Mag fails to drop free

[jmbaccolyte]

I have a factory magazine made in 1997 for a Beretta 96D that doesn't drop free when the slide is locked back. It will drop free with the slide forward. The top & bottom edges (especially the bottom edge) of the mag catch slot was damaged enough to form a burr. I filed off the burr but it didn't solve the issue. My finger slides over the slot on the other side of the magazine but drags on the side that was burred (especially the bottom edge). Maybe the mag is actually bent at the slot? I don't have a really good straight end to check to see if it's bent, just a carpenter's square. The carpenter's square doesn't show any bend. Any ideas and how common is this?

Edited January 21, 2012 by jmbaccolyte

[NuJudge]

I have several of the recent enhanced capacity magazines for 92 and 96 pistols that fail to drop free, but all the ones I have from the period of yours drop free.

All of my magazines have been inserted and removed from pistols a lot, causing a lot of finish wear,smoothing both them and the insides of the pistols.

Are you seeing different finish wear on one side of your magazines than you are on the other?

If you lack a good straight-edge, do you have a glass tabletop or mirror to set it against?

AIM has a really good sale on lightly used 96 magazines right now.

[jmbaccolyte]

Thanks for the reply and ideas, NuJudge. The finish has held up really well, but there is some finish wear on the opposite side of the mag from the mag catch slot. This wear runs vertically from top to bottom of the mag. I used a safety razor (I wonder if the young guys know what that is?) blade and it revealed that the upper and lower edges of the mag catch slot are still sticking out past the rest of the mag by a little. I have five other mags for this pistol, but I'll check the AIM website, thanks.

I doubt this makes a difference, but the mag is one of the "Restricted Law Enforcement/Government Use Only" mags from the assault weapon ban era. They were evil because they held 11 instead of 10 rounds. The ban expired before I retired, so they allowed me to keep my own property.

[whistlepig]

Try inserting the empty mag while the gun is field stripped. Usually that gives you enough open area to see the problem. Try it with the problem magazine and one that works well and see if you can spot something out of place. Having a good light under the magwell shining at you helps.

[jmbaccolyte]

Thanks guys, it is solved. I filed some more on the magazine catch slot area and it cleared the problem up. Don't know why the problem was with only one mag, but at least now I know what to look for and how to solve it. Maybe I got too rough one particular magazine changing session, I don't know.