One For Each Hand

One of the local pawn shops has had a .25 ACP 6.35x16mmSR Mauser model 1910/14 for as long as we've been making the rounds at them.

At least three years.

It was busted, so we kept passing it by.

After a while, a second one appeared for the same price.  It was not busted, but we kept on passing it up because it was a "mite" ugly.

Today Willard finally broke down, talked them down almost $150 on the two of them and bought them.

The one on the left is the busted one.  Well, was.

First, it wouldn't fire.  Second, it wouldn't go on safe.  Third, the slide didn't quite go back far enough to lock, so it wouldn't go quite far enough back to get the barrel out.

Holding the slide all the way back, I had Willard thwack a punch on the bar between the recoil spring and the barrel.  That got us the 0.5mm we needed to get the barrel removed.

With the slide forward and striker exposed, the problem became obvious.  The sear and the striker were too engaged.  Someone had not fitted the striker.

Since we had two, we did the curious monkey thing and swapped the striker assemblies between them.  Viola!  Now they both appear to release the striker correctly.  Go figure.

Once the striker works correctly, the slide locks to the rear and the barrel comes out like it should.  Two with one stone!

Now the safety.

Turns out, it's this flat-wire V-spring causing the problem:

Actually, it's not.  What's causing the problem was a gunsmith special ROUND wire spring that is entirely too stiff to work and because it's round it can slip off the trigger bar!

Swapping the flat-wire spring from the uglier gun to the prettier one cures the safety problem, but unlike the striker swap, leaves one gun without a function.  Numrich claims to have the spring and the picture shows flat wire.

Now, about the gun some.

Here's a field strip.

To take one apart...

Lock the slide to the rear.  Just pull back the slide with no magazine in the gun.
Push down on the little spring holding the barrel retainer.

Now, rotate the barrel retainer 90˚ in either direction, doesn't matter which.

This will let you pull the barrel retainer out the front of the pistol...

...and lift the barrel straight up and off the frame.

Now the fun begins.

Insert an EMPTY magazine into the pistol.  This will release the slide.  Now pull the trigger to let the striker loose so it doesn't hold the slide.  Then, remove the magazine.  The slide can now be removed out the front.

Then you can remove the springs and their guides simply by pulling on them.

Reassembly is almost the reverse, except you don't need the magazine.  Replace the slide, pull to the rear until it locks, then it's the opposite of take-down.

This gun is strange in so many ways.  The safety is two controls.  That little lever that looks like it could be a slide lock is the safety.  Push it down for safe.  The round button under it that looks like it could be the magazine release is the safety release!  The safety will also lock the slide closed, so don't have it engaged when you insert a magazine.

Inserting a magazine is the only way to release the slide.  In one way, it's handy that it speeds reloads.  In another it's a pain for disassembly.

The magazine is released by an everyday heel catch.