Mags not dropping free

[buckaroo45]

I have a new Taurus PT1911 in 9mm to run in USPSA Single Stack minor. I dis assembled, cleaned and lubricated the gun and installed a small aftermarket magwell. I aquired 5 Dawson Supreme Tactical 10 round mags per recommended here. 2 of which wouldn't drop free. A little squeeze on the mag body above the mag latch slot resolved that and all 5 dropped perfectly. Took it to the range and NONE of the mags dropped after shooting a full mag of double taps and in fact were sorta stuck and needed convincing to drop. Got it home and all 5 drop perfectly. Any ideas on why?

Thx,

Ron

US Navy Aviator - ex

NRA Life

USPSA FY63917

SoFla Pistol Club

D shooter aspiring to become an A poser

[Steve RA]

They - mags - will probably "swell" when loaded, may be small clearance in the mag well. Take off slide and see if you can see any place in the frame that seems to protrude, also check the trigger bow to see if any of it protrudes into the magazine area. Run a loaded mag up into frame and see if you can notice any points where it may be dragging.

[Steve RA]

One other thing you might check, if the loaded mags still hang up after trying the above, remove the magazine release from the frame, sometimes it will have a high spot and hang up the mags falling free. One portion of it to check is see if there is some protrusion into the magazine well area with it pushed all the way in.

[mike4045]

Measure the mags loaded and unloaded with calipers also. To see if they are changing when loaded.

[pyrrhic3gun]

Another possibility is that the magazine follower is slipping by and hanging on the slide stop.

Take the slide off, put the slide stop back in place on the receiver, then insert an empty mag.

See if the mag follower is positively engaging the slide stop or if the follower could slip by and hang up.

[Bob DuBois]

Mag wells need to be fitted is it dragging on the magazine? Use a flat file to shape the magazine well to clear.

I'll usually remove around two coils from the magazine release spring along with polishing the ramp so mags slide in easily.

With the parts out of the frame do a light polish. I use a long 1/8th drill bit with some 600 paper taped to it lightly polish any rough edges from the inside of the magazine well.

Make sure the trigger bow is not hanging on the magazine. You'll see marks on the bow when you remove it to polish inside the magazine well.

[buckaroo45]

HUZZAH! There's good news tonight! er day. One further bit of the puzzle turned out to be the mag(s) wouldn't drop free ONLY at slide lock. Made a list of all the above ideas in no particular order and eliminated them one at a time. Turns out I can add one more possible cause. I won't bore you with all the gyrations I tried. It ultimately turned out to be a combination of a small wire edge on the bottom of the barrel feed ramp and the top leading edge of the magazine being just a bit too far toward the ramp. The Dawson mags have a "speed bump" bent into the top of the mag that I'm guessing helps position rounds as they are being fed onto the ramp. See pic. Anyway, stoned the wire edge off the ramp and applied a couple affermative taps to the mag(s) with my trusty Brownells gunsmith hammer and VOILA! The lights came on, bluebirds of happiness flew around the room towing banners saying "Congratulations" and I think I heard a faint trumpeted "Ta-Da" in the distance. Life is good.

A secondary benefit of this exercise is that I now have a much greater understanding of the subleties of the 1911 platform and can field strip one in something less than 10 seconds! Thanks to all who participated.

Edited March 24, 2013 by buckaroo45