Magazines for rifles and handguns
- Thread starter ByronG
- Start date
Gunplummer
New member
I think you only posted half your post. It makes little sense to me.
g.willikers
New member
If you gotta' ask....
Actually it's not that hard.
Get a flat piece of metal, wrap it around a suitable form, then weld up the seam.
And then discover it doesn't even come close to working.
And now you know how not to do it.
That's how you learn.
And welcome to the forum.
Actually it's not that hard.
Get a flat piece of metal, wrap it around a suitable form, then weld up the seam.
And then discover it doesn't even come close to working.
And now you know how not to do it.
That's how you learn.
And welcome to the forum.
Last edited:
Folks who have had experience in gun design have said that the hardest part of the job was making the magazine. That is why many designers use already existing magazines rather than try to design/manufacture their own.
In theory, a magazine is simple. In practice, not so much.
Jim
In theory, a magazine is simple. In practice, not so much.
Jim
g.willikers
New member
^^^
Smash and flatten it to avoid the temptation of continuing to use it.
Smash and flatten it to avoid the temptation of continuing to use it.
Things needed to make magazines:
1) Full machine shop to make the stamping dies.
2) Training as a Tool & Die Maker to know how construct the dies.
3) Training in metallurgy to know what steels/metal is needed and what heat treatment is needed.
4)Punch Press.
5) Welding equipment.
6) Requist welding training and skills.
7) The thousands of dollars to buy those things.
8) The time needed acquire all the skills and knowledge necessary.
Opps...I forgot Bluing/plating tanks and the knowledge to properly use them, drafting/design training to design and make working drawings.
As you see, nothing to it at all, easy as pie.
Dixie Gunsmithing
Moderator Emeritus
The thing on magazines, is, that the magazine follower shape has to work in unison with the spring pressure and feed lips, and that is hard to get right on paper. Things like that are modeled, tested, and adjusted until they're correct. There might be several redesigns of the same magazine, before it is correct. Then, they measure the working model for the final design.
3D CAD modeling will not get those correct, since what looks to work in a computer may not in real life, as magazines designs can by unpredictable, until they are adjusted and tweaked to make them work. Once they get the measurements on a working magazine, then they make the dies to form the lips, body, and the follower, unless the latter is molded, etc. Even at this, I've seen new magazines that needed tweaked to work. It is all in getting it to guide or steer that cartridge straight into the chamber, while still securely holding the other rounds in the magazine.
3D CAD modeling will not get those correct, since what looks to work in a computer may not in real life, as magazines designs can by unpredictable, until they are adjusted and tweaked to make them work. Once they get the measurements on a working magazine, then they make the dies to form the lips, body, and the follower, unless the latter is molded, etc. Even at this, I've seen new magazines that needed tweaked to work. It is all in getting it to guide or steer that cartridge straight into the chamber, while still securely holding the other rounds in the magazine.
One of my favorite magazine "things" is the little "tit" in the follower of a 1911 magazine. Many makers, having no idea of its purpose, have left it off, and run into trouble. Other folks grind it down because it interferes with smooth feeding. So, why have it if it has no purpose?
But it does. By getting in front of the cartridge rim, it provides provides just the right amount of resistance to the last round to keep the slide from "bumping" the round and kicking it ahead of the extractor, tying up the gun.* Was it an afterthought? Probably. It has all the signs of an emergency fix by JMB. But the fix worked. I can only speculate on how much time and effort (and how many rounds) it took him to figure out that simple fix to a problem most folks don't even know exists.
*The same resistance for the other rounds is provided by the rim of the top round dropping slightly into the cannelure of the lower one; the last round, of course, can't do that, and needs resistance from somewhere else.
Jim
But it does. By getting in front of the cartridge rim, it provides provides just the right amount of resistance to the last round to keep the slide from "bumping" the round and kicking it ahead of the extractor, tying up the gun.* Was it an afterthought? Probably. It has all the signs of an emergency fix by JMB. But the fix worked. I can only speculate on how much time and effort (and how many rounds) it took him to figure out that simple fix to a problem most folks don't even know exists.
*The same resistance for the other rounds is provided by the rim of the top round dropping slightly into the cannelure of the lower one; the last round, of course, can't do that, and needs resistance from somewhere else.
Jim
Dixie Gunsmithing
Moderator Emeritus
Back when John Browning was still alive, he tinkered with every design. I would say that he spent many hours on magazines, alone, tweaking them to get them correct. He was tinkering with the design of one of the parts of the Hi-Power, which one is not stated, if I recall, out in the shop while at Liège, and started to feel bad, where he went to the office, and eventually killed over with a heart attack. An engineer at Liège finished the design.
If I worked at a firearm manufacturer's engineering department, I would not want to be the designer of magazines. I could imagine the hair pulling and premature aging that would come with it. One could start that job as a saint, and at retirement, know every curse word known to man.
If I worked at a firearm manufacturer's engineering department, I would not want to be the designer of magazines. I could imagine the hair pulling and premature aging that would come with it. One could start that job as a saint, and at retirement, know every curse word known to man.
Dan Coonan has a great "magazine" story well known in American gun lore. He came up with the idea for a semi-auto handgun that used the rimmed .357 Magnum revolver round but realized going in that the magazine was going to be a very key piece of the puzzle. So he designed the magazine first for a college course in Minnesota and was rewarded with due credit when he submitted it. And for the next college project... he designed the Coonan "Magnum Automatic" around that magazine and for that work received equal value in course credit. 
The rest is history. I am proud to own FIVE of them!
(uhhh, magazines... haha, just one Coonan pistol!)
The rest is history. I am proud to own FIVE of them!
(uhhh, magazines... haha, just one Coonan pistol!)