[Jlandis003]

Unanticipated, but not negligent... Read on...

I recently acquired a very good condition Mauser model 1914 cal. 7.65 (.32 ACP) I took it home, disassembled and cleaned it (I've owned a 1914 previously and was familiar with disassembly and cleaning regimen)

I took it to the outdoor range today and set up at 30'. I loaded both mags with 7 rounds of .32 ACP. The first mag worked fine... And locked back when empty. I removed the empty mag.

I inserted the second mag and the slide automatically was released and a round was chambered and the slide went into proper battery. For those of you unfamiliar with this pistol, the slide will only lock back if an empty mag is present in the gun... and one can only release the slide by inserting a mag. That's the way this gun was designed.

I aimed and pulled the tigger... It did not fire... I felt slight click only... But I could still see the cocking indicator/rear of firing pin which was showing at rear of slide so I knew it was still cocked. While I was sure nothing had struck the primer... I held it pointed down range anyway for 30+ seconds.

Here's where it got hairy... Since I had a misfire, I thought next best step (after waiting that 30+ seconds) would be to remove the magazine... So I could subsequently rack the slide back and eject the chambered round.

Just as soon as I pressed the slide release (at bottom of grip next to base of mag on this gun) and started to pull out the mag.... BANG!... The gun fired.

I was so glad I had kept that gun pointed down range in a safe direction! But I was very startled to say the least.

Lessons learned...

1) that stuff we all learned about keeping guns pointed in safe direction at all times is important!
2) I should have tried each mag in dry-fire mode (no ammo) before using with live rounds
3) this gun has a safety... I should have tried to actuated the safety BEFORE REMOVING THAT LOADED 2nd MAGAZINE... Unsure if it would have even been possible to actuate or if it would have stopped the firing pin from flying forward upon mag removal... But I should have tried
4) I should have examined the mags more carefully... And compared them to one another... Notice the difference in the angle of the followers and the design of the top rear of the mags

The gun is a fine shooter... First 14 (of 50 or so I shot today using the good mag) were satisfactory.

 

[FeralCatKillr]

Glad it was not more serious. Thanks for the reminder. Good ol' Jeff Cooper's "four rules" of safety are beautiful in simplicity and redundancy. If you never break any of them, nobody ever gets hurt, as you demonstrated here.

 

[RAC55]

I would do some more research on those magazines. They look like they may be from 2 different 7.65 pistols. In the 3rd pic, the mag in front looks like the right one. In the 4th pic, the mag on the right looks like the 1914 mag. I have several pre-war 7.65 pistols and sometimes the mags from one pistol will seat in another, but it may malfunction. This may be the problem you encountered. The pistol looks like a sweet find....Good luck with it!...

 

[Planeguy]

Good report!
Great reminder!

Would have liked to see the look on your face when that went off. Bet that got your achtung!

That is a cool looking gun.

 

[White Squirrel]

Thanks for the "heads up" reminder. We should never get complacent with a firearm, but somethimes we may get a little "brain dead" and forget.

Glad you had that thing pointed in a safe direction.

 

[abarrena]

Thanks for the post.
It pays to develop the right habits so we are prepared when unexpected things happen.