Reasoning for cut out on frame

[skeeter4206]

I was cleaning my lugers today and noticed a cut out on the frame of one of my lugers that is different than any of my others.

The cut out is on a police luger that does have the safety on the sear bar that most police lugers have. I'm curious if the cut out in question has been done this way for the purpose of a magazine safety that was never completely installed.

Frame with cut out:


Frame without cut out:

[Ron Wood]

I can think of no reason for that modification other than a former owner had the gun and a rare cartridge counter magazine. The slot had to be cut out to accommodate the magazine cartridge indicator stud and allow the magazine follower to advance all the way to the top. That is a neat fantasy but the reality is that the slot is in the wrong position, so I have no idea what it is for.

[skeeter4206]

The luger with the slot cut in it is from the Hessian Police luger H.P. 54. This gun is mentioned in Edward Tinkers Police lugers book on pages 60 - 61. This gun has had several portions of the gun changed out as it went through an armory for repairs. So maybe it was damaged from something and they had to cut the slot in the frame for some reason to get it working again.

[Edward Tinker]

Could be? I never noticed it, duh....

I have had lugers that were very tight or would not work with regular mags, so maybe this frame was super tight?

[Dwight Gruber]

I never noticed it when I owned H.P.54., either. And for the record, "Police Lugers" is written by Ed Tinker and Dwight Gruber.

--Dwight

[skeeter4206]

My bad Dwight! Didn't mean to leave you out. Maybe I'll go through all my magazines and just see if some fit better than others and see if that's what it is.

So apparently this is not a common thing when dealing with the magazine safety. I see that ones that do have magazine safeties have a spot machine out in the frame just behind the trigger, but not in this location. I'll have to give it a better look over and see what else I see that may give a clue as why it was done.

I figured either Ed or Dwight may have an idea as why.

I'll get back with everyone on what else I see that may give us a clue

[skeeter4206]

After taking the grips off and inserting (6) different magazines, it was obvious that the slot was cut into the frame due to magazine fit-up. only (2) of my magazines fit good without any rubbing on the frame. The other (4) fit really tight and to get the magazine out of the gun I had to pull on the bottom of the magazine.

Upon further inspection of the interior of the grip portion of the frame, you can tell someone at some point in time had been doing some grinding on the inside of the grip. The magazines that fit really tight also showed that it was rubbing gainst the frame about halfway up the grip. And looking at the frame where it rubs it looks like it has a very slight bend in it causing it to rub.

Its obvious someone has done some repair work on the grip portion of the frame. Which this gun has been through arsenals sometime back in the 30's. So who knows what this luger has been through back then. If it could only talk.

[ithacaartist]

Nice detective work, Glenn. The last and third to last pics really tell the story!

[Don M]

Has the frame been damaged in any way that could have required this "jury rigging?"