Broken Parts Survey--Finished!

[ithacaartist]

Hi Glenn,

In his e-book about the mechanical ins and outs of the Luger system, Gerard Henrotin has included a section with photos, illustrations, and explanation/description of areas within a Luger that show wear from use and/or abuse. This is an opportunity for us to do a case-study to check out these areas, if you have the time to take more pics.

Unfortunately since I haven't renewed the passwords necessary to access it on my new computer, so I cannot suggest these areas except from memory and what I do actually know.

The firing pin guide, when jammed back into the action, I'm pretty sure hammers the portion of the rear toggle link that presents itself when in the upright, over-extended position, so we're looking for details of where they've touched. There is also interaction with the little ears inside the rear of the frame, between the main "ears" of the barrel extension. And, as Eric pointed out not too long ago, check the peening action on the rear of the frame where the ducktail stop hammers it when the action is all the way back, and beyond. He cleverly dubbed them a Luger's fingerprint (as no two are exactly alike?) Maybe some sign of interaction between the receiver lug and its stop? That's all I can come up with for the moment, but you get the idea?

An overpowered load hyper-energizes the action, giving it more mechanical energy than it was designed to deal with. A weak mainspring's effect would be similar, in that it allows hyper-extension to take place using the energy of a proper load; The same parts will collide in the action as using too strong a cartridge. When the mechanism reaches all its stops and extremes, and there is still mechanical energy left, well, that all gets invested into doing damage. Just a question of time before something gives out.

The fresh mainspring rule I think may be the number one procedure to protect a Luger during shooting. Lack of lube, it would have stoppages or something, but not have the gun be beating itself with every shot.

I have a few Erma La, Ep, Et .22s. When digesting a mag of CCI Stingers, they are more than likely than not to break both ears from the front toggle link, and peen the legs of the rear toggle link with the rear of the breech block. I had to replace the toggle, and filed the sides of the legs flush again, never to use a load of greater than about 1200-1235 fps. No breakage since that rule was established.