Double stack mags,,,reliability ? mine took a dump Tuesday

T

tree

New member
Well, as I witnessed the events of Tuesday, I thought it might be prudent to reexamine
my go bag, and prechosen weapons.
I did not expect trouble in our neck of the woods, but with three airplane crashes, and
another plane in the air.... who knew for sure.

Having moved this summer, and everything stored in boxes, I was not as prepared as I had hoped.

Here was my dilemma....

My intended rifle was my Bushmaster AR carbine. I checked it allout, and the mags and
every thing was flawless.

I grabbed by Para Ordnance P-12, in its fanny pack, along with its two previously loaded mags. I have two additional mags, but they are packed away currently (where? I don't have a clue).
Well, I proceeded to manually cycle the bullets out of the mag in the gun with my fingers. They all slid out as expected, with the follower and spring doing their job.

I then grabbed, my second backup mag, which has been loaded for better than 6 months. I started to cycle the bullets off the mag with my finger, and darned if the bullets failed to feed up the mag body. Either the spring tension was not there, or the follower was dragging.

Needless to say, had I carried it, and God forbid had to use my original 12 rounds and
reload with this backup mag, I would have been in deep dooo doooo.

So there I was faced with a couple choices, Carry My totally reliable AMT Hardballer
(1911,) My P-12 with only one functional mag, or my current CCW piece. Had I been going to known combat, I would have grabbed the AMT. I shoot it well, and it along with my McCormick mags has never let me down. However, it is a bit heavy, and while I did not expect any monnkey business in our little town, I set it back in the safe, and
grabbed my CCW pistol.

Ironically, I grabbed my Bulgarian Makarov, and spare mags, which just had passed testing this past weekend.

So instead of grabbing my $600 gun, I grabbed my $100 gun. Now to the question....

Is there a tendency for double stack mags to experience spring compression and set,more so than the single stack mags?

My Mccormick single stack mags are always loaded, and they cycle, like a newlywed couple. Very quickly...... and often.

Do I need to keep my double stack mags unloaded, purchase better springs, or just cycle them very often?

Thanks for your insight.
 
If I have mags I'm going to have lying around loaded up, I make sure to put a good coat of spray-on white lithium grease inside them. The lithium grease sticks very well over long periods, and all it takes is a quick tap on the backside to loosen it up (kinda like my wife :D ).

I'm sure other greases would work just as well.

As an added precautionary measure, I'll usually spray into the top of a loaded mag with some regular oil, like WD, to prevent bullet corrosion.

Then, to top it all off, I make sure I rotate my stock by going shooting VERY often. Any excuse to go pop off a couple rounds.

;)

"Honey, I gotta go rotate these mags so I don't have to buy more."
"OK dear, try to be back before supper this time..." (she believes it every time, hook, line, and sinker)
 
I would never put grease or oil in a mag. Not only may you kill the rounds through contaminating the primers and/or powder, oil and grease are dust magnets. I do wipe the outside of my mags with a rag LIGHTLY sprayed with CLP for a rust preventative. Sounds like you might give Wolff a call about some stouter mag springs.
 
Hi, guys,

If the problem is not the spring (and I doubt it is in any kind of quality magazine) or follower, you might look at the ammo.

With the wide variety of ammo available today, it is pretty common (especially in 9mm P) to find ammo that is too long for a magazine, or that is not kept to close specs so that some rounds are long and others short even in the same box. The same problem exists with case diameters and bullet shapes.

It is also possible that the case mouth tension on the bullet may be insufficient so that firing the top rounds allows the bullet to move out in the bottom ones, blocking the feed. This is not, obviously, the case here (since the magazine was not in a gun that was being fired), unless some rounds were left unfired in a magazine and then new ammo loaded on top.

Another possible problem is denting of the magazine body due to recoil. Many magzines today, especially after-market ones, are thin and unfired rounds in the magazine will dent the front of the magazine and cause hangups later.

Jim
 
I have yet to have a problem with contamination. I've shot off mag-fulls (well, almost full. I store mags at 3/4 capacity) of 5-year-old stored, loaded mags.

Maybe you got the wrong impression - I'm not cutting the top off the can and bathing the loaded mag with WD. Just a squirt or two does the job, enough to leach down into the mag and keep moisture displaced.

Try to contaminate one. Spray a few shells down with household oil and let them set. Try a few that have had a 'bath' in household oil. For safety reasons, make sure the shells are air-dried before firing.

They'll shoot fine.
 
Very simple procedure to keep mags from rusting away (unless, of
course, they are Glock mags :) ): Use a lighly oily or greasy towel
and wipe the mag body and the spring (followers are plastic in SIG 510
mags), this will keep them from rusting.

And mag springs? Usually, it is more disruptive to load and unload
mags rather than keeping the mags unloaded. OTOH, I think it's still a
good idea to keep mags unloaded, or maybe just one loaded. Most
firefights are resolved with one mag, at least in home invasion or CCW
shootings.
 
I've had a couple Glock mags lay around loaded...

..to "one less" than full capacity for a couple of years, then gone out and "emptied" both without a hitch.

Kentucky Rifle
 
Sounds like it may have been your fault that the bullets hung up in that magazine. If you are pushing bullets out of a magazine with your fingers you may have caused one of the rounds to nose-dive in the mag body causing the problem. Reload the magazine in question and cycle the rounds through the gun, just do it in a safe place and remember to let the slide snap forward.. If it happens when the cartridges are being cycled through the gun, the mag spring may be the problem. Just to be on the safe side you should take the gun to the range for a test fire before jumping to any conclusions.
 
What's with the deal with the Glock mags? Do they rust easily, bad finish, or what?

I've never owned a Glock, but always toyed with the idea of picking one up. The local sheriff's office around here swears by them, and they told me I wouldn't be disappointed if I ever bought one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top