Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I looked through and there didn't seem to be any that were specifically related to gun problems, and I was hoping to get this fixed soon and this forum gets a lot of traffic.
I just picked up a bulgie makarov at a gun show a few weeks ago, and haven't had a chance to fire it. It looks to be in good condition, except I'm having one problem with it.
When you rack the slide on an empty magazine, the slide locks back as it should, as the follower is holding it up. But when the magazine is released, so is the slide.
The slide hold/release mechanism wasn't properly catching the slide, and the follower was holding it up, so once the follower was removed, the slide released.
When I rack the slide back with an empty gun but hold the slide release tab up (which is manually simulating what a magazine would do), it locks the slide back, but only for as long as I apply upward pressure to the slide release. If I let it go, it falls back down and the slide releases.
I'm not too good with pistols yet, but it seems to me that there's supposed to be a catch somewhere that locks the slide/hold release tab in the up position at the appropriate time, and mine isn't functioning properly.
Has anyone ever experienced this before? Could anyone tell me perhaps which part is the slide hold/release lock, and how I might fix it?