How do you deal with your unreliable magazine?

Unreliable magazine? Is this not what a warranty is for?

Some random gunshow 1911 mag or cheap "Korea Military" glock mag? Naaaah. Not worth the trouble, usually.

Depends how much the magazine cost, and if it's a factory mag or not.
 
I have four mags for my Taurus PT-22, three I bought used from someone.

Of those three one has the lips out of location so bad I cannot get the thing to function reliably. Others are flawless.

The bad one is going to the great smelter in the sky. I've spent too much time working on it already.

All the Best,
D. White
 
Trash_Can.jpg
 
Spare parts for my other mags of same manufacture...I got a bad Glock 21/41 magazine with the purchase of my G-41. The retention slot is too loose and the magazine drops from the gun if you look at it wrong. Springs, base plate and follower are now spares.
 
I have 8 mags for my full size rock island 45 1911 . Other then the two 8 rd Novak mags that came with my 1911 I've only ever bought the cheaper 7 rd all steel mags , 2 colt , 3 " some type of gov issue mags" . I also have a cheap 15rd promag . I've noticed that all of the cheap mags needed some dremel work to reshape the top of the mag so that the rds fed smooth without getting caught up . After I did some dremel work they all work perfect even the 15 rd promag . My wife just recently bought a compact RIA 1911 45 Acp and while we were buying a couple new mags we noticed that it took a good smack to get the mag inserted " unlike the mags that came with the 1911" . The guy at the counter said " that's normal with 1911's , you have to smack them in" It was just like the Novak mags with the plastic bottom plate . I looked at her Novaks plastic plate and noticed the part that fit into the notch at the bottom front of the grip was longer on all the mags they were selling . So I bought one and filed the plastic down about 1/16 of an inch and it slid in and snapped in without having to smack it in . I was kinda shocked that they thought that was normal to have to smack the mag in to get it to catch . I just look at these cheap mags as unfinished , I'll save some money and finish them myself .
 
unreliable mags

I salvage usable parts and keep them for spare parts

I once had a Tokarev magazine that wouldnt fit my pistol, the mag body fit too tight, so I tried to flatten it down a little and it was still a poor fit, so I saved the magazine spring, the follower, the floor plate and tossed the defective mag body

a few years later I got some new Tokarev 9mm mags with a cheap plastic floor plate, so the extra steel floor plate I saved came in handy as a replacement part.

had some GI M1911 mags with broken stress cracked feed lip lips, I saved the followers and the mag springs

I reused the mag spring to fix another mag with a bad spring

I replaced all my GI black plastic followers in my 30 rd AR15 mags with the improved green non tilt followers and saved my original black followers as spares
 
The mag that was with the Star super in 9mm Largo I acquired would not stay latched in the magazine well. The latch was worn and the edge of the magazine notch were worn. I had a friend who has a laser welder build up the edge of the notch and the edge of the catch with a chrome cobalt alloy so that it worked. I would think that most of us could outthink a piece of metal or acrylic.

David
 
I replace them. If you cannot afford to and this is a gun you rely upon for personal defense, then maybe you can not afford to own a gun. I think you need to have full confidence in the gun you are going to bet your life, or your family's life on. It might be wise to sell the gun and buy another weapon.
 
I'm still studying about what to do with one for a mini-14. I found some loose rounds on the floor and picked up a mag that promptly ejected 12 more.:eek:
Kind of like a slinky i guess, I get most in, then it spits them all out. Fun to watch!:(
 
I'm still studying about what to do with one for a mini-14. I found some loose rounds on the floor and picked up a mag that promptly ejected 12 more.
Kind of like a slinky i guess, I get most in, then it spits them all out. Fun to watch!

That sometimes happens with the follower STICKS somewhere down the tube; then as a round is stripped, the next one down doesn't go up. After that, when you pull the mag out and turn it sideways or upside down, gravity takes over and the rest of them fall out...

Sand or polish the side of the follower, and make sure there are no dents in the tub, or crud inside the tube... and you might be able to save the mag.
 
Last edited:
If it's ejecting the rds and they are not just falling out then I would suspect the top of the mag is either bent out of shape and not holding the rds in as it should or it is extremely wore out causing the mag to no longer be able to hold the rds in . The rds should not eject out of the mag unless pushed forward towards the mag opening , so I would inspect a newer mag with the one that's ejecting the rds .
 
I'm still studying about what to do with one for a mini-14. I found some loose rounds on the floor and picked up a mag that promptly ejected 12 more.
Kind of like a slinky i guess, I get most in, then it spits them all out. Fun to watch!

From the time I had one, I recall that there's a lot of utter junk Mini-14 magazines out there turned out, so Interwebz hearsay tells me (YMMV) in a hurry in the days before the Brady ban kicked in. From the quality I recall, I would not bother trying to fix them.

Promag actually turned out some decent quality Mini-14 magazines.
 
I yell at them, call them names, hit them with a hammer, then toss them in the trash ... if you can't trust it, why use it?

That said, I've only had two mags that were unusable. They got the above treatment ... never had a factory mag fail ..
 
Back
Top