22 rounds reloadable in new 9mm mags

[Nealio]

Ok so I finally spent some time in the shop to figure out how to fix these new MecGar 9mm mags so the follower doesn't hang after 20 rounds.

I was surprised at what I found. I tried putting a spacer in the mag pad/extension. After 21 rounds, the follower sticks, just like before. But this time when I went to unstick the follower I paid attention to what exactly was sticking. Well its not hanging on the spacer at the rear of the mag as we all thought. The nose of the follower was what was stuck. So I took everything back apart and noticed there is a square ridge on the top of the follower that is approximately the same size as the square notch in the bottom of the mag. So what is happening is with the big Henning base bads, the rear of the follower bottoms out first, causing the follower to tilt slightly forward. When the follower is at this location in the mag, it forces this square ridge right into the notch of the magazine, causing it to stick.

So I took the spacer out of my test base pad, sanded down the nose and tail of the follower, and was able to load up 22 rounds (reloadable) without anything hanging up. I cycled them (manually) through my gun and everything worked like a charm. I think with the spacer in the mag I was able to get 23 rounds with the Grams follower, but it didn't seem like there was much support on the nose of the rounds. I'm happy with 22 that works with JUST buying the Henning H-141 pad.

I didn't do a lot to the follower, just took the sharp edge off the front middle, and rounded the back just a tad.

Modified one on the left, stock one on the right:

Here is the notch in the mag for reference:

[kurtb]

Keep us posted!

I believe that square notch at the base of the pads locks in the factory base plate ( base plate has the same size tab that locks into the notch).

[kurtb]

Did I just repeat myself?

[Nealio]

So I modified 2 more followers tonight. They seem to work just as good. One thing to note is that you want to take material off the center of the front of the follower, so when it goes over the notch nothing can hang on that notch.

I also filed/sanded down the rear leg on one of the followers and was able to get 23 rounds in there. They call came out fine also..

However it seemed like you had to force that last one, so I'm going to stick with 22.

- Nealio

[priler]

NICE! thank you Nealio. have you tested at the range yet?

[Nealio]

No I recently had knee surgery so I'm laid up. Going to try and get out this weekend somehow.

[Nealio]

I tonight I would post an update on this.

I had to replace the stock spring after a while because the last round wouldn't feed. After that I have had no issues, except a longer spring limits the capacity to 21. I have been just running 20 for the most part as it gets hard to put 21 in. I am using a Grams 11 coil spring, which might be part of the issue since it has larger coils than the Wolff springs.

I ran these mags twice a week for the past several months with no issues.

Edited October 29, 2011 by Nealio

[david s]

I think we are going to find that there are any number of combinations that are going to work well.

I dremeled the spring pad teat (that goes in the hole of the factory pad) off, put everything stock back in the K9 and put a H500 pad on. 19rds. run well by hand. By mix and matching different followers, springs and pads we are going to see some crazy combos that work. By leaving the spring pad in it helps me to get the spring out when using H Series pads and not have to possible bend the spring.

H580,600 & 620 coming next week, more combo's to try out next weekend.