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SVI Mags in a STI gun


jedmyers

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I just received 3 SVI Mags for my STI open gun. Ive done a lot of searching and I was curious if anyone has found any new tricks to make them works efficiently in my gun. Does everyone still file the mag catch hole or modify the mag catch itself? thanks!

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Just bought a new SVI 9mm 140 from SV last week - it's VERY tight in my newer (late winter 2013) STI. Takes a serious yank to pull it out of the grip frame.

The mag catch slot will also need modded ................

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I have. You have to jam the mags in for the catch to grab them, which of course when you go to drop the mag it doesn't drop freely.

I ordered the ck arms mag catch to give it a try, as I heard it works well with no modifications. It should be in Thursday.

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i use svi mags exclusively. i did not do anything to mag release just put a little bevel on the frame so the mag would fit into it. made sure slide would not drag or mag hit the ejector. works great. drops out of my 2 phoenix trinity grips with no drag at all. come to think of it i did smooth out the mag release button holes in the mags but i am like that. everything needs to be smooth or polished.

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Just bought a new SVI 9mm 140 from SV last week - it's VERY tight in my newer (late winter 2013) STI. Takes a serious yank to pull it out of the grip frame.

The mag catch slot will also need modded ................

Messing with the hole in the mag is probably not going to help that. You may need to squish the mag a little at the top front to back. Take the slide off and see where it is hitting.

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The mag hole mod is not the correct approach, it will place the round lower on the feed ramp and can cause feeding issues.

You need to work on the frame to make the mag seat fully. Sometimes the SVI mags are wide and need to be ground or sanded slightly. I found the best process is to mark the mag with a sharpie and insert it a few times and find the interference points and then fix those.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I know a number of guys here with STI's who have tried SV and SPS mags.

The end result has been to get the genuine STI mags rather than trying "Band Aid" type fixes.

I was the STI distributor in NZ many years ago so that's my 2 cents worth. :D

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which mags are better and why?

The STI mags have much better tolerance control, their dimensions are far more predictable - if one works in your gun, all others will work too. I've had many different open guns, and never met one in which a random STI mag did not work. I never had to tune them... period.

With SVI there is huge lottery going on. The variations in dimensions are large, even for the same batch of magazines. For instance, one ouf ot a batch of three, all bought with the same new SVI gun, would not drop free. One of the three would consistently go salt shaker.

I had been getting much more predictable results with STI's, but I like the looks and feel of the SVI better, so I use them. :)

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which mags are better and why?

The STI mags have much better tolerance control, their dimensions are far more predictable - if one works in your gun, all others will work too. I've had many different open guns, and never met one in which a random STI mag did not work. I never had to tune them... period.

With SVI there is huge lottery going on. The variations in dimensions are large, even for the same batch of magazines. For instance, one ouf ot a batch of three, all bought with the same new SVI gun, would not drop free. One of the three would consistently go salt shaker.

I had been getting much more predictable results with STI's, but I like the looks and feel of the SVI better, so I use them. :)

What he said B)

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ive shot one full match with my Sti using the svi mags. It didn't go well, the bullets would nose dive right into the ramp. So I'm trying to figure out if maybe the bullets are to long or if it's the mags. As for the sps mags, I've got 3 tubes, 2 140's and a 170 but I've never used them.

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This is with a modified mag release....

See my post in the beginning of the thread. You need to fix the root cause of the problem. Get the mag where it needs to go.

Edited by jid2
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Hello: The problem with a lot of the SVI mags is that the feed lips are too narrow. Open them up and change the angle the bullet rests at and they are good. I use the old style SVI mags but still have had to squeeze them to make them square. The new STI mags are great a lot better than they used to be. Thanks, Eric

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