Walther P38/P-1 Jams

[1Shirt]

Am just learning the ins and outs of my new P-1. Shoots great, and handles cast well, and is probably the most accurate hand gun I have owned for an at best marginal hand gun shooter. That said, am having a few problems with jams, that appear to be magazine related. Have learned that it is very important for the ctg to be all the way back hard against the rear (ya, probably an obvious). The problem seems to be the second round jamming, and the ctgs in the mag not tilting upwards when the jam is cleared. Does not happen every time. Have been seating blts to minimum listed lengths, and am wondering if maybe seating them to max length might solve the problem. Any advice from experienced P-l shooters would be appreciated. My gun was Mfg. in 71, and it appeared to be in unfired condition when I bought it.
1Shirt!:?::killingpc

[Charley]

I don't shoot mine a lot, but a max OAL length and a bullet profile that that mimics ball works best in mine.

[dsbock]

Do you have another magazine to check against? I had one with damaged feed lips that would regularly porpoise the second round in the magazine when fired. Hand cycling the slide worked for every round. The speed and stresses of firing caused early release in my case. Retired that magazine and I've had no problems since. Admittedly, this was all with factory ball ammo.

Mine was made in 1959. Second year after Germany was allowed to resume manufacturer of arms.

David

[lylejb]

he ctgs in the mag not tilting upwards when the jam is cleared. Does not happen every time.

You just screamed weak magazine spring.

Try another magazine, or if available, a new spring.

[1Shirt]

Thanks guys!
1Shirt!

[rond]

Take the magazine apart and clean it, make sure the spring is not binding. If it's clean and oiled and still has problems try a new spring.

[KCSO]

Bullet shape is critical in the P1 I have had several and found that the round nose 130 grain from an old Ideal mould worked best in the P1. This bullet duplicates the shape of the old german ammo about perfect and when loaded to 950 fps or so is a very pleasant load for the gun and it doesn't stress the frame a all. I'll be down your way in a week or two and will try and have some samples made up for you. Be sure and check your gun for the hex bolt and if you don't have the reinforcer don't shoot any really hot loads. I also polish the feed ramp of the gun to a mirror finish and that helps too. You need a polished ramp and a hard bullet to work best.

[MtGun44]

I shot some factory without problems, then switched to Lee 120-TC and have
had zero issues. Reasonably accurate, works fine.
Here is how I set my LOA.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52652&d=1314925371

Bill

[btroj]

Interesting idea Bill. Took me a second to understand what I was looking at. Makes complete sense to mimic the depth of factory ammo.

[1Shirt]

Concur!
1Shirt!

[Artful]

I shot some factory without problems, then switched to Lee 120-TC and have
had zero issues. Reasonably accurate, works fine.
Here is how I set my LOA.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52652&d=1314925371

Bill
Nicely illustrated - now get one side by side so they understand without thinking and we'll get it sticky'd.

The other thing is you can use a factory ammo as a way to set your seating die if the bullet shapes are the same.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3636/fap45hs1.jpg
http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/m-AXysqXtCffElmtnY9fYng.jpg

[MtGun44]

OK, here is your side by side view of the same ammo.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52653&d=1314925371

I think that this is why the H&G 68 is such a reliable feeder in .45 ACP. It is set up to do
exactly this - have the feed ramp contact point of the SWC be the same as the contact point of ball.
Here it is technically a truncated cone rather than a SWC, but I set it up the same way and
have never had a feeding issue in about 6-7 different 9mms.

Bill

[1Shirt]

Just got back from range, and am pleased with results of following suggestions above. First of all I stripped all of the mags and gave them a good cleaning. All springs were good, but a couple were gunked with cosmoline. Then I ordered the 6 cav lee mold 356-125-2R, 125 RN, and cast about 700 of them hard, and lubed with LARs white lube, sized .358. Or at least a percentage were .358, but some slid down the die without touching and came out .357. Then I loaded 32 of them without checking size, over 4 gr. of Bullseye, and seated them to max length. I loaded 32 because I only have 4 mags, and 32 rds seemed logical to run thru as a test of the loads. Had 2 malfunctions, but examination of the two rounds showed that had I put a bit more taper crimp, would have hand no problem. Loads shot very accurately out to about 20 ft. There was a lot of muzzle flash from this load which showed clearly in an indoor range.

So, thanks to all who responded to my thread, and for all of the sound advice given.
1Shirt!