Witness Limited mag release is loose, options?

[Lunchboxx]

While cleaning my Limited 40 the other day, I swapped my base pads onto new mags with new followers and springs. I inserted them all into the gun to ensure there were no hangups, and found that all of them easily came free with a small amount of wiggling and pulling. Fiddling with the mag release button I noticed it was ever so slightly loose, in that it would rotate a degree or two around the trigger bar. I've attached a video to show this off. Now, when I apply pressure to the non-button side of the mag release, securing it in place, the mags will not come out no matter how much I try.

I took everything apart and tried stretching out the mag catch spring just a hair to see if that would fix it. There was little to no difference. I've got some old 10mm shiny black mags that do NOT have this issue, but my MG WIT 40-LF marked used mags, and my brand new unused K40 marked mags both easily drop free with a bit of wiggling.

Is it just time to replace the mag catch and the spring with new ones or am I missing a potential bigger issue?

Thanks for the help!

Video:

Pics (click for megahuge):

Edited October 15, 2013 by Lunchboxx

[CHA-LEE]

The new Mec-Gar style magazines have a more rounded front edge where the mag catch latch engages the notch in the magazine. This more rounded area reduces how deep the mag catch latch engages the notch in the magazine. The old style 10mm magazines have a more square front edge so more of the mag catch engages the notch.

You have two options here.

(1) Replace the mag release with a new one. The mag catch latch will be pointier on a new one and it will engage the notch better.

(2) You can attempt to bend the mag catch inward so the latch ends up being deeper set into the notch. I have bent a couple of mag catches inward like this with mixed results. If you bend it too far, it will not move smoothly in the frame or the opposite side will push into the side of the magazine when you push the button all the way in. You also risk snapping it in half. Its easily bent by putting in lengthwise in a vise and slowly squeeze it to the desired bending depth.

[kneelingatlas]

Want to trade those K40 mags for some old 10mm mags???

[Lunchboxx]

That's pretty much what I was thinking, thanks. I've got to see if I can snag a new release asap though, I'm taking Stoeger's class next weekend and would like to not worry about my mags falling out. Hopefully I can bend mine without snapping it or rendering it useless in the mean time.

And I'm keeping my K40s, they're solid enough and I'm not about to go back to the whole "load long and maybe they'll feed THIS time" game.

[Lunchboxx]

A torch and a table vise later, and it seems to be working just fine for now. I'm still going to order a replacement mag catch, but I feel a lot better knowing I should be able to go another weekend without issue. Thanks again for the help.

[Workingspy]

I am having this same problem.

Well actually the first part of my problem is I'm using CZ mags so I should expect some issues lol. So I went and changed to a extended mag release and all of a sudden my mag situation got preaty bad. Prior to the swap all my CZ mags worked fine other then being a bit loose. After the swap my 9mm CZ mags didn't hold in at all and would just drop out with a wiggle of my wrist. My CZ .40 mags still work fine but they will come out a the slightest touch of the mag button. I sold the 9mm mags and I am learning to not touch my mag release at all while shooting with the CZ .40 mags. I have tired with proper Tanfoglio mags and it works perfectly despite the loose mag release, unfortunatly they are not easy to get up here and not so cheap either, and I need five . I will buy them asap but for now I have to live with what I have.

Now that I have read this post and see how much the mag release moves from to side I know I have the exact same problem.

Cheers,

Evan