Frankenstein Luger

[HerrKaiser]

I am not of much help to many of the other parts questions, but I can help you with the sight. The Germans had their sights set on the artillery Lugers to be adjustable all the way to 800m. This was obviously a very optimistic sight picture, but still. Anyway. They were so precise that their sight’s adjustments accounted for the spin drift of the bullet as it left the pistol/carbine and travelled the distance (at best an artillery Luger with a stock provided harassing fire at 200m-250m) As such, the sights drift visibly to the left as the user increases sight range.

[DonVoigt]

Yes , take the pivot pin out so you can get to the screw. The rear sight leaf is installed at an angle and moves to the side when elevated, so maybe it just "looks" crooked.

You probably need a stronger mag spring now. Maybe even you have to "weaken" the new hold open spring by thinning it, or bend it up just a tad.

[Lugerdoc]

Burnt, Please be aware the it is normal for the LPO8 rear sight appature to swing out to the left as the sight is elevated. Also these repro sights do not come with the flat spring that pushes up the numbered part. I can supply that spring separately @$25. TH

[Burnt-Offering]

The hold open mechanism seems to be working much better now. I did do a bit of bending on the spring, but now when I pull the action open on an empty mag it holds. It still seems a bit touchy but it's an improvement from the first night so I'll take it. As for punching out the sight pin and tightening the center screw, I'll tackle that tomorrow after work. This weekend, (either saturday or sunday, maybe both) I'll hit up the range and try it out with live rounds. Any advice is always appreciated, but either way I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks.

[Burnt-Offering]

Alright. Happy father's day Luger forum! Yesterday I went to the range and did some shooting. My Luger definitely still has some issues.

First of all the hold open mech, it was not reliable to hold the action up after the last round. (That chamber indicator is a nice feature that came in very handy here BTW) The MecGar mag works better in this regard than my refurbished mag, but even so this new hold open spring might need some more adjustments.

Speaking of the magazine, this rebuilt mag also has some issues... first of all the spring, it's a Mecgar spring but it doesn't feel as strong as on my MecGar mag. (I'm thinking I should order another MecGar mag BTW) Also I wasn't able to put as many rounds in this mag as I can in the MecGar, and the spring has some issues... several times it bunched up and I had to stick the tool in the side slot to correct it. The Mecgar mag has a cylinder piece under the follower to keep the spring in line, I don't have one of those on this rebuild mag and from the diagrams I've seen the original mag springs were more square shaped to prevent bunching.

Next issue was the rear sight. I was actually getting some good accuracy with it at25 yards, but unfortunately I guess I didn't tighten the centering screw enough and the rear sight worked itself off the barrel. I did punch the pin out to take the top part off the rear sight Friday night, in order to tighten that little screw. Unfortunately I didn't tighten it enough, I didn't have a sharp enough screw driver so I used a razor blade... I suppose this time I'll have to grind the tip of a screw driver to sharpen it enough to work that lil screw and maybe even use some lock tight?

So anyway here's a few pictures from my range day. I don't feel too bad about my Luger issues because it still preformed better than that mean looking .45 I got there. It was my first shots with this 1911, I bought it because I wanted another pistol to shoot, to save wear on the Luger... (and also because since I was a kid I've always wanted a 45 auto.) First 300 rounds with it and its last round hold open failed more times than it worked, even a couple of times it suffered failure to feed! So considering all that, I don't feel too bad about my "Luger issues" -though I still intend to resolve them.

Also there is a picture here of my two magazines fully loaded. As you can see in my refurbished one the spring is bunching up a bit when it's loaded up. It needs that cylindrical bit to keep it lined up.

[DonVoigt]

You definitely need a new spring in the aluminum base mag; that one is just not right- may even be the wrong spring entirely. One can make an upper spring guide from a 9mm case.

It does sound like your hold open spring is still a little strong.

I believe you may need a new recoil spring in your 1911 also; and the mag springs may be weak too, causing the hold open malfunction.

Keep up the good posts.

[Burnt-Offering]

Alright folks, time for another update on my Luger progress. Before I start I want to thank Don V for his kind comment and your idea of using a spent shell for the spring guide in the mag is brilliant. Thankyou! I will definitely try that out.

This week was fairly uneventful, bit I did get around to doing my little job on the arty sight. I had to modify some tools and unfortunately I couldn't find a small enough punch to do the pin for the top part. Last time I just ground down a nail, but this time around that nail was bending so I had to make another one. I didn't have a screw driver fine enough to reef that lil centering screw for the sight... So what I did was take a file to my smallest flat head screw driver and then rub it down until it was sharp enough to engage that little screw.

So I got the sight done. I opted not to use loctite bit I reefed on that screw and am confident that it is in there tight.

So today (Sunday) I did my chores around the house and then hit the range. I have good news and bad news. I did less shooting this time and it was a shorter session, bit I was much more accurate.

So okay, first the good news. I've been practicing. Last time my pistol shooting game was pretty embarrassing. An RSO was hanging around last time, watching over my shoulder and he gave me some advice. He told me to practice dry firing at home, so this week I did that, and today at the range my pistol game is noticeably improved.

Right out of the box, I am getting tighter groups around the bullseye, hitting closer than I ever have before. So that's good. Again, I'm using the Luger and then the 45acp. The Luger is still the most accurate of the two. But I am much happier with the 45's performance this time around. (This was the gun I was doing all my practice on.)

The hold open issue seems to be getting better with the Luger too. (Maybe that tight hold open spring is wearing in?) The first go with the refurbish mag and it surprised me by working the hold open after the last shot. That was the only time it did that and I didn't expect that. but still pleasantly surprised as I had not yet taken this mag apart or did anything to it.

Now for the bad news. As I'm shooting the Luger, and at first I am getting nice groups around the bullseye, I start to notice the sight adjustment dealy is drifting up. As I shoot it's raising the sight. Easy enough fix, I just put some tape behind the adjuster and it holds. Next thing I know I see my mix axle retaining pin drop in front of me right after a shot. !!! Good thing I was doing my accuracy tests and shooting from the rest, if I was standing I might've missed this and and lost the little pin. And sure enough once that happens guess what's next? My toggle axle walks out and the action is done. (I can imagine my German ancestors would be in deep doo doo of this had happened in the trenches!) At this point I decided to pack up the Luger, and luckily I didn't lose any parts so it's all still there. I finished the range practice with the 45, and though I like this gun, it is just not as smooth shooting nor as accurate as the hundred year old Luger.

So there you have it guys. I'm not all together upset despite the fall apart end, because I still have it all together and I hit levels of accuracy that I hadn't seen before (with either gun.)

If any of you have any advice on this mid axle retaining pin, I'd like to hear it. Should I just tap it back in? Should I use some kind of goop like glue or loctite? Was I supposed to bend the end or peen it somehow?

[DonVoigt]

Burnt,
thanks for the mention, but I cannot take credit for the idea. I had a mag once set up like that, and I think they are even mentioned in a book.

You must be talking about the very small pin and the front large pin of the toggle? The "axle" is the large pin at the back of the toggle.

The small pin is an odd size and someone probably replaced the original with a too small substitute. You can make that pin from a #16 or is it #17 wire brad, but I would still use loctite on it.

If the pin you had is a snug fit, you can put it in again and add a little loctite; I have also put them on the flat of my vise and tapped it with a hammer to flatten one end slightly and enlarge it, so that can help. Install with the "little" end down, the wider flattened end will help to tighten up in the top of the hole.

Folks that sell these get a premium for an original- they are hard to find; for a shooter, I'd make one and use loctite as noted above.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the detailed post.