Third Party Press

Late War Radom Disassembly issue

bmwr12

bmwr12

Senior Member
I picked up my first phosphate Radom today. I tried to take it apart but the slide will not pull off after it took out the slide hold open lever. The hammer drop assembly is stuck in the normal position. It was welded at some point and it won’t move freely.
Any ideas why the slide won’t come off? It moves freely when racking the slide. I think the recoil assembly spring may be damaged but it still moves. The recoil rod feels weak compared to the other Radom I own.



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It’s difficult to diagnose the problem with that picture. The way it works you pull the slide to the rear and with the slide back you push down on the lever so that it catches the notch on the hammer, which holds the slide back. Then you pull the recoil rod forward to release the pressure and remove the slide catch which will fall right out. If you have already pulled the slide catch out you have to figure out now how to get it back in by pulling the recoil rod forward by force to get it back, and then reassemble the pistol. It’s happened to me before, it’s not too difficult but as I explain it I know what to do, telling someone else using my descriptions might not make sense.

Then you disassemble it again correctly.
 
The hammer drop lever is stuck and won’t move due to the repair that it had. Is this why it won’t come apart?
 
I just took out my T1 "3-lever" pistol. Pulled the slide back until it locked and in this position you can see the hammer-drop lever arm in the slide tunnel. Moving the HDL, the arm moves up or down freely. However, if the slide is completely forward (pistol back in battery) and you push the HDL down, you cannot pull the slide to the rear. I believe this is your problem. Since the HDL arm
is pressed onto the lever, sometimes in late pistols it becomes loose and goes out of alignment. If incorrect repair was made to the arm where it mates to the lever, it might be blocking the slide from coming off. Try pushing that lever up as hard as you can then pull slide to the rear. The HDL spring can sometimes come loose or be out of place...thus interfering with proper HDL movement. The spring also retains the lever in place. Note location and position of "lazy-S" shaped HDL arm inside slide (at-rest). Lastly, you may have to remove the grip panels, mainspring housing , etc. in order to gain access to the HDL/arm as I think other components prevent doing so via the magazine tunnel...
 

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Was able to free up the Hammer drop lever and get the slide off. The hammer drop spring is destroyed but I have one of them. Will need to find a new hammer drop lever to replace the one I currently have. If anyone has a spare or sees one for sale please let me know. I will take the broken one out when I get a chance. Thanks for the help.
 
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I tried to contact but haven’t heard back from him. I emailed his email address and through the form on website.
 
 
The hammer drop lever is a weak point. I have seen several that just spin. They were apparently put on the pin and smacked or pressed to hold the lever on. Then they were polished to smoothed them out. I have one that was not smoothed out, a 2nd K, and it looks cool, like petals on a chrysanthemum.

If you ever need to take a type 3 apart with a bad hammer drop just hold the slide and frame in the position they should be in, you may need a third hand, and drop out the slide stop. I used to do it that way years ago before the net and I knew the correct way.

On assembly, if the guide rod is not protruding past the end of the barrel, pull the slide back and snap it forward a time or two till it does. That way you will not have to pull so hard on the rod to get the slide stop back in. Do not take apart the guide rod and spring assembly. It is a PIA to get that assembly pin back in. A friend made a jig after several hours of failure. He called me and first thing I said was I forgot to tell you about that rod assembly. He says too late and why he called.

Anyone found a second A block in Phosphate? I have only seen 2 and a friend has both. How about a blue second K or bnz in blue. Just curious for learning, not buying. Found a nice second K blue, very hard find.

Is yours a second K?

A blue part is correct for replacement.
 
The pistol is in the 8300 B block. I might try to repair and refinish the hammer drop lever if I can’t find a suitable replacement in the near future. What kind of blue finish is on these parts?
 
bmwr12 said:
The pistol is in the 8300 B block. I might try to repair and refinish the hammer drop lever if I can’t find a suitable replacement in the near future. What kind of blue finish is on these parts?
Click to expand...


Blue small parts was some kind of basic salt blue at this point. Note your grip screws and slide stop are blue. The slide stops were shifting over to grooved vs checkered, which was intermittent at this point. Some hammers and rear sights were also blue. Phosphate slide and frame could be thin to thick and crusty. The back of the grips should be stamped with a 623. Magazines should have a simple sheet metal follower like the P-38. These can be pricey and will have a 623 near the base. Fit was pretty loose at this point but despite the many changes and lack of cosmetic appeal, they remained quite functional. Interesting pistols with many little variations and factory errors to collect.
 
mike radford said:
... How about a blue second K or bnz in blue. Just curious for learning, not buying. Found a nice second K blue, very hard find.
Click to expand...
One of the most unusual P35(p)s I ever saw was owned by Ed MaCauley. It was a 1939 Polish Eagle which must have been shelved due to some issue, but final assembled during the late 2nd series K-bloc. The finish was what one would call a thin, (almost translucent) bluing overall to the slide, frame and major components. I recall there were fine grind markings over the slotted mainspring housing where it met the frame, but under the finish. The remaining components were primarily gray phosphate... trigger, slide release, screws, magazine, etc. Pistol also had slotted wood Steyr grips. Do not know about the barrel or which type of recoil spring it had.
Pistol was overall in very nice condition.
 
Finally got it all back together and found another late war 623 magazine. The spare magazine I found saw use postwar as it has a number engraved in the body. It also has the earlier type follower.


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I found an original hammer drop lever but I am having issues getting the pistol slide back on with the original lever installed. The original lever will not lock hold the slide back far enough to reassemble. It also won’t allow the recoil assembly to be pulled forward to reinstall pin even if I hold the slide back far enough. I also noticed the slide won’t stay locked open with the reproduction lever if there is no magazine in the gun. Any ideas? Thanks
 
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