It seems to me that you would want the front of the rounds to be fairly close to the feed ramp. If they were shoved to the back of the magazine, there could be difficulties ensuring they were lined up correctly to enter the chamber. There would also be the contour of the feed rails that would come into question. If the cartridge had to be shoved forward before its shoulder hit the contour of the rail, this might cause a misalignment of the round with the bolt face and extractor - possibly causing a mis-feed.
Seems better to have the cartridge forward in the box therefore. So, how to do it, right? One could mess around with a shortened follower, and a filler made from sheet metal to fill the space. This means working the follower to hold the rounds precisely, and then fitting and securing the spacer.
I've seen where small 'rails' or strips of metal, approximately 4 - 5mm wide had been brazed to the sides of the magazine at the point where the shoulder of the catridge would be to hold them in a certain location of the magazine. Of course they were contoured for a better fit. These were pretty much vertical in the mag well, and the cartridges fit behind them. The general idea was that these strips kept the rounds from moving forward in the magazine and allowing the tips of the rounds from being bashed by the front of the mag during recoil. It's possible that something like this could be done for you.
But I agree with zot in that I think the rounds should be forward in the magazine. Will have to see what my Kuhnhausen book has to say about it. Good luck!
Unkel Gilbey
