mobile4 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I have a question I am trying to tune my sti 40 magazines with the Dawson Kit, but my rounds keep nose diving. Dave mentions that if this keeps happening you need to resize the sides of the mag. The lip feeding mandrel will not fit all the way to the feed lips. Does anyone who used it for 40 call know if the mandrel went all the way down and touchedthe feed lips or came close?. Mine goes about 3/8" shy of the feed lips. Thanks for any help. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBros Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Tom, The mandrel that came in my kit is the same way. It won't fit up into the 40 mags or my 38 Super mags. I need to call Dawson and ask them about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrene Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 How you going I also had this issue & when i contacted Dawson they said the mandrel should go all the way up. They touch on it briefly in the video about how the rounds should snap up & if not the sides need sizing but i havent been able to find out how. Anyone else know how to size them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile4 Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 The resizing the sides is a weak spot on the video. The follower is binding on the sides when I push the spring and follower up. Anyone have any ideas on how to resize it? I hammered the mandrel all the way up and the mag sprang back. The feed lips are perfect the inside is polished to a high shine, and still the follower drags at the transition. Ill keep banging on one and see what happens.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRUbor9 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I would like more info on the side shaping too. i have 2 dawson pro tuned bigsticks that need retuned but they dont fit all the way down on the mandrel. and i get a nose dive on every freakin round... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile4 Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Can anyone who has a work mag take front to back and side to side mesurments so I can compare mine. Thanks TS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrene Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I have tried to file & smooth the sides of the follower but didnt make any difference only caused the follower to try & come out past the feed lips. I thinks it where the rounds start to double stack as it never does it with about 5 rounds left. Using 38 super makes it worse not too bad with supercomp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile4 Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 I think i have figured it out!!!! It apears that the front to back number Dave mentions in the video is key. Mine were mesuring 1.375-1.385. I put it in a vice and squeezed it down to 1.370, retuned the feed lips and the mag feeds 98%. So it seems that squeezing them pushes the sides out. Now the mandrel fits about 1/8" below the feed lips. A little more tuning and I should be done......now to finish the rest of my mags... Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastarget Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 So now that you have figured it out, has this kit been worth it, can you truly tune your mags with properly .....anything other than a brass hammer and calipers required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcatt320 Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I too, couldn't get the mandrel all the way into the mag tube. I just lightly tapped it until it was seated all the way. Yes the kit has been worth it to me. Big diff from the stock sti mags to the tuned ones. Tuned ones at the very least are so much smoother. Not really had any feeding issues yet, but I tuned the magazines before I ever used them so I don't know if they would have had issues or would have ran fine without tuning. Brass hammer, calipers, fine grit sandpaper, bench vice, is pretty much it. Soft jaws are nice for the vice if you have them. Everything else is included if I remember correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile4 Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 The Kit is worth it but the most important part seems to be the magazine front to back number. That is the part that the video glosses over and doesnt explain well. It seems as if that that number is off then the follower binds up and allows the rounds to nose dive. What exactly the number is??????Im still working on it but it needs to be less than 1.70". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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