Fail to Feed Q

C

Coronach

New member
I am the proud owner of a reliable Browning HP mk III. I recently purchased a handful of South African 17 rnd mags and have experienced failures to feed on the first round from 3 of the 4 mags.

The slide drops on the first round and it fails to go into battery...actually, it only drops the first fraction of an inch and fails to strip the round from the mag. A 'forward assist' will not help, but racking the slide once with authority will usually put it back in operation.

It consistently happens with the same 3 mags- the fourth is fine. It only happens on round 1 when the mag is crammed full to its 17 round capacity (and I mean crammed- sore fingers and all). Visual inspection reveals no obvious differences between the gremlin-infested mags and the hitherto uncontaminated 4th mag.

ATM I'm assuming this is a function of the mag springs being stiff and it will go away over time. Correct? Incorrect?

Thanks,
Mike

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
Hello. Probably so. As the spring sets and parts smooth out, it'll likely go away. For various reasons, I've often seen higher than normal capacity magazines that require the last round to truly be wedged in cause problems like that you mention. In the meantime, you might download one or two rounds in those magazines. You'd still have plenty.

It could be that as tightly as the last round is wedged in with not only the compressed spring and loaded rounds occupying obviously all available space, that the top round slides forward a tad and then nose dives just a fraction. Pushing the slide forward might not help at this point as the round's angle is low, but pulling the slide back and releasing allows the round to rise to proper angle and since it's been moved forward a tad, there's less resistance when the slide comes forward to chamber. I suspect that with use and time the problem will correct itself.

Best.
 
Or...the hangy down tang on the magazine follower might be a tad too long on the three that don't feed, hitting the bottom when stuffing in the last round. Takin a sixteenth off of that tang should not hurt a thing and just might get you back in business.

Sam...my favorite pistols are wheelguns
 
Coronach, I had a similar problem with two of my South African mags (although a loving tap on the slide would solve the problem). These same two mags also had the stiffest springs in the bunch.

The problem, like yours, only occurs with 17 rounds stuffed in the mag.

My hypothesis is that the tension on rounds is enough that the slide doesn't have enough oomph to strip the first round on some occasions.

In any case, I have noticed improvement with use. The malfunction used to be an every magazine occurence, then an every once in a while occurence... still haven't seen it drop to a no occurence though.
 
Hmmm. Thanks for the replies. I'll try leaving these mags loaded at full capacity for a few weeks and see if that eliminates the problem. I hope it does...I REALLY like these mags. The though of my beloved BHP stuffed with 18 rounds gives me a warm fuzzy feeling :D

Mike

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
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