitted Luger is solely controlled by the springs, which I can swap out with the best of 'em. After a quarter century of experimentation, I'm concluding that some combination of chronic bad luck and individual shooting technique is standing in the way of my reliable operation of the standard P08. From now on, it's long barrels and/or 7.65 Para for me.

[rhuff]

Mike,

What does the feed ramp on the frame and barrel look like? Why I say that is I have an Alphabet luger that had me pulling my hair out trying to get it to function correctly. I changed springs, mags, mag springs, ammo, OAL and powder on the ammo.......no luck.

I tore the luger down and really gave it a close exam. I don't know if the machine tools that were used on my feed ramps(frame and bbl.) was old, or dull....perhaps both, but they left some serious horizontal tool marks in my feedramps. I used a wooden dowel and abrasive paper(increasing through the grits) and finally put a polish on them.....Viola!!! NOW it is happy, and so is it's owner.

I just throw this out there, if by per chance, it could be part/all of your problem. If not, then it is back to the drawing board.

[lugerholsterrepair]

Richard..Yes, You never know. A very close inspection is always first for me. Interesting observation and solution to your problem though!

I have to wonder about springs..I have a Luger that was rusted into a ball..had to be hammered apart. I took out the mainspring and 2 links fell off at a bad rust area. I didn't have any other so I re installed it. Gun is still in the white and shoots without fail.

I have another old beater..I use it for my leather bench fitting pistol. Shoots anything, never jams..a good old warhorse. Not much of a bore left though..

[SIGP2101]

Medium to slow speed burning powders will fix 80% of the problems. The rest is springs, OAL, magazine, ect..
Majority of today's HG ammo uses fast burning powder and that create problems in Lugers.

If you know someone who reload that you can ask to make you a batch in mentioned range to test. It will work with lead and FMJ equally well as long as right powder is utilized. Only then it is possible to trouble shoot P08 in case something else is out of spec.

[lugerholsterrepair]

I use red dot shotgun powder for re loading and new ammo I use Winchester White Box.

[rhuff]

I also use a lot of Red Dot powder especially in loading 30 Luger ammo. During the "quest for reliability" for this Luger, I tried powders from fast(Bullseye/Red Dot) to medium(Unique/Power Pistol) to slow(Blue Dot) and it wasn't happy with any of them. I varied the bullet profile and type, along with OAL. I also tried Fiocchi and Winchester factory in it with no success.

These old Lugers can really be a challenge, but once you find the "formula", all of the hard work and frustration is worth it......almost.

[alvin]

In memory, a new Interarms Mauser that I had in the past had a very strong magazine spring. The tool that coming with the gun was very useful in range to save my fingers. The gun performed very reliably. Later on, a few old Lugers passed though my hands, but none of them had strong magazine springs (due to their age?? at least, not strong comparing with new Interarms). The tool became a decoration item, no need to use it for loading. I did not shoot any of them so I don't know those old magazines works or not.

[Michael Zeleny]

The pistols at issue are mechanically immaculate, all-matching Krieghoffs and Mausers, including a brand new 1998 Mauser refurb by Frankonia. I'm planning to try the stronger spring kit with NATO ammo in my 1937 HK shooter.

[rhuff]

I look forward to your results. These handguns are such a challenge, perhaps because of age, ammo, springs, and who knows what else.