nontactical Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Okay, I know that mag tuning has been discussed on this forum ad-nausium. I have done all of the searches and looked at almost all of the posts. What I don’t feel has been fully discussed or answered is how much you can expect to get out of a 140mm magazine WITHOUT the Gram’s tuning job or the equivalent. I have several of Gram’s mags, but I don’t have the $ to have him do all of them (20x$90= a lot). The couple of posts that I have read claiming to get 20 or 21 rounds by themselves didn’t fully detail the procedure, or if they did they were a bit out of date. I thought I’d post what I have been doing in the hopes that someone can do better. I have found that I can get 19 rounds in new STI mags (with the much maligned new style follower) and have them fairly reloadable for free. For $8, I can get 19 rounds and a completely reloadable magazine, and maybe 20 depending on the mag. So if anyone is getting 20 or even 21 consistently I would love to know how. Yes, we all know that mags are better after they are professionally tunded. Maybe I should have called this thread “how to build cheaper mags so you aren’t dropping your tuned ones in the mud during practice”. All I do to get one extra round is file the bottom of the follower (quite a bit). There is a sort of flange that sticks out the front and back of the follower maybe ¼” and I just take those down until they are just proud of the two circular posts. If you take them down too far, the follower has a tendency to pop out the top of the magazine if you run it dry (but this isn’t IDPA, so why would you do that?). But you can get it down just far enough to get that extra round in. Most of the time, this is all it takes and I get a reloadable 19 rounds. Sometimes it’s a little tight and I’ll either, A. Take ½ coil off the spring, or B. Spring $8 for an Arredondo “+1” basepad. These are wedge shaped and still legal on 140mm tubes. They are Brownell’s item # 069-000-016. I usually end up with ISMI springs in all of my mags, but this trick works with stock springs just as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 If you already have a 'few grams' mags' don't worry about getting any more tuned especially if you're getting 19 rounds in your untuned ones. There's no reason to. There aren't many stages where you're going to have to have a 20 round mag to start and reload with another that has 20 in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nontactical Posted January 25, 2006 Author Share Posted January 25, 2006 If you already have a 'few grams' mags' don't worry about getting any more tuned especially if you're getting 19 rounds in your untuned ones. There's no reason to. There aren't many stages where you're going to have to have a 20 round mag to start and reload with another that has 20 in it. Right, but my point is that if there is more to be done for free or close to it, I would like to know what it is, and Im sure there are a lot of other shooters who would.. especially those who don't have several hundred $ to send thier mags off to be tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipscbob Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 You can tune for reliability very easily at home with just a few tools. I have never had tubes tuned and get 100% out of them by first polishing the inner surfaces of the feed lips and the insides of the tube bodies using a Dremel Tool and metal polish. Lastly I adjust the front to back taper and the spacing of the feed lips per STIs specs on their website. I find that these dimensions work well for ALL STI and SV tubes. Every now and then I have to adjust a new tube to drop free from all of our open and limited guns. I use a vise to do this.......Thats it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 If you already have a 'few grams' mags' don't worry about getting any more tuned especially if you're getting 19 rounds in your untuned ones. There's no reason to. There aren't many stages where you're going to have to have a 20 round mag to start and reload with another that has 20 in it. Right, but my point is that if there is more to be done for free or close to it, I would like to know what it is, and Im sure there are a lot of other shooters who would.. especially those who don't have several hundred $ to send thier mags off to be tuned. 10/4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azone41 Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 How do you polish the inside of the mag body? Do you use a flex Shaft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCK Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 I just bought 4 dawson tuned 20 round mags for $400.00 while I wait for my new Limited gun. I did buy 2 factory STI mags and threw in Grams guts and ended up with 19 rounds EASILY reloadable. I plan to add Grams base pads to these 2 mags and hope to get 20 reloadable and maybe 21. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benny hill Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 Don't know why everyone is hung up on the 21 rd. mag. With dawson comp. follower & ISMI spring you have a bullet proff 19 in mag + 1 in chamber for 20. Have been shooting most major matches for 15 years & almost never needed more for any stage. Practice on hitting the target's & you wont need as many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted January 25, 2006 Share Posted January 25, 2006 ....Have been shooting most major matches for 15 years & almost never needed more for any stage. Practice on hitting the target's & you wont need as many. So there you have it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) Its a guess but you must be loading 40cal for ? Cuz I get 23 suppers in a 140 with a Dawson base pad. Edited January 26, 2006 by AlamoShooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokshwn Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 (edited) Benny, Take your logic and get outta here Craig Edited January 26, 2006 by smokshwn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCK Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Don't know why everyone is hung up on the 21 rd. mag. With dawson comp. follower & ISMI spring you have a bullet proff 19 in mag + 1 in chamber for 20. Have been shooting most major matches for 15 years & almost never needed more for any stage. Practice on hitting the target's & you wont need as many. Of course, your right...now if we can just teach everyone to drive better we wont need seatbelts and motorcycle helmets...lol I truly believe your logic and I think your right on but even with practice, some of might need that one more bullet . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 Don't know why everyone is hung up on the 21 rd. mag. With dawson comp. follower & ISMI spring you have a bullet proff 19 in mag + 1 in chamber for 20. Have been shooting most major matches for 15 years & almost never needed more for any stage. Practice on hitting the target's & you wont need as many. Beat me to the punch, not as many years but same experience. If you get 19, good enough, seen way to many people have problems trying to get one more round in. Reloads aren't that hard if you actually practice them. True story, I had an RO ask how I got 25 rounds in my mag (140mm .40 cal) at the end of a COF. I replied I didn't see look over there (mag lying on the ground) I had reloaded where he couldn't see (static reload, big swing between targets.) Just happened to be a perfect load that took about the time that it took me to make the big swing. Good reload technique is way better than relying on more rounds "'cause you might miss a few times." Polish them up and set the dimensions per specs and the should work perfect. Beven makes cool holes so you can count your rounds and uses a jig to expand them a bit. He does a good job, if you tinker might not be worth it, if you want it done the first time there more than a few folks that can take your money and deliver a good mag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipscbob Posted January 28, 2006 Share Posted January 28, 2006 How do you polish the inside of the mag body? Do you use a flex Shaft? Yup. Dremel with flex shaft and flitz polish Polish them up and set the dimensions per specs and the should work perfect. Beven makes cool holes so you can count your rounds and uses a jig to expand them a bit. He does a good job, if you tinker might not be worth it, if you want it done the first time there more than a few folks that can take your money and deliver a good mag. This is not brain surgery. Very basic skills involved here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basman Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Lastly I adjust the front to back taper and the spacing of the feed lips per STIs specs on their website. I find that these dimensions work well for ALL STI and SV tubes. Looked on STI's web site and could not find the Mag spec's can someone post them or direct me to them? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Lastly I adjust the front to back taper and the spacing of the feed lips per STIs specs on their website. I find that these dimensions work well for ALL STI and SV tubes. Looked on STI's web site and could not find the Mag spec's can someone post them or direct me to them? Thanks This might help.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Wow, here I been galloping around with 18 rounds... I feel inadequate. Perhaps I will traipse the gravelly fandango and hoist the mighty gods of magdom at Area 1 and rip asunder the limp magged and massed groveling C shooters. Talked to a high speed, fast talkin' shooter and he said "Dang boy, you better have 20 in the mag at area 1 or they gonna eat you alive..." As long as I can reload as fast as lovestoshoot I am gonna keep the 18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjanglin Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I `ve come to the conclusion that ya dont need but 19+1 just like Benny said. As far as polishing the inside of mags I dont believe using a dremel tool is a good Idea for most; I get a lot of mags from customers that have gouges in them,I do use a dremel to take down the welds I make in mags that I make for the caspians, I have some nylon flats 1/4" thick and in various widths about three inches longer than the mags, I wrap emory paper around them and polish the inside of the mags in a in and out motion the direction everything moves in em. I have files that fit in the mags to take down the seams.Takes a little while but its a real good way to polish the inside of the mags. You can also use target lathe to make the polishing sticks,Msc industrial sells polishing sticks but you can sure get a bunch of money tied up in them. Stuffing that last round in a mag is a good way to mess up a good mag eventually,shooters who use those little loading gadgets to stuff their mags full is another bad idea.Ive seen shooters actually split the mags especiall Para mags. Jim Sailors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basman Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Thanks Merlin! now to start banging away on those feed lips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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