cheby Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 (edited) Hi, I have 5 18-round magazines that I have been using for practice only (I shoot matches with Mecgar mags only). I have never liked the original mags but they worked okay for around 15K rounds. Recently I started experiencing a lot of FTF issues with those magazines while the mecgar ones work alright. So I bought the +10% springs and finally cleaned the mags:). It did not fix the problem, however. Do I need to tune the mags once in a while or are they just done and good for dryfire only from now on? Thanks Edited January 19, 2016 by cheby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I think that the CZ magazines are made from softer metal than the Mec-Gar ones. I've relegated my CZ magazines to dry-fire practice and do all my live fire with Mec-Gar 17-round AFC ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJART Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I ordered five Mec Gar's the same day I dros'ed my pistol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 Hi, I have 5 18-round magazines that I have been using for practice only (I shoot matches with Mecgar mags only). I have never liked the original mags but they worked okay for around 15K rounds. Recently I started experiencing a lot of FTF issues with those magazines while the mecgar ones work alright. So I bought the +10% springs and finally cleaned the mags:). It did not fix the problem, however. Do I need to tune the mags once in a while or are they just done and good for dryfire only from now on? Thanks Hi, I have 5 18-round magazines that I have been using for practice only (I shoot matches with Mecgar mags only). I have never liked the original mags but they worked okay for around 15K rounds. Recently I started experiencing a lot of FTF issues with those magazines while the mecgar ones work alright. So I bought the +10% springs and finally cleaned the mags:). It did not fix the problem, however. Do I need to tune the mags once in a while or are they just done and good for dryfire only from now on? Thanks Ask Stuart at CZ Custom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArrDave Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I think that the CZ magazines are made from softer metal than the Mec-Gar ones. I've relegated my CZ magazines to dry-fire practice and do all my live fire with Mec-Gar 17-round AFC ones.It's It's actually thinner. If you weigh a mag body of a CZ 18 rounder and a mag body of a CZ 16 rounder, the mag body of the 16 is actually HEAVIER. Which doesn't make sense to me, unless they realized the OEM rubber grips are wildly heavy and they were looking to save weight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 What kind of feeding issue? Is it usually the 4th-5th round in the mag that fails to feed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheby Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 What kind of feeding issue? Is it usually the 4th-5th round in the mag that fails to feed? Yes, that is correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 (edited) What kind of feeding issue? Is it usually the 4th-5th round in the mag that fails to feed? Yes, that is correct. I had the same issue show up pretty bad at a major match I traveled to. It was very frustrating but I figured it out after day 1 and stayed up late in my hotel room tuning the issue out. By that time it was too late as I had already racked up 20 seconds worth of malfunctions. The internal geometry of the OEM SP01 mags is such that the follower loses a little bit of upward tension from the mag spring around the 4th-5th round (when running 10 rounds.) What happens is that the bullet tends to nose dive a little. +10% springs help but it doesn't solve the issue. I was running +10% springs at this match and still had the issue. What compounds the issue is the feed lips getting banged up from use. As the rear of the case drags on the banged up feed lips, it makes the round want to nose dive even more. Once the round nose dives enough, the case mouth gets hung up on the front of the mag no matter how much crimp you have. A good way to check is to hand cycle some rounds through the gun. If the feed lips are banged up and sharp, you'll see two scratches running down the length of the ejected round. The solution is to smooth out the feed lips and put a bevel on the front of the mag so even if a round hits, it will still make it out of the mag. ETA-I use MecGars for matches. They feed much better and don't have the loss of tension/feeding issue. However, after doing the mod that I described above I have not had any issues with the factory mags which I use for practice and indoor matches. Even with +10% springs though, you still get the loose round rattle sound when loading 10 rounds. Edited January 20, 2016 by d_striker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheby Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 Thank you. I was warned by several people that the OAM magazines are problematic. I guess I need to buy more mecgars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Thank you. I was warned by several people that the OAM magazines are problematic. I guess I need to buy more mecgars... Smooth out the feed lips and put the bevel on the front with a Dremel and the issue will go away. Even with MecGars, you should keep an eye on the feed lips. Especially if you don't have separate dry fire mags. A metal frame chews up the feed lips eventually if you're like me and don't always nail your reloads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpredictable Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I measured the feed lips of my competition mags and a couple new mags. For two years I have run 2 16's, 2 17 mec gars and 2 18's. Feed lip spread was .345 for new mags and .343-.348 for the 16's and the 17's. The 18's measured .354 and .365. The 18's are now loaded with 10 empty rounds for dry fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I measured the feed lips of my competition mags and a couple new mags. For two years I have run 2 16's, 2 17 mec gars and 2 18's. Feed lip spread was .345 for new mags and .343-.348 for the 16's and the 17's. The 18's measured .354 and .365. The 18's are now loaded with 10 empty rounds for dry fire. Good info. I forgot to mention that in my post as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpredictable Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I was also beginning to have some feeding failures while using the 18's. Think the springs in them went bad faster than the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneBray Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 60k+ rnds on my CZ SP01 mags + all my dry fire. The only feeding issues were directly related to mags springs. I check the lips occasionally and have had to make minor adjustments. I suspect the feed lip issue is from mags being stepped on/damaged during a COF but not certain of that. I keep the mags clean and always clean mags before major matches with CLP (well almost always -- shot a match in the desert with a lot of wind and dust so cleaned mags and no oil/lub). YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 60k+ rnds on my CZ SP01 mags + all my dry fire. The only feeding issues were directly related to mags springs. I check the lips occasionally and have had to make minor adjustments. I suspect the feed lip issue is from mags being stepped on/damaged during a COF but not certain of that. I keep the mags clean and always clean mags before major matches with CLP (well almost always -- shot a match in the desert with a lot of wind and dust so cleaned mags and no oil/lub). YMMV Gene-most of my damage to the feed lips was from botched reloads. In other words, the feed lips hitting metal frame on pistol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheby Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 I check the lips occasionally and have had to make minor adjustments. What adjustments do you have to do? If the feed lip spreads deviate from the brand new is it possible to fix the issue by simply adjusting the spread back to factory spec? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneBray Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I check the lips occasionally and have had to make minor adjustments. What adjustments do you have to do? If the feed lip spreads deviate from the brand new is it possible to fix the issue by simply adjusting the spread back to factory spec? I have two new mags; never used. Use callipers to compare feed lip measurements. Typically, I find mags with feed lip spread but occasionally, narrowing at the lips. Adjust as necessary to get the lips back as close as I can to the measurements on the new mags. My experience is close is good enough. Don't need measurement in the 1/1000 to 1/10000th of an inch. ~ 1/10 or less is more than good enough. I have one or two mags with minor dents in the sides. Most likely stepped on and with something like a rock under the mag. All work flawlessly regardless of how many rnds are loaded. YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdave24 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 (edited) Where are you beveling the mag? Edited January 21, 2016 by bigdave24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheby Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 Where are you beveling the mag? yeah, I was wondering about it as well. It would be awesome if you could post any pix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_striker Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 (edited) Where are you beveling the mag? On the front of the mag where the case mouth would hit when a round nose dives. Just putting the bevel on without fixing the feed lips is not the solution though. To fix the root cause, you need to 1.) make sure the lips are properly spaced & 2.) smooth out any rough spots on the under sides of the feed lips which contact the round when it's in the mag. The bevel is just extra insurance. The feed lips will get banged up. Look at the magwell on your gun. If it looks anything like mine, it's pretty beat up. Guess what's banging on that metal? You should be inspecting the feed lips on all your mags regardless of what brand you're using. Edited January 22, 2016 by d_striker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidwiz Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Not to nay-say anyone's experiences, but I shot the recent Mid Atlantic Sectional match (300+ rounds) using factory SP-01 18rnd mags in a very dusty/muddy environment and never cleaned my mags (other than knocking them on my leg) and didn't have any gun/magazine/ammo malfunctions with my CZC SP-01 Shadow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheby Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 So what tools do I need to adjust the feed lips? Just regular pliers or something like this: http://www.shootersconnectionstore.com/Dawson-Precision-STI-2011-Magazine-Tuning-Kit-P705.aspx Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheby Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 Not to nay-say anyone's experiences, but I shot the recent Mid Atlantic Sectional match (300+ rounds) using factory SP-01 18rnd mags in a very dusty/muddy environment and never cleaned my mags (other than knocking them on my leg) and didn't have any gun/magazine/ammo malfunctions with my CZC SP-01 Shadow. As I said before, I have been shooting those mags for over 15K without any issues until recently. The new ones are alright. They get damaged at some point though. The spring replacement alone does not help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 So what tools do I need to adjust the feed lips? Just regular pliers or something like this: http://www.shootersconnectionstore.com/Dawson-Precision-STI-2011-Magazine-Tuning-Kit-P705.aspx Thanks Dead blow hammer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
himurax13 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I wonder why the 16 round megcars don't have these issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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