P.08 mag facts!

[G.T.]

Hi to all! Just finished up a repair that isn't necessarily uncommon, but seems so mainly because it is miss diagnosed more often that not! .. and that is, a seemingly excellent magazine that sticks or doesn't drop free when the mag release is depressed. I'm going to try and address that issue and break it down into two or three causes, and a couple of remidies to boot! First, we need to determine which component is stealing our thunder! Let's start with the magazine, and, also the mighty digital caliper.
First the magazine, from front to back should measure 1.100" plus or minus .003". It should be square and straight, as the number one cause of a tight mag is that it is loose in the seams? You can determine this by sighting down the rear flat spinde and look for an un-even twist. The good news is you might be able to insert one end of the mag shell slightly into the Luger and twist it back to straight. The bad news is, the magazine shell will never be tight in the seams again and as such cannot be used as a test item going forward. And the twist will re-occure for the future life of the mag. In other words, no good! Also, with the calipers, measure from front to back just below the feed lips. If this measuerment reads 1.105" or more, it will also stick slightly in the mag well, usually at the top, last .500" or so. Those are the most common problem with the mags, but, lets just say the mag is perfect, but still goes in tight, wont drop free, or sticks going in or out... Then we need to look toward the mag well and frame / grip area on the luger. The magazine well may look straight and square, but during manufacture and clamping and holding, the whole assembly can show deformation in select spots! They can be the web accross where the mainspring relief from rear grip strap to the rear spine area of the mag well, and also the upper end web where the mainsring butts up against at the top. You can determine of these areas are deformed simply by laying a small straight edge along the back of the mag well and see if it rocks? Where ever it does, it is a high spot and needs to be filed flat. A far less common area is the inside of the front grip strap. Sometimes they are slightly crushed from clamping or machining, and you need to take a plastic or wood dowel, wrap some diamond abrasive or a high quality 150WD around it and get to sanding the inside radius. For a test you can take a very straight mag and build/shim up the rear spine untill it measures approx. 1.120" and see if it fits snug but still moves. You 'll have to sand A LOT to make a little difference... Or, you can send it to me, and I'll get it done...
That's all for now,... good luck, best, til...lat'r.....GT

[tomaustin]

I am going to check all of mine....AND, with your great explanation, I am sure I will send ANY repairs to you......there is no way I would get all that correct.......

If they are fine tuned, should they be interchangeable between pistols....? or, send the weapon along with the magazine so you can set them up together...?

[G.T.]

Hi Tom, In theory, all mags should interchange with all Lugers! But, time, use and abuse has rendered a large portion of original mags, especially folded sheetmetal type, over the maximum tollerance for fit and function. At the same time, some, not all, of the Lugers may have been accepted at the minimum tollerance for the dimensions of the mag well? It becomes even more critical when trying to resize drum magazines to fit the majority of Lugers. For personal testing, you're going to need a few lugers, and a few magazines, because you'll find that the larger the test sample, the easier it is to define a problem? Over a testing period, you might be able to determine which lugers have tight tolerances, and which are quite loose. I used my magazine straightening tool/ mandrel, (it is precision ground to within .0005" top to bottom) with shims to determine what my existing Lugers had for dimensions, and then could use the same method, mandrel and shims, to measure, test, and determine trouble spots in problematic Lugers. It's weird, but you can hardly see or feel it, but once you find it and correct, it's like a 100% improvement.. So, you need accurate tools, to measure, and to modify and repair. I think this was a real issue on the assembly / manufacturing lines, as most all lugers show sings of broaching and filing in the mag wells? I can do the repair easily because I've aquired a feel for what has to happen, and where it needs to happen.. It's not hard, but you'll need to do a few before you are comfortable with the process... On the other hand, I have a byf frame on my test gun that has a square but minimal chamber dimension, and when I repair mags or drums, they need to fit that gun, or they're not correct and need more attention... You have to approch the repair carefully, as the objest is not to enlarge the whole mag well dimension, it is only to correct the abnormality that is impinging on the mag? Let me know what you'd like done, and I can certainly take care of it... best to you, best to all, til.....lat'r....GT...