Refinishing Mags

[Vlad]

My sweat is murder on blued mag bodies, specially here in soggy NJ. If I dont wipe them down the day of the match, in a couple of days they are covered with a fine rust layer. I was thinking of grabing some of the teflon bake on finishes that Brownells and other sell and refinishing my mags. Does anyone have any words of wisdom on what finishes are thin enough not to interfere with reloads and mag drops and yet be hard enough to not wear out to fast from being banged against the gun?

And I've checked, and no one seems to make stainless CZ mags.

[PaulW]

I had a whole set hardchromed one time. These were the slickest mags I have ever used. Remember talking with TT and Max at the FL. Open a fews years back when they asked me about them, they were so shinny they wanted to know what I did.

[reneet]

+1 on the hard chrome.

[ChuckS]

+2 hard chrome. It lasts. I shoot in inland Ca where you are sure to sweat like a pig during the summer. I then go home to a place close to the ocean with some salt content in the atmosphere. No sign of corrosion.

[Vlad]

Hmm.. I may do that. It just feels wrong to spend $20 or more on $15 mags

[.40AET]

Tripp Research

$15 Each

[Vlad]

Yeah, Tripp was my choice too, unless I could find someone local, but I added shipping in to get my $20 guess. I need to see if anyone in my area can do it. I rather not be without my mags for a long period of time. Though I guess it would give me a reason to shoot my .45 in L10 or something.

[al503]

I don't know if this helps any or not but when I got my blued mags for my sig, I 'waxed' them with a synthetic sealant for cars called Zaino. This not only made them slicker than you could imagine, it also stopped any rusting. I had them sitting outside in the garage all winter long last year with some STI tubes (that I hadn't treated) and while there was some rust on the STI's, there was absolutely no rust on the sig mags.

[reneet]

I don't know if this helps any or not but when I got my blued mags for my sig, I 'waxed' them with a synthetic sealant for cars called Zaino. This not only made them slicker than you could imagine, it also stopped any rusting. I had them sitting outside in the garage all winter long last year with some STI tubes (that I hadn't treated) and while there was some rust on the STI's, there was absolutely no rust on the sig mags.

A much cheaper option to be sure. There is a product from Blue Wonder called Armadillo that's specifically marketed for the gun industry but it seems alot like hard paste car wax to me with the same installation instructions. Apply with damp towel, let dry to haze, wipe off.

[jeffscaspian]

+3 on the hard chrome. It may cost alittle now but it would be worth it in the long run.

[kevin c]

Another vote for hard chrome. Got mine done by Beven Grams, who, as part of the tune up package I'd also asked for, made sure that the dimensions were within ideal spec AFTER the chrome job. That way, they were perfect and ready to run on receipt, no need to wear them in.

I'd made the mistake of getting a teflon finish on some of my mags. Tefni, I think it was called. Nice and slick, but ugly as all get out, and unfortunately it began to wear badly. It also changed the internal dimensions enough that the aftermarket follower kits I installed would bind. I got those chromed too, but between the initial prep to put on the finish, and the need to strip it to get back to bare metal for the chroming, I lost the smooth surface needed for a mirror chrome finish and had to settle for matte chrome (okay, but not very Bling-Bling ).

It's also true that these were standard capacity (formerly "hicap") mags during the Clinton Ban, so that I wanted and was willing to pay to keep what I had and couldn't get more of in the best working condition possilble. These are, with the tune up, chrome and Grams base pads, three figure magazines. But since I live in California and still can't get new standard cap mags, it turned into a good investment - still running strong after all these years.