1993 Mitchell Luger

[jhgillette]

I just purchased a NIB 1993 Mitchell Luger. Its working great but I'm having one small problem, sometimes the toggle fails to stay open after the last round is fired. Has anyone had this problem or now what the solution?
Best Regards,
Jim

[alanint]

Part of it is the weak mag springs in the magazines Mitchell provided with its Lugers. Have you tried a vintage Luger or Mec-Gar magazine in the gun?

[chromeed]

Below is from an old post of mine but it seems that this gun is even more fussy about the magazine than a normal luger.
I also would like to fix this problem with not staying open on the last shot. One thing I have found it that it never happens when cycling DUMMY shells.
"I have the same SS Luger American Eagle made in 1993 I also had problems with feeding after the original Magazine had a broken plastic follower.
I tried several magazines and found that the magazine from my 1970,s Mauser Luger (Stiff Spring) jammed and my 2 cheep SS mag. single actioned The single action problem was fixed on the SS mags by changing the springs to a Wolf +10% SQR spring. At least in my case I think that the balance of the mag spring is important, too stiff and it jams too weak and it single actions. I still have a problem on the last shot, sometimes the action does not stay open"

[jhgillette]

Thanks for the information. I have purchased a second mag but I believe its a Mitchell and it seems to have the same problem but not as bad. I will look into changing mag springs and see how that goes. Thanks for the information

[alanint]

Contact GT, (Gerald Tomic) here on the Site to rework your magazines for optimal performance!!

[chromeed]

One thing I should tell you is that Stainless against Stainless galls and you may see a lot of ware on the Toggle pin and where the parts rub against each other. I add a small amount of Lubraplate a "Molybdenum grease" to all of these arias after cleaning also on my Springfield SS 1911 even though the Springfield is made of a much berrer grade of SS.

[jhgillette]

Thanks a again, just looked up Lubraplate grease and there is a lot to choose from. Which specific do you use?

[chromeed]

LUBRIPLATE 130-A
It is a Black and Silver can that i got at Ace Hardware

[padredan]

This is an american eagle ss i owned several years ago. it never functioned well and had the same problems yours did. I parted company with it , it just seemed too problamatic to hang on to. It was made in houston texas and looked pretty nice but i was not very happy with it. Not sure if this one was made by mitchell or not or american eagle was a different company.hope yours works out for you. Very nice looking pistol you have.Looking back now,perhpas i should have kept it and tried to work with it a bit more and made a good shooter out of it, oh well i could fill a very large room with the guns i might should have kept over the years.

[jhgillette]

Yea, there beautiful. I guess you never solved the toggle locking back problem. I'm determined to get it to work, mine shoots greats, very accurate just that minor problem..

[chromeed]

J just received 2 new Magazines that are the original to my gun, I found them on Gunbroker for $25.00 ea. (Picture below with my SS Luger)
Next week I plan to take them to the range and see if they make a difference with the toggle lock back problem.
I will let you know what I find.

[John Sabato]

Historical note:

ALL of the stainless steel Lugers were made by the same company... some under contract to others, and some under the various names the manufacturer sold the pistols under.

The names include: SPM, Orimar, Mitchell, Stoeger, and AIMCO. All from Houston and all from the same manufacturer...

[padredan]

thanks john, looking at a close up of some of the pictures i took of it, it was marked spm, houston texas, another thing i remebered about it the upper right grip had been epoxied to the frame, another thing i thought wasn't just right, but i only paid 350.00 for it at the time and sold it for 450.00 to someone who only wanted it for the looks and not to shoot, so everyone was happy.

[chromeed]

Well I tried out the new American eagle magazines; they worked great except for not staying open on the last shot.
Of the 5 magazines 3 American eagle and two cheap SS ones with wood bottoms that I bought from Sportsman’s Whse. for $14, 00 and changed out the springs to Wolf only one of the cheap SS ones kept the toggle opened on the last shot. ( That magazine had a loose follower button that I noticed when I began to fill it for the fourth time.
This gives me a clue. Maybe whatever the follower button hits on the last shot is out of whack.

Can some of the Experts tell me what the mechanism is to hold open and what part is out of whack?

[ithacaartist]

Jim,
Presuming the he holdopen in the 08/90 (Sorry, I have yet to examine a Mitchell in person!) is the same as the original German, it is a little jigger that rests in a groove for it, inside the top right of the frame, parallel to the mag well's top opening.. Take off the top end of your Luger and observe from above what happens when an empty mag is inserted. Watch as the follower button contacts the bottom of the holdopen itself, and pivots it up. At the rear end of the holdopen part is a wedge shaped mass that is positioned by the offset in the holdopen piece to rise and fall in line with the path the breech block's bottom takes during cycling, as influenced by the follower button. Try moving the piece with your finger (no mag inserted) to see if it moves very freely, as it should. Make sure the holdopen's back end is able to rise to its fullest potential, presenting the most it can of its rising wedge to be exposed at the top of the frame, sticking up into the area where the breech block flies back and forward.
The pivot for the part may be sticky, one end or the other may be damaged or broken, or the thing may be bent. A weak mag spring may be only occasionally effective at its job in this system, as stated above; but you may have ruled out that aspect with your spring changes.
Google up Gerard Henrotin's "Luger Function", buy the e-book for the best $7.95 you may ever spend, when it comes to understanding how the "Luger System" works.

David Parker

[chromeed]

David,
Thank You I purchased the E-Book it is great.
I did as you suggested as well as comparing the SS Luger to my 1936 P-08 and I found two things:
#1. The rear tip of the Hold Open Lever is warn and rounded over slightly where it contacts the indent on the underside of the Breechblock.
#2 The SS Luger Magazine does not push the Hold Open Lever as high as my 1936 model.
It looks like the Hold open lever is of the same design on both guns except one is Stainless Steel.
I have attached 3 pictures, #1 the SS Luger, #2 My 1936 P-08 and #3 the two guns side by side.

[jhgillette]

Hello
I found the same situation on my Mitchell SS (not very sharp edge) and made some adjustments with some improvements with one mag I had until the area became fouled during use. I'm going to try to work on it a bit more and experiment with some mags with a larger side button, these seem to push that lever a bit higher. The stronger springs seem so far to jam the action. I'm considering purchasing another mag catch lever and seeing if that makes a possible difference. I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

[chromeed]

I did a little looking thinking I might consider changing the hold open latch and spring.
I found only one for sale.
It is on E-bay with 7 bids amd 3days left and already at $85.00.
I think I can live with keeping count to the last shot as everything else seems to work fine with the4 SS Luger.

[jhgillette]

I'm going to file mine sharp again and try some more mags and see how that goes. Mine works great minus that also but I'm just a bad count when shooting

[chromeed]

Jim,
Is your lever as worn over as mine?
Let me know how your fix works?
I guess it would not hurt to file it sharp as it can't hurt the other parts of the gun.
Ed