Magazine Fit Question

[Dwight Gruber]

Does anybody have any idea about how much vertical play (slop?) there whould be when the magazine is inserted into a Luger? Should there be any? How does one go about adjusting it?


I have three guns, and four magazines. Each gun has a different amount of vertical magazine play, and different reliability in chambering rounds. My 1900 A.E. will usually chamber, my S/42 "G" is really reliable, but my 1920 Commercial (the one with the most play) almost never chambers--its like the magazine doesn't ride high enough for the breechblock to engage a shell. The magazine catch in this gun was worn (and filed, I think) so I replaced it, but the problem persists. Right now it is a -fiendishly- accurate .30 single-shot!


In addition, I have come to question Luger magazine interchangability. The old-style magazine (the only one I am sure is an original) only fits in the 1900, it jams in the other two guns when it goes higher than the grip cut-out. Two of the other magazines jam in the same place in the 1900 (very counter-intuitive, that). One of the other magazines isn't interchangable between the other two guns (and one doesn't feed for beans). The only magazine I have which fits all three guns is a Mec-Gar, made in Italy, which I picked up at a gun show in January (needless to say, I'm in the market for more of those!)


I really hope someone has an answer about the vertical slop thing--I'd really like to be able to shoot the .30 Commercial!


--Dwight