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Pardini magazine lockback modification:
For those Pardini owners who keep mis-counting to five and breaking firing pins, this modification will serve as an expedient cure for the problem. It results in the slide locking back after the 5th round, but you will still have to pull the slide the rest of the way back and push the lockback button to remove the magazine and reload. But that slide will NOT go back into battery after the last round is fired.
Get yourself a piece of tough steel about .018 to .025" thick and cut a piece as wide as the magazine follower and about 3/8" long...length isn't important, width is. File/grind off one end of it to the shape of the rim of a .22 case (not critical) and deburr all edges. Remove the follower and find the location of a hole to drill that'll let about 1/8 inch protrude above the follower (at the rear, of course).
You'll need a wood screw, about a #4, and a drop of super glue or epoxy. But first, look at the top of the rear of the magazine and you'll see a little dimple...right where the follower rises up from the magazine body. This needs to be flattened out, and you can do it with a punch quite easily. Flattening out that little dimple will provide room for the piece of steel that you're going to secure to the rear of the follower with that screw and stick'um.
Now, drill your hole in the steel...close enough to the top of the follower location to allow for 1/8" protrusion above the follower yet leaving plenty of follower material so when you insert the screw, it doesn't deform the plastic follower. Then mark and drill the proper size hole in the follower for your chosen screw...and bevel the edge of the hole in the steel so that screw will rest flat against it and not rub on the mag body as the follower moves up and down.
Put a drop of super glue (after roughing up the backside of the steel) on the steel about midway between the screw and the bottom edge of the steel. Align the edges of the steel with the follower and set the screw (being careful not to squeeze any glue out onto your fingers). Reinstall the follower into the magazine and you're done!
Load one snap cap round...or even a spent case...into the mag, insert it into the pistol with the slide locked back. Pull back on the slide and guide it forward to make sure it will strip that round from the mag, and when the round clears the mag and falls out, pull the slide back and guide it forward again. If you've done your job right, it'll stop at your piece of steel. If it bends that piece of steel over while shooting, your choice of steel wasn't tough enough. I used a piece of feeler gauge and it's still straight after about 3 years of use.
BTW, if the slide stops on your steel while feeding that snap cap, just file the top of the steel down a little until it'll clear the front of the slide. It isn't rocket science and I'm sure you can figure it out if you've gotten this far...
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