MemphisMechanic Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 (edited) (Since someone will ask, all of the below combinations require you to set the gun up to NOT lock back when the gun is empty.) So I’ve run a few combinations of guts in the Walther mags, and I’ve finally hit on a combination which hits two key points: * Easy to reload with 23 rounds in the mag * The gun runs reliably at 23+1 The key was @CHA-LEE‘s post in his Range Diary about TTI’s +1 follower for the SVI platform, which costs $10. This thing is super thin. Here’s a comparison pic from my Instagram. I still run the Grams spring for the P-320: https://benstoegerproshop.com/sig-p320-magazine-spring-and-follower-kit-by-grams-engineering/ I just added the TTI follower: https://tarantacticalinnovations.com/tti-sti-sv-ultra-thin-1-follower/ The tried-and-true setup for Walthers has been the P-320 spring and follower from Grams, which offers you a marginally reloadable 23. In actual practice I always downloaded my reload to 22, which meant keeping track of which mag is which. With the TTI follower, your mag will nearly fit 24 rounds. You can compress the spring another 1/4”, so my 23rd magazines seat just as easily as a factory 15rd mags do. The gun also hand-cycles much more smoothly with less drag on the bottom of the slide. Edited October 2, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKorn Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 What happens if you try the thin TTI follower with the stock TTI springs? Has anyone at any point tried modifying (thinning) the stock Walther follower? Currently I’m running the TTI “+5” base pads with the included springs and stock Walther followers and getting 21 reloadable-ish. If I smash the rounds down after loading the magazine as though I’m trying to put in a 22nd round, I can then easily reload to that magazine. If I don’t, then they’re barely relodable. I’d love to get another couple of rounds but don’t like the idea of spending $30 per mag over what I’ve already got into it unless I absolutely have to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 I have no idea where the springs TTI sent wandered off to. The issue of concern is that Walther followers use an entirely different manner of mating the spring to the follower than Grams. TTI’s +1 follower is compatible with the Gram’s springs. The OEM Walther follower is not I’ve successfully taken a belt sander to the Grams P-320 follower to duplicate the TTI follower, but I haven’t tested it yet in live fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B_RAD Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 (edited) I'm buying a Walther now. Kidding. I thought walthers were able to do 23 +1 with no mods? Edited October 2, 2019 by B_RAD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKorn Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 2 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said: I have no idea where the springs TTI sent wandered off to. The issue of concern is that Walther followers use an entirely different manner of mating the spring to the follower than Grams. TTI’s +1 follower is compatible with the Gram’s springs. The OEM Walther follower is not I’ve successfully taken a belt sander to the Grams P-320 follower to duplicate the TTI follower, but I haven’t tested it yet in live fire. Maybe I’ll have to order 1 of the TTI followers to try with the stock TTI springs I have. If I get around to it I’ll add the results here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 10 minutes ago, DKorn said: I’d love to get another couple of rounds but don’t like the idea of spending $30 per mag over what I’ve already got into it unless I absolutely have to. You likely only need one magazine setup for 23+1, having 20 in the others is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKorn Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 23 minutes ago, BritinUSA said: You likely only need one magazine setup for 23+1, having 20 in the others is fine. I’d like to have at least 2, and preferably 3. I don’t want to be planning to reload to my 23 mag and have it get knocked off my belt, causing me to have to change my plan mid stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 (edited) 49 minutes ago, DKorn said: I’d like to have at least 2, and preferably 3. I don’t want to be planning to reload to my 23 mag and have it get knocked off my belt, causing me to have to change my plan mid stage. This! Also, having 24 in the gun before and after the reload allows a lot of flexiblity, simplicity, and aggression in your stage plans. When it comes to things like taking a couple of distant poppers on the move, reloading really deeply into the stage’s round count, and the like. (And sometimes, a local match has a fun stage that’s 36-40 rounds, too. ) Edited October 2, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, BritinUSA said: You likely only need one magazine setup for 23+1, having 20 in the others is fine. If I have four mags setup for 23+1 then I never have to spend my time and attention triple-checking to make sure I’ve grabbed the correct mags in the correct order. They’re all full-capacity mags. Grab and go, and focus on having my stage plan ready. Edited October 3, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrvip27 Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 On 10/2/2019 at 2:01 PM, MemphisMechanic said: If I have four mags setup for 23+1 then I never have to spend my time and attention triple-checking to make sure I’ve grabbed the correct mags in the correct order. They’re all full-capacity mags. Grab and go, and focus on having my stage plan ready. how do you load the plus one to have 3 other 23rd mags on the belt and 1 in the gun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrackCage Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 12 minutes ago, mrvip27 said: how do you load the plus one to have 3 other 23rd mags on the belt and 1 in the gun? Barney mag, or load the gun and then top off the magazine. Same as you would do on any platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrvip27 Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 10 minutes ago, TrackCage said: Barney mag, or load the gun and then top off the magazine. Same as you would do on any platform. duh im dumb lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, mrvip27 said: how do you load the plus one to have 3 other 23rd mags on the belt and 1 in the gun? What TrackCage said. Although honestly, I usually do a fullspeed draw, reload, and rack as part of load and make ready, pulling from my front pouch just like I would during a match. I’ll then swap a full 23 into the gun, holster, and rearrange my mags so the belt has 23/23/22 from front to rear. I have yet to run into a situation where the rear mag being -1 round has been an issue. The benefit to a reloadable 23 is... that’s all I have to worry about. I do not have to go to the tracking which mags are my downloaded reloads (with 22 in them), and which one is full to the brim. Edited October 4, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrvip27 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 3 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said: What TrackCage said. Although honestly, I usually do a fullspeed draw, reload, and rack as part of load and make ready, pulling from my front pouch just like I would during a match. I’ll then swap a full 23 into the gun, holster, and rearrange my mags so the belt has 23/23/22 from front to rear. I have yet to run into a situation where the rear mag being -1 round has been an issue. The benefit to a reloadable 23 is... that’s all I have to worry about. I do not have to go to the tracking which mags are my downloaded reloads (with 22 in them), and which one is full to the brim. That was what I was looking for. Thank you very much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMV Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Maybe I missed it somewhere in there, but what basepads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abigger04 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 And what about using the TT sti spring instead of the grams spring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) @abigger04 if the top of the spring is bent to fit the factory walther follower, it’s shaped all wrong. Look at the image above, you can see the hole toward the middle-rear of the follower that the upper coil of the spring locks into with aftermarket STI/SVI style followers. (Grams also uses this in his P320 follower & spring.) You may be able to reshape it with pliers, but I don’t know if it’ll work. If I find the TTI springs someday, I’ll try it. Edited October 4, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abigger04 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 4 minutes ago, MemphisMechanic said: @abigger04 if the top of the spring is bent to fit the factory walther follower, it’s shaped all wrong. Look at the image above, you can see the hole toward the middle-rear of the follower that the upper coil of the spring locks into with aftermarket STI/SVI style followers. (Grams also uses this in his P320 follower & spring.) You may be able to reshape it with pliers, but I don’t know if it’ll work. If I find the TTI springs someday, I’ll try it. What I meant was: what about using the TT follower and spring rather than the TT follower and grams spring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) Which TTI spring? The TTI spring that came with my extensions fits a walther follower, as I explained above. Not their own “+1 SVI” follower. Edited October 4, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abigger04 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 https://tarantacticalinnovations.com/springs/sti-sv/ I was looking at this one but it probably wouldn’t work in a Walter mag. Which basepads are you using to get 23+1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKorn Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 1 hour ago, MemphisMechanic said: @abigger04 if the top of the spring is bent to fit the factory walther follower, it’s shaped all wrong. Look at the image above, you can see the hole toward the middle-rear of the follower that the upper coil of the spring locks into with aftermarket STI/SVI style followers. (Grams also uses this in his P320 follower & spring.) You may be able to reshape it with pliers, but I don’t know if it’ll work. If I find the TTI springs someday, I’ll try it. So the stock TTI springs will not fit the TTI thin followers, correct? If so, that explains why you have to use the Grams springs with the thin TTI followers to make this work. In that case I won’t waste my time trying it with the TTI springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 4, 2019 Author Share Posted October 4, 2019 (edited) @DKorn correct. Any spring compatible with the orange Walther followers will not work with the thin followers from Grams or TTI. I’ll try to post a photo in a day or two. You MIGHT be able to modify the top end of the spring to make it work, but I haven’t yet tried. I’ll look at it soon. Edited October 4, 2019 by MemphisMechanic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PocketPistol Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 With grams followers/spring I had issues where mag wouldn't drop free on empty. Does the grams spring and tti +1 provide a smooth magazine release? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 You did grind every trace off the corner of the follower that is supposed to lift the slide stop up? That’s mandatory. It isn’t in the correct spot to function as a lock-open device when you run them in a Walther. No reason to leave it behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PocketPistol Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 That was the trick - 2 seconds on the dremel and my mags are dropping free with grams followers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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