Followers for 140mm SVI Mags

[MarkB22]

Hey folks,

I just took my new to me (used) SVI Infinity 40 S&W to the firing range and had some feeding troubles with the factory ammo I purchased to shoot through it. I shot Winchester white box and Federal ammo purchased from Wal Mart.

The Winchester ammo had some feed issues but the gun experienced many nose dives with the Federal ammo. With either ammo, the slide would lock back with one round in the mag. Both magazines are 140mm SVI tubes using SVI Competition followers (red).

I was hoping I may be able to (potentially) cure some of these feeding problems and as well as get my slide to lock back when the magazine is empty with new mag springs and followers.

I have done many Searches and it looks like Benny Hill uses ISMI springs with the Dawson competition followers to get his mags running so reliably. However, he is using STI tubes and those Dawson completion followers don’t lock the slide back according to their description.

So, it looks like I will be buying the ISMI springs, but what about the followers? Does the standard (non-competition) SVI follower lock the slide back when the magazine is empty? What about the standard STI follower?

Thanks for any insight!

-Mark

[G-ManBart]

I'm not a fan of the ISMI springs, but some of folks are. A Grams spring and follower combo (11-coil) will work perfectly and you can relieve the tab that contacts the slide stop until it only engages the slide stop when the mag is empty. Simply take the slide off, put the slide stop back in the frame, put the mag in the gun (empty mag) and you'll see where the slide stop and follower make contact....trim that down until the two don't make contact with one round in the mag and you're set.

Factory OAL ammo may or may not work in your gun regardless of the mag setup. Factory .40 is pretty short and while some guns run it perfectly, others will nose dive. That's one of the reasons why most folks load .40 long (like 1.18 to 1.22" or so)....they're less likely to nose dive.

Edit to add: I like Bolen followers better in SV tubes, but they'd probably be more of a pain to get to engage the slide lock (just based on shape). R,

Edited June 7, 2010 by G-ManBart

[Pezco]

Your feeding issues are more likely due to the OAL of the ammo then the followers. What type of gun are you trying to feed?

My SV's like 1.2 OAL and the factory red follows with factory springs work just fine. If you want the slide to lock back, trim the indented piece at the front left of the follower to a 45 degree angle.

Hope this helps!

[MarkB22]

Your feeding issues are more likely due to the OAL of the ammo then the followers. What type of gun are you trying to feed?

My SV's like 1.2 OAL and the factory red follows with factory springs work just fine. If you want the slide to lock back, trim the indented piece at the front left of the follower to a 45 degree angle.

Hope this helps!

Hey guys, thanks for the information!

Pezco, the gun I am shooting is an SVI Infinity 40 S&W gun that I would like to use for Limited division. I don't have any reloading equipment so will have to stick with factory ammunition for now. Maybe there is some factory ammunition that has a longer OAL than Winchester white box?

I see the indented edge you were referring to on my SVI follower and will try to trim the edge with the follower modification method Bart articulated above (take slide off and see where follower is hitting slide stop, and trim accordingly)

If the above method does not work, I will go with Bart's suggestion of going with the Grams Engineering followers/springs. I did a little research online here and it looks like I can get the springs and followers kit from several vendors including directly from Grams.

Edited June 7, 2010 by MarkB22

[EkuJustice]

Try ordering some of the ammo from Atlanta Arms. They make a 40 caliber round loaded to 1.18 for the S_I guns and is probibally as cheap or cheaper than WWB. It is remanufactured but it is a high quality round made for this game

http://www.atlantaarmsandammo.com/

[Pezco]

+1 on Atlanta Arms long OAL ammo for your SV until you get into reloading.

[MoNsTeR]

Grams kits are your best bet for getting slide lock working reliably.

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Try some ISMI mag springs with your followers first. Then you can try the SVI standard follower to lock your slide back if you like it to do that for limited. If you do use the Dawson follower you have to modify it for the SVI tubes. I like to open up the feed lips on the SVI mags since they are a little to narrow I think. Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric