Tacsol mags in Marvel?

[Neomet]

Scored a Marvel .22 conversion and picked up some Tacsol widebody mags. With the Tacsols I have LOTS of issues with failures to extract. Put the polymer Marvel in and no issues. Will the TS mags not work or if there a mod I can do?

[Kimberkid]

I dont have a real answer, but I was told by someone at Tacsol, that they have done and continue to do their own development on their conversion kit mags. They dont take a "standard" mag or mag from another manufacturer and work with it, but develop their own for their own use. I do know a guy that has had good luck using Kimber .22 conversion mags in his Marvel, if that idea is of any help.

[Ming the Merciless]

The TacSol mags will work with a Marvel conversion, but you will have to modify either the slide stop or the magazine to disable the last shot hold open feature. The easiest method is to grind down the tab on the slide stop that hits the magazine, same as on a centerfire gun.

The TacSol magazine is a little taller than other conversion magazines and may drag on the underside of the Marvel slide near the extractor pivot roll pin. Again you can modify either the slide or all of the magazines to clear. I milled a slight bevel into the slide for clearance, but it could also be filed or dremeled.

Also the roll pin may drift up or down and drag either on the magazine on both Unit 1's & Unit 2's or the underside of the scope/sight rail on Unit 1's.

Are the spent cases not being ejected or are they being left in the chamber? The Marvel is a blow back design so the extractor isn't really pulling the spent case out of the chamber like on a locked breach design, the spent case is pushing the slide back and the extractor is primarily used as a pivot point when the spent case hits the ejector.

[Neomet]

Thanks Ming. I will give those a try. I had just been cycling the gun by hand so I guess with a blowback design it would tend to leave the round in the chamber? I'll take it out to the range after working on the slide stop.

[Ming the Merciless]

You'll probably have to reshape the nose of the extractor to get it to reliably extract unfired rounds. Watch the extractor as you slowly let the slide go into battery and you'll see the extractor move outward as the nose of the extractor touches the extractor cutout in the barrel. Removing a little material and changing the angle of the extractor nose slightly will help. The chamber is so tight that unfired rounds are hard to extract and some brands of ammo fit tighter than others. I reamed the chamber with a Bentz profile ream and that also really helped reliability without much affect on the accuracy.

Bentz Chamber Reamer