1900 - Old Model Parabellum- no. 7717 American Eagle 7,65mm

[DonVoigt]

New to me, and fresh from Morphy's auction.

I've been wanting a shootable 1900 for a while, so when I saw this one it seemed to fill the bill. Already finish restored, matching, but with an 1906 breech block- so the collectability was already gone.

Cheap enough too, put a single bid on it- not really expecting to buy it but - boom- hammer price $800.

Received it yesterday and took her down and studied the differences between the Old Model and the 08.

First thing to be noticed is the fit- incredible and smooth, even after it was left to rust(external) and re-finished. Who ever did the rust bluing did a nice job, but did not polish the exposed safety arm or the cut out on the frame showing the polished "safe" area. Straw was nicely re-done and the lines maintained pretty well in spite of what must have been ugly and extensive pitting.

Must have been a problem with the breech block or extractor- as the original was replaced with a modified '06/'08 type- though the original mid link and striker were kept. Neither was the barrel or receiver cut for the new type extractor, but the extractor was rebated to fit the original barrel.

Pistol is matching except for the breech block as noted above, and the breech block has no number- and is stamped "Germany". Bore is a little "frosty" in the grooves.

The mainspring is the leaf type and has been replaced some time, as the original two leaves of 0.75mm are now two leaves of 0.91 thickness.

Grips are numbered walnut and fit better than any set I've seen or owned.

No Germany on the front of the frame or else where(except breech block as noted above), but no German proofs. The pistol has the small "flaming bomb" DWM inspection marking in the TD lever well and on the bottom of the chamber. "17" is marked on the bottom of the receiver stop lug.

All in all a great looking piece; I can't wait to get it to the range to shoot it.

Enjoy the pictures and I'll report on firing next week!

[mrerick]

The modified extractor is interesting. in particular the profile.

Whomever did this work must have been rather skilled. The Swiss redesigned this part also...

Marc

[rhuff]

Hopefully it will be a good shooter for you. The photos show it to be a nice looking piece, after the re-do.

[kurusu]

Good looking piece.

Waiting for the shooting report.

[ithacaartist]

I had my eye on this one. too. I "need" a 1900 AE to go with the straight 1900 commercial I found last year. The other M1900 that was in this same auction wasn't refinished and was a lot rougher looking, but I would have bid on it if I'd had the funds. Some other interesting Luger shooters were also sold, for less than I expected.

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by ithacaartist

I had my eye on this one. too. I "need" a 1900 AE to go with the straight 1900 commercial I found last year. The other M1900 that was in this same auction wasn't refinished and was a lot rougher looking, but I would have bid on it if I'd had the funds. Some other interesting Luger shooters were also sold, for less than I expected.

Yes,
there were two similar as you describe, about 40-50% pistols, one went for $800 and the other $950, IIRC.

I could not decide to go ugly or pretty; pretty won this time- also I would have been tempted not to shoot the original matching pistols.

[spacecoast]

Wow, very nice for a shooter, congrats. I would say the takedown lever is also a replacement numbered as it is.

If you want to make it look even more like it was originally you could remove the bluing from the end of the bar that is moved down by the grip safety (the name escapes me at the moment).

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by spacecoast

Wow, very nice for a shooter, congrats. I would say the takedown lever is also a replacement numbered as it is.

If you want to make it look even more like it was originally you could remove the bluing from the end of the bar that is moved down by the grip safety (the name escapes me at the moment).

Right, I'll polish the tip of the grip safety, and put the toggle latch back into the white or straw- once I decide which it should be.

As to the TD lever- it is correct numbered on the face- just check out Dwight's commercial list; and many of the AE's in this serial range are not stamped "Germany" on the frame- go figure.

I've not seen one stamped Germany on the toggle either, I wonder if the mod was done there?

[spacecoast]

and many of the AE's in this serial range are not stamped "Germany" on the frame- go figure.

It's one of the ~1,000 "Test Eagle characteristics" guns above the Bannerman range.

[Edward Tinker]

Nice looking 1900 AE for heck of a price!

[DonVoigt]

1900 shooter - update on the "shooting"

Over the last two weeks I've had the new, old girl out for several range sessions.

Each time, firing and ejection were fine, but re-chambering and toggle closure were problematic.
The toggle closure is an inherent problem of the leaf mainspring of the 1900. The leaf just cannot apply any "extra" margin of closing pressure by design, so anything that interferes causes a failure to chamber or close.

Potential trouble spots are the lubrication, chamber cleanliness, ammo sizing, magazine, and of course the leaf spring itself.

There are or were at least three variations of leaf spring, varying in leaf thickness. The spring is of two leaves with the hook at the top and the two leaves riveted together near the top; one leaf has a bent to engage the hook near the bottom of the frame. Leaf Thicknesses were in mm: 0.77, 0.9, and 1.0 (approx), in addition the 1902 carbine used an auxillary spring in the fore arm to aid closure.

After a good clean and lube, the problem persisted. So I changed springs, twice; the problem persisted.

You may recall that the breech block had been changed from the 1900 type to a 1908 type, so today I started looking at the toggle train for problems. The entire pistol is in fine tolerance, minimal friction , and smooth as can be; no obvious problems with friction or binding.

Study the mechanism some more, just not enough "pressure or pull" to close the toggle when stripping a round from the magazine. A full mag is worse, the last two rounds work fine.

Try more and different magazines, three types of ammo. Same problem.

Study more; ah-ha- light bulb goes off; 1900 has different S link(the 1900 link is shorter) than 08; but this toggle still has the 1900 toggle link- no there was need to change the S hook, but it "looks" the same as my P 08.

Pull out book, study some more, dang! the folks who changed/repaired the breech block and/or during refinish, they changed the hook!!!!

Find a 1900 hook, straighten it out, as it was pretty sadly warped; install- check closure.

Yes! Finally an assertive close. Ok, I need one more trip to the range to confirm, but I do think the piece is fixed now and as it should be.

So after one more test; I'll report again and post pictures of the difference in the "S" links!

[rhuff]

Good luck at the range. I have learned some more about Lugers today. I have zero experience with the real early ones.

[4 Scale]

Congratulations on your find and diagnosing the s-link as the issue. Threads like these are highly instructive re: function issues and showing that fixing less-than-perfect pistols can be a rewarding aspect of Luger collecting. Eagerly looking forward to the next range report.

[ithacaartist]

Way to go, Don! Sometimes checking other possibilities gives time for the memory's fog banks to lift a tad so the solution becomes visible. And persistence usually pays off,I've found...

[Lugerdoc]

Don et al, I do have this and most other M1900 luger parts in stock, if needed. TH

[DonVoigt]

Thanks guys.
Tom,
if I had not had a link, you were and are first in line for the call!

Sometimes I hesitate to write these posts, it isn't much fun - the time and hanging out one's own "dirty laundry"- but you
comments make it worthwhile.

I'd like to see more posts of this type too!

I'll be doing an long one on the trials and tribulations of another job soon.

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by DonVoigt

Sometimes I hesitate to write these posts, it isn't much fun - the time and hanging out one's own "dirty laundry"- but you
comments make it worthwhile.

I'd like to see more posts of this type too!

I like posts/threads about diagnosing problems.

BTW, your first two pics would be great for a mousepad.

[mahd776]

Excellent post! Myself being a novice with Lugers alaways enjoy these types of posts and yours in particular. Only have one Luger a 1936 matching except the magazine but have long been fascinated with the platform. Have seriously considered abandoning several other interests to free up funds to seriously purse the Luger.

[ithacaartist]

Don, you didn't say if it's a work job or a pistol job, but as long as you mention a Luger at least once, it won't matter! We look forward to your tale.

edited. one little letter changed might make it more comprehensible.

[K.Wilhelm]

Don- you've got skills! Nice work and nice looking Luger. Bill