Magazine seating adjustment

[BILL]

I am sure that we have all noticed magazines that seem to want to display not just the magazine bottom but a small horizontal strip of the magazine. It is as if the magazine catch just doesn't hold it tight enough up inside of the grip. Looking through even the best photos in many different books there is always that magazine that seems to push back down just enough to attract attention to itself. What is up with that? Does anyone know a good, sound, non-destructive way to correct this condition? I have also noticed that the same clip might fit tight up inside of a different pistol. Any hints as to what causes this or can be done about it?

[G.T.]

Hi Bill! I'm afraid that may be the nature of the beast....Two factors seem to have a big affect on how the clip fits into the gun on P.08's.....the first, it seems that all luger clips were made of a low grade or soft steel, this may have been an attempt to keep cost down, or more likely, it was easier to form and machine....at any rate it was softer then the mag. catch that located it in the gun! This may be by design as the clip takes considerable and continued pounding through the complete firing cycle of the weapon.....So...it's either the clip or the catch, take your pick! you can see the upset metal in the locating notch on almost all luger clips that have seen any time at all on the range....the second factor that may have a bearing on clip location, is the overall clip length itself....this could vary a bit, but I think most likely the extra tolerance was designed in to make sure the clip could be inserted past the catch so that positive lock was a certainty....Just a G.T. view! till...later....G.T.

[BILL]

Thanks, G.T. I also think it is wear on the magazines sheet metal cutout. I was just wondering if anyone over the years had come up with any kind of 'gimmick' to correct the situation. It appears that material would have to be added to the notch that accepts the catch but I know that would be more than anyone would really want to do (well, almost anyone).

[Luke]

I sure don't have a solution for this problem, but I do notice it in one of my Lugers. The magazine inserts and properly seats with a solid click, but it then slips back down about 1 to 2 mm, leaving a clear trace of metal just above the wood base.


While it does not seem to affect the functionality of the magazine, it does detract from the appearance of the pistol.


Hope someone has a good, clean solution which would not degrade the collectability of the pistol.

I was instructed at about age 12 to depress the catch when sliding the mag home and then release it when the mag was in place. I will admit that I don't do this when shooting (seating a loaded mag), but it is another one of those curteous little tricks that cuts down on wear. I think that the fitting of the mag cut out to the catch was the main reason the mags were provided the whole serial number. My wood bottom and type 1 mags are somewhat particular about which pistol the will fit well in, however it seems to me that the extruded mags will fit into any Luger I try them in.

[Marvin]

Luke,


When the magazine is inserted into the pistol (and empty) it will be pressed on from the holdopen and force the magazine down as you describe. If you remove the holdopen on an empty magazine, the magazines will tend to stay in the up position better. With wear and tolerance differences on the latch notch in the magazine, the overall length tolerance, and the holdopen pressing down on the magazines, they will drop down and appear like it is not seated completely. As far as I know, ther is nothing that can done about this in a low cost manner

[Luke]

Removing the grips and observing closely the parts during insertion of the magazine, I noted that the MAGAZINE FOLLOWER BUTTON was pressed against the upper part of the frame when the magazine was (EMPTY and)fully inserted. The force of the magazine spring was sufficient to push the magazine back down about 1 mm after it was seated, exposing the metal above the wood base.


Don't know if it will work for others, but I found that simply placing one dummy 9mm round in the magazine forces the follower button further down, away from the frame, and the friction of the magazine against the frame holds it in place nicely. Of course, you can still grab the wood base and pull it out about 1 mm without releasing it; but, for all practical purposes, this solves the problem for me without altering the Luger in any way.


BTW I found that Brownells carries dummy 9mm rounds.

[Marvin]

Luke,


This is good information, I had never noticed the followe button interference. I will watch for that from now on. Thanks for the info.


Marvin