What size of bolen to use on RHT mag

[Rye]

I was wondering what bolen size pad to use on a RHT 138mm magazine for .40 cal? Thanks!

[Chris Keen]

Option 1. Use a 3MM Bolen basepad, Bolen spring & follower, but you will have to "train" the spring to allow that 22nd round to go under the lips. Some people call it letting the spring "set", but basically you load the mag up to max capacity (21) and leave it loaded for a few days. That's what I did to my mags, but I see the 3mm Bolens are a little harder to come by now.

Option 2. Use a 4mm Bolen basepad, Bolen spring & follower, and you will have no problems getting the 22nd round to fit, but now your mag wont fit in the USPSA gauge. There are a number of folks here on Enos who say it's simple to file or mill of part of the back of the basepad to get the mag to fit in the gauge. I personally have not tried this, so I have no idea what to file off the basepad, but perhaps you can find some info here on the forum.

[Joe4d]

the 4mm's will require a bit of time and massaging to fit the gauge, the 3's will fit.

[Rye]

Even if RHT is 138mm if you add a 4mm base pad still won't fit the gauge? I guess, I'll go with 3mm then with not much modification. How do you tune the mags though? Do you have to send it to a smith?

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: You may want to try the Grams 4mm or 2.5mm base pads. On some mags you will have to trim the base pad or tune the mag. Thanks, Eric

[Joe4d]

138 + 4 = 142,,, thats too long.

[Rye]

138 + 4 = 142,,, thats too long.

Good calculation. Didn't think of that