Installing a locking spring in a Luger

[smle-man]

The tiny little spring that holds the take down lever in place on my Mauser/Interarms luger was worn out and after 15 rounds or so the lever would start to swing down on its own. Not a good situation. The only replacement spring I could find was at Sarco. The spring turned out not to have the same profile as the original and when installed did not sit at the correct angle to permit the locking lever to slide in properly. The spring would force the locking lever up so that when it reached the hole in the opposite side of the frame it didn't line up. After much sweating and cursing I stopped to take a breather and think. I've finally learned when something isn't going right on a job, stop, walk away, come back and look at it again. I put the frame in a padded vise, padded the trigger guard with some cleaning patches and then put a very small C clamp on the trigger guard and the locking lever. I slowly tightened the C clamp until the locking lever was lined up with the hole in the frame. I then tapped it with a brass gunsmith hammer until it was properly seated and released the C clamp. All was as it should be and the lever is very tight now. I took the pistol to the range and the lever stayed in place. I'm glad I stopped and thought about it because I was getting frustrated and when I get frustrated I usually resort to a bigger hammer!