Swollen S2 mags?

[ColoradoNick]

Is this generally a thing? I have a half a dozen CZ brand nickel S2 mags setup with mbx followers/springs and Henning extensions that no longer drop from one of my 2 shadow 2’s. Gun they wont drop from is a S2OR and is spotless clean. Mags are swollen at the top when mic’ed and create just enough friction that they won’t drop when the mag release is hit and they are empty. Oddly they work fine in my shadow 2 orange. The mags are all only 7 months old but have seen heavy use. They don’t ever stay loaded and are used for uspsa matches only routinely loaded to 24. New mags work just fine… 

Edited September 8, 2023 by ColoradoNick

[nkresho]

No but that sounds horrible.  Sorry man.  I have a set of 8 nickels with CZC bases that are just over their year mark and about ready for new springs.  A few of them are lazy on the last round tension in that i can pretty much shake it slightly and drop the last one out.  Only mentioning the springs to show the usage mine have.  All drop free when totally empty too..

 

I have a set of 8 of the black mecgars too, with about half that many miles on them with no issues yet.  These drop free well too.

 

Maybe follow this guide to get them back in shape?  I did it with my TSO and it worked perfectly.

 

I did the same with a few wooden dowel rods on mine, I bet it'd work for yours.

 

 

 

nickel widest point 20.49mm

 

nickel skinniest point 20.30mm

 

black widest point 20.52mm

 

black skinniest point 20.37mm

 

This was consistent between the 8 of each, so very little variance for me with the high mileage nickels and the lower black ones.

Edited September 8, 2023 by nkresho

[ColoradoNick]

So the plot thickens, the local gun smith told me they were swollen… i just mic’ed them myself and they are all .79-.80 wide side to side and 1.25 front to back which is identical to the new ones. What else would cause the mags not to drop vs new ones drop freely?!

Edited September 8, 2023 by ColoradoNick

[ColoradoNick]

Mystery solved, it’s the mbx AND rune followers. Putting a stock spring and follower in the old magazine tube allows them to drop fine. Why would this suddenly be an issue?!

[nkresho]

mag brake?  When you pull the grips off, there's a skinny pin that can loosely be pushed out and the mag brake is held in place by it.  If it's backwards or not aligned it could drag.  On some Sp01  versions they used a slightly different style to retain the mags so you could stow them.  

[nkresho]

mine all run the CZC spring follower combo and i only load to 22.  I can get 23 in but it's a little tight to seat.  Maybe that last two rounds is doing it, like the rubber band around the watermelon challenge?

[ColoradoNick]

14 minutes ago, nkresho said:

mag brake?  When you pull the grips off, there's a skinny pin that can loosely be pushed out and the mag brake is held in place by it.  If it's backwards or not aligned it could drag.  On some Sp01  versions they used a slightly different style to retain the mags so you could stow them.  

Mag brake is fine and polished. It HAS to be something with the gun. 

[ColoradoNick]

4 minutes ago, nkresho said:

mine all run the CZC spring follower combo and i only load to 22.  I can get 23 in but it's a little tight to seat.  Maybe that last two rounds is doing it, like the rubber band around the watermelon challenge?

It only does it on empty mags, even with a single snap cap they drop freely. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by ColoradoNick

[DeepFried]

Empty mags with mbx followers don’t have spring tension pushing the mag out. 
 

with the gun holstered if I push the mag release a stock mag will ‘pop’ out and an mbx follower one doesn’t move. 

[Stmark73]

Have you tried removing the slide and checked if the follower is not rubbing on the frame when magazines are ejected empty?

 

Mark S

[ColoradoNick]

On 9/8/2023 at 5:19 PM, Seoderus said:

Empty mags with mbx followers don’t have spring tension pushing the mag out. 
 

with the gun holstered if I push the mag release a stock mag will ‘pop’ out and an mbx follower one doesn’t move. 

But it works fine in one S2, but not my other one

[858]

This isn't that unusual. All magazines swell a little. The factory springs and followers don't put as much pressure on the magazine body transition. There is also a tolerance to the magazine tunnel and opening; some guns are in the middle, some are big, some are small. I had this happen on a TSO. I took a rubberized buffing bit in a Dremel and polished off the finish inside the magazine tunnel. The poly coat was enough to cause the magazine to drag, removing it freed up the loaded magazines.

[ColoradoNick]

5 hours ago, 858 said:

This isn't that unusual. All magazines swell a little. The factory springs and followers don't put as much pressure on the magazine body transition. There is also a tolerance to the magazine tunnel and opening; some guns are in the middle, some are big, some are small. I had this happen on a TSO. I took a rubberized buffing bit in a Dremel and polished off the finish inside the magazine tunnel. The poly coat was enough to cause the magazine to drag, removing it freed up the loaded magazines.

They aren’t actually swollen, and they worked fine for 10k rounds though.

[ColoradoNick]

14 hours ago, Stmark73 said:

Have you tried removing the slide and checked if the follower is not rubbing on the frame when magazines are ejected empty?

 

Mark S

No frame rub

[Pat B.]

Just for fun, I'd take the follower/spring out of the mag and see if the mag tube itself will drop freely.. 

[ColoradoNick]

18 minutes ago, Pat B. said:

Just for fun, I'd take the follower/spring out of the mag and see if the mag tube itself will drop freely.. 

 

stock springs/followers and they drop just fine. I’m guessing the springs are a little worn but it’s odd they still work fine in one gun and suddenly have a good amount of friction in one they used to work fine in… i’ll pull the spring/follower and see if the tubes on their own drop

[858]

16 hours ago, ColoradoNick said:

They aren’t actually swollen, and they worked fine for 10k rounds though.

 

So what's holding them in the gun preventing them from dropping free? If they aren't dragging the frame then what are they dragging? it sounds like you eliminated the mag brake. Maybe the slide lock touching the follower? Angle of the spring at the follower? I don't have MBX springs but CZC springs take a fair amount of work, is this similar? 

Edited September 11, 2023 by 858

[ColoradoNick]

27 minutes ago, 858 said:

 

So what's holding them in the gun preventing them from dropping free? If they aren't dragging the frame then what are they dragging? it sounds like you eliminated the mag brake. Maybe the slide lock touching the follower? Angle of the spring at the follower? I don't have MBX springs but CZC springs take a fair amount of work, is this similar? 

It looks like the friction is coming from the sear cage. 

[Pat B.]

Or, perhaps the slide is pushing the follower forward just enough to hang in the frame.. If I recall correctly those followers have no support within the tube to prevent them from going forward, they are basically flat, top and bottom.

 

I'm probably wrong here, but it bears looking into, I think

Edited September 11, 2023 by Pat B.

[Pat B.]

I think this could happen even with a couple of rounds left in the mag.. at that point the spring tension is nil..

[Tabasco]

I had a similar thing.  For me, the gun looked clean, but there was something small lodged in the mag release spring crevice.  I thought it was the mags at first swelling. Thought it might be the mag release button getting caught up on the grips.  Then finally took the spring out and put it back in and presto drop free mags again.

[BMSMB]

On 9/8/2023 at 12:27 PM, nkresho said:

mag brake?  When you pull the grips off, there's a skinny pin that can loosely be pushed out and the mag brake is held in place by it.  If it's backwards or not aligned it could drag.  On some Sp01  versions they used a slightly different style to retain the mags so you could stow them.  

An incorrectly installed mag break will 100% cause this issue.

[ColoradoNick]

17 hours ago, Tabasco said:

I had a similar thing.  For me, the gun looked clean, but there was something small lodged in the mag release spring crevice.  I thought it was the mags at first swelling. Thought it might be the mag release button getting caught up on the grips.  Then finally took the spring out and put it back in and presto drop free mags again.

This is my next plan, i’ll strip it down when i get a chance. Mag brake is installed correctly.

[Runswithwood1]

Yeah very possibly the mag brake, I have also had the mag catch allow the mag to stick in the gun by mashing it too hard