Loose rails and accuracy

Ron Harding · 11-29-2019, 09:24 AM

Hi. New guy here.

I have a 1938 S/42 VoPo that I bought for occasional shooting. It was rebarreled with a new Canada-legal barrel (don't even get me started...)

Lugers have a reputation for being very accurate pistols. But... I'm having trouble. Shots go all over the place. I get much, much better accuracy from my CZ-75. I've been trying to figure out why. It's all matching-numbers, by the way, not a Franken-Luger.

One thing I've been wondering about: Lugers were supposedly made with very tight tolerances. But on mine, the barrel extension/receiver has noticeable play on the frame. It rattles a bit when shaken. And the act of pulling the trigger will actually shift the entire barrel slightly to the right, when the linkage presses on the trigger bar.

Is that typical?

If not, are there any recommended methods for tightening it up? I know that smiths sometimes accurize 1911s by compressing the slide rails in a vice to eliminate side play. It looks like that could be done on the Luger (but compressing the frame rails instead.)

11-29-2019, 09:24 AM	#1
Ron Harding New User Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 4 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Loose rails and accuracy Hi. New guy here. I have a 1938 S/42 VoPo that I bought for occasional shooting. It was rebarreled with a new Canada-legal barrel (don't even get me started...) Lugers have a reputation for being very accurate pistols. But... I'm having trouble. Shots go all over the place. I get much, much better accuracy from my CZ-75. I've been trying to figure out why. It's all matching-numbers, by the way, not a Franken-Luger. One thing I've been wondering about: Lugers were supposedly made with very tight tolerances. But on mine, the barrel extension/receiver has noticeable play on the frame. It rattles a bit when shaken. And the act of pulling the trigger will actually shift the entire barrel slightly to the right, when the linkage presses on the trigger bar. Is that typical? If not, are there any recommended methods for tightening it up? I know that smiths sometimes accurize 1911s by compressing the slide rails in a vice to eliminate side play. It looks like that could be done on the Luger (but compressing the frame rails instead.)