Tips on Numrich Trommel?

[nukem556]

I'm sorely tempted to buy one of the Numrich snail drums, but their reputation seems to have preceded them......they have a disclaimer now on their site saying basically, "don't expect this thing to function"! Can they be tweaked to function well? I'm thinking graphite lube, reshaping feed lips, etc....does anyone have experience with making one work?

[lugerholsterrepair]

Bob, I have made all of the ones I bought work. The first one I ever bought worked right out of the shipping box. There is quite a thread on all this on Jan Still's forum. If I come across it I will post the link.
I had to tweak a couple of them. Seems the follower was slightly too long and would jam as it was coming up the tube. I carefully filed it till it cleared. Too the magazine tube spring is a tad weaker than an original. The wind up spring seems to be strong as an original though. They come pretty well lubed..but more is better I think. They are worth the money IMO compared to a very expensive original loader and drum! I figure if it doesn't function 100% at the range..no biggie. Not like you are in combat. They work well enough that actually the quality loader that comes with is worth the money. Crappy repro loaders alone 5 years ago were $5-600 bucks!

[nukem556]

Thanks, Jerry...you gave me what I needed , an excuse to go ahead and try one!

[DavidJayUden]

My first one had to go back, but the second one seems to work fine. And I discovered that I really didn't need one. Haven't seen it in a year or so...But one of these days I'll dig it out.
Also, Numrich was good about accepting returns, so if you get one that is hopeless you can still undo the deal.
I'm glad I did the deal.
dju

[lugerholsterrepair]

Bob, I don't think a guy can really go wrong. I have seen Japanese toy drums sell for as much for display. If you have ANY mechanical aptitude or even interest you can get one of these drums running well enough to have a blast as a shooter drum.
Just as a side..Some of these drums are a tight fit in some Lugers. It's actually amazing that magazines in general have such a tolerance variation but they do. Not all Luger mag wells are the same! This is not only true of the Numrich drums but Luger magazines in general. I have found interchangeability to be iffy on many Luger's & mags. Anyway the general consensus is that Numrich drums are a few thousands fat. They seem to do well in my Imperial era pistol's but tight in Mauser's.

[daryl469]

I took the chance and ordered one from Numrich last Friday and it should arrive Tuesday. I read the thread about these and some issues people were having. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but if it doesn't work, I'm going to beg Jerry Birney to fix it!! He's done such a great job on my holsters in the past, this should be a breeze.

[lugerholsterrepair]

OOPS! Jerry Burney? I heard he left town...

[daryl469]

Sorry I mis-spelled your name Jerry. I haven't written a check to you for so long, I forgot how to spell it. In the meantime, be thinking of how much you are going to charge to make these drums work!!

[lugerholsterrepair]

Daryl, First thing to do is see if it will insert into your pistol!

[daryl469]

The drum is supposed to arrive Tuesday. Won't be able to test fire it till Friday. I'll keep you posted. I'm hoping the seller (Numrich) and the manufacturer (?) read your earlier article and made the necessary changes to this last batch.

[DavidJayUden]

Like Jerry said, probably the first and most critical characteristic is that the tube needs to fit into the mag. well on your Luger. If that works the rest can be made to follow.
I kept my second...
dju

[daryl469]

The Trommel arrived today and I was quite pleased with the finish and overall appearance. First task was to see if it fit my 18' artillery. It fit perfectly, well almost. Slid smoothly in until the last 1/2". Won't budge any further. I'm open to any suggestions at this point. I didn't have time to try it on my other P08's and I really want this for the 18' artillery.

[lugerholsterrepair]

The list is endless really..Belt sander, grinder, jackhammer..explosives..well you get the idea. What you really need is some fine measureing tools and the ability to determine where the stoppage is. Trouble is once you are comitted..you own the drum after the first file nick. Could be just a small adjustment. I would start with measuring up and down the magazine..Maybe the mouth or feed lips are a couple of thousands too wide?

[daryl469]

I had a chance to try the Trommel on other Lugers. Almost fits the 18' artillery, won't begin to enter the 17' artillery. Fits perfectly in my 20' commercial with a 4" barrel. I guess I'll just have to put the 20' commercial lower on my artilleries when I want to shoot them. Numrich sends a letter with these and you can return them if they don't work. I don't think it's a sly way to get out of replacing them as some have said, but an honest claim about automatic weapons. I've been in class 3 full auto weapons for 20+ years and I can tell you, a mag that runs good in one gun can be awful in another gun. I look forward to range testing these.

[daryl469]

Finally got my Numrich Trommel magazine to the range. At first, it would not feed. After comparing the feed lips with the regular magazine, it was apparent the Trommel mag lips were much too close. Carefully using pliers, I gently opened both lips and it fed fine after that. If you remember my earlier post, the only lower this would fit in was my 1920 commercial. Using that lower and my 1918 artillery upper, we got it to load and eject properly. Success, well almost. Although it went through the function cycle it just did not recoil enough to re-set it. So I had to manually reset it before each shot. I believe this to be an ammunition problem with loads too light. I'm going to load some slightly hotter ammo to kick it back just a little more to reset it on each shot. I think (hope) my problems are over.