Springer Precision 170mm TS/CM extensions

[regor]

Has anyone tried out the SP 170mm extensions for the TS/CM magazines? Do they work well? Do they fit the CZC magwell? 

 

I hear a lot of people have reliability issues with the big stick 9mm mag that require tuning and I'm wondering if using the standard bodies with the extension mitigates that issue. It's also a way cheaper route to a 170mm mag at <$100 total vs $180+ for the big stick + CZC 170mm extension and spring/follower kit.

 

Would love to hear about any experiences with them. 

[huskerlrrp]

My long Czechmate magazine works better than the Springer Precision extension when fully loaded. Grams has springs and followers that I use in all my high cap magazines so I can't comment on the issues others have found.

The rounds/spring/follower can drag on the joint between the extension and magazine on the SP extension. Maybe some polishing would help but I've not worked on it. I just down load the few times I use it.

There is a coupon code for 20% CZUSA on this forum if you are looking to save some money on the "big stick".

Edited September 28, 2019 by huskerlrrp

[regor]

On 9/28/2019 at 3:43 AM, huskerlrrp said:

My long Czechmate magazine works better than the Springer Precision extension when fully loaded. Grams has springs and followers that I use in all my high cap magazines so I can't comment on the issues others have found.

The rounds/spring/follower can drag on the joint between the extension and magazine on the SP extension. Maybe some polishing would help but I've not worked on it. I just down load the few times I use it.

There is a coupon code for 20% CZUSA on this forum if you are looking to save some money on the "big stick".

 

How many rounds do you get when down loaded? Have you taken a look inside without any springs so you can see where the tolerance issue is? 

[huskerlrrp]

On 10/1/2019 at 5:42 PM, regor said:

 

How many rounds do you get when down loaded? Have you taken a look inside without any springs so you can see where the tolerance issue is? 

I've put a little chamfer on the SP base at the rear edge (since it's showed rubbing there) but I probably need to try it on the magazine since the round going up is the issue. Basically if the magazine is loaded to where the 9mm round is inside the basepad it will catch on the magazine/pad transition and lock the whole thing up. I can't reliably use more than maybe 24 rounds with it. I might just have a bad base pad and need to return it to SP as it's no good for me now..

[huskerlrrp]

29 minutes ago, huskerlrrp said:

I've put a little chamfer on the SP base at the rear edge (since it's showed rubbing there) but I probably need to try it on the magazine since the round going up is the issue. Basically if the magazine is loaded to where the 9mm round is inside the basepad it will catch on the magazine/pad transition and lock the whole thing up. I can't reliably use more than maybe 24 rounds with it. I might just have a bad base pad and need to return it to SP as it's no good for me now..

Here's the gap I've struggled with. It would be nice if I could back out the screw on the base to the magazine to align, but it's too far outboard.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Edited October 6, 2019 by huskerlrrp

[regor]

Oooooh that’s weird. That seems like a machining error, Springer should give you a new one. 

 

If not, you could probably shim the front of the magazine a bit to get the magazine back a little. 

[regor]

On 10/6/2019 at 4:32 AM, huskerlrrp said:

Here's the gap I've struggled with. It would be nice if I could back out the screw on the base to the magazine to align, but it's too far outboard.

 

 

So, I decided to take a chance on these since I have had great results with SP products before and their customer service is good so I figured they would make it right if there were fitment issues. 

 

The two I got fit very snuggly and do not have the visible gap seen in your photo. I originally assembled them without the internals to get a look at the internal transition from extension to mag body and there didn’t appear to be any snag points. Manually cycling with them fully loaded didn’t reveal any issues; hopefully they work as well in live fire. If they do I’ll probably sell my OEM big stick and stick with these since they hold 29 reloadable with CZC springs/followers. 

 

 

 

[regor]

Well, I actually have to amend my previous comments. It cycled fine originally when I hand cycled it with my Production loads, which are round nose and loaded to 1.125. Tonight I loaded some major loads, with Everglades JHPs loaded to 1.165, and they would not feed reliably unless the mag was downloaded to ~22 rounds (same with the 140mm extensions I got). PD JHPs loaded to the same length had the same issue. 

 

I may try to shorten them to 1.15 and see if that resolves the issue. 

[regor]

On 10/25/2019 at 11:40 PM, regor said:

Well, I actually have to amend my previous comments. It cycled fine originally when I hand cycled it with my Production loads, which are round nose and loaded to 1.125. Tonight I loaded some major loads, with Everglades JHPs loaded to 1.165, and they would not feed reliably unless the mag was downloaded to ~22 rounds (same with the 140mm extensions I got). PD JHPs loaded to the same length had the same issue. 

 

I may try to shorten them to 1.15 and see if that resolves the issue. 

 

Last update: I finally got these working flawlessly.

 

After tuning the bodies by pinching in the single stack transition they still had periodic nose dives when loaded above 26. I shortened my load to 1.15-1.155 and swapped back to the OEM follower. They still fit 29 rounds and they started running perfectly. Ran them in a local match this weekend with no issue. Toying with them was frustrating but I am really happy with them now that I have them up and running. 

 

Unrelated to the feeding issues, but I did have to file a little material off on the mag bodies where the retaining screw is. That needs to be screwed up about twice as high as in my photo above in order to keep the extension secure. I learned that the hard way two weeks ago when I had a base pad pop off one of my 140s in the middle of a stage and dump 20 + rounds into the dirt.

[huskerlrrp]

I sent my basepad to Springer Precision. They took a look and called me back. He said that the TS magazines move a lot in tolerances so they had to shift my tube to the rear. Not ideal, but not uncommon given the current state of things. They also did some polishing to magazine and basepad. He mentioned that the TS/CZMate mags seem to be difficult for Grams followers and that Gram had made a Mandrel (or something) as there have been a higher number of issues with TS mags lately. Anyway, they offered to send it to Grams, but I'll have them send it my way and do some "fiddling". He also mentioned that bending of the front of the top coil spring rearward (tipping the follower rearward) can help with nose dive issues. They also offered to replace it with a 140mm basepad, etc. 

I'm happy with their customer service. If you have issues, it's worth reaching out.  

[abb1]

I tried the Springer pads a while ago. The screws keep stripping which is no good. Springer must have a better retention system for these. Springer sent a small bag of replacement screws, but the problem is that once they are stripped, the only way of getting them out is to drill them out wrecking the threads and making them useless. I have since fixed these by drilling a hole in the bottom, putting a plastic insert in the hollow base with a hole in it and then use the plate to lock it in place.  You just need to push  an allen key in the hole to unlock them