Magazine Seating Problem

[Fergus]

The two new K40 mag’s that came with my Limited Custom will not seat properly without really slamming them home.

My older K40 and chrome mag’s seat just fine in the new gun so I'm kind of baffled as to what the problem is. Trouble shooting so far has found:

- With the slide open all mags are easy to seat

- The new magazines had longer springs [200mm] than my current magazines [180-185mm] so I cut a coil off so the springs from the new mag’s matched the length of the springs in my current magazines

I pulled the slide off and didn’t see any rub points or "ding's". There is a bit of “wiggle room” around the top of all the magazines when they are seated in the magwell with the slide off.

I checked the dimensions of the new mag's versus the old mags; length, width etc. and didn't see anything jumping out.

Looking for idea’s as to what the cause of the problem is.

Thanks

Edited July 11, 2015 by Fergus

[GrumpyOne]

Cutting a coil off the spring makes them shorter, but actually makes them stiffer...there some kind of physics/math/voodoo that I don't understand that does it, but it does. I suggest buying the correct length springs and replacing the ones that you cut a coil off of.

[Fergus]

I can get a couple of mag springs on my next order - it will be interesting to see what they ship.

I went back and checked the new mags after GrumpyOne mentioned cutting a coil and you are correct cutting a coil made them harder to load. I could only get about 7rounds in them. I thought I checked the one mag after cutting the coil but must have grabbed the older K40 instead.

I will not be using the mag's in competition until the problem is solved, whatever it is.

The black K40's have a spacer in the back of the mag - for lack of a better term. If I yank that out I could put one of the chrome mag followers in and see if that makes a difference. But that is getting somewhat desperate. The only reason I mention it was I had to do that with my older K40 as the spacer was bent and loose when I got it.

[Edited after double checking GrumpyOne comment]

Edited July 11, 2015 by Fergus

[Nealio]

Cutting a coil off the spring makes them shorter, but actually makes them stiffer...there some kind of physics/math/voodoo that I don't understand that does it, but it does. I suggest buying the correct length springs and replacing the ones that you cut a coil off of.

It makes them have a stiffer rate, but they will have less force compressed to the same length.

[Nealio]

I can get a couple of mag springs on my next order - it will be interesting to see what they ship.

I went back and checked the new mags after GrumpyOne mentioned cutting a coil and you are correct cutting a coil made them harder to load. I could only get about 7rounds in them. I thought I checked the one mag after cutting the coil but must have grabbed the older K40 instead.

I will not be using the mag's in competition until the problem is solved, whatever it is.

The black K40's have a spacer in the back of the mag - for lack of a better term. If I yank that out I could put one of the chrome mag followers in and see if that makes a difference. But that is getting somewhat desperate. The only reason I mention it was I had to do that with my older K40 as the spacer was bent and loose when I got it.

[Edited after double checking GrumpyOne comment]

You want the K40 mags with the K40 follower. The older mags suck and feel poorly. Don't take the spacer out.

Are you talking fully loaded mags? With an extension or what kind of base pad are you using?

[Fergus]

Nealio the spacer from my old K40 is gone - as it was loose and rattling around inside - anyway it still has the old K40 follower and there is a bigger gap at the back but it feeds okay and has not given me any trouble.

That said, I found out what the problem was.

I had a couple of rounds that were for some reason quite long and hanging up/binding in the mag. I have double checked all my other dummy rounds as well as match ammo and they are all good [correct length]. I have been able to fully load the mags. I also put a metal straight edge on the spacer of each of the new mags and checked fit and they are okay.

New springs are on order and when they arrive will be going in.

Thanks for the suggestions and help.

Dave

[Nealio]

How does a K40 spacer get loose? Never heard of that.

[Fergus]

Nealio,

This is just a guess, but given the dimples along the edge of the mag look the same as my other mags it could be that the mag and spacer were not perfectly aligned when it was assembled, or that the spacer had a slight bend/twist in it.

What I know, is that the mag when empty rattled and I easily pulled the spacer out with a pair of needle nose pliers. So I tried the mag without the spacer and it worked fine so I tossed the spacer.