TDean Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Do replacement 140mm tubes for STI/SV mags need tuning to hold 20rds? I was talking to a major mag tuner the other day and he indicated that only about 10% of STI tubes will NOT require tuning and that most of them will need work. Another shooter I talked to implied that STI manufactured tubes have a better chance of needing tuning than SV's. Experiences? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 My 40 STI mags did not need to be tuned. They all worked great w/ Grams follower/spring/pad combination. Perhaps I got lucky. The 38 mags were a different story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loves2Shoot Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I have never had to tune a STI or SVI factory mag, they all work every time (I have about 16 of them), but maybe I'm just lucky. SVI seems to have tighter tolerances from the products I have seen. To get 20 in a .40 I tuned .45 STI mags to .40 specs, I am told the mag body is wider, but I use SV mags in my 40 so I haven't measured a 40 sti mag. If you want to make STI .40 mags hold 20 you will probably be better off sending them off to Beven or another major mag tuner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Merricks Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 I have had to tune all of my STI tubes. I've got them running but not great with 20 rounds yet. When I get a chance I'm going to send them to Brazo. He will tune tubes only, which is one thing I like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaman Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 dawson does some mag tuning, i had a bunch tuned and numbered for the 40 cal. i just bought, from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 Generally, yes, the .40 mags need to be tuned to hold 20 rounds, feed reliably and be "reloadable". Beven Grams is the best at this. Trust me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keninaz Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Beven informed me yesterday that he is no longer tuning magazines. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 I've got some that have been tuned and others that haven't. They all work fine in my gun. Add a Grams spring, 4mm basepad and follower and you should get 20, reloadable, without much trouble. The only thing I've had to do is adjust the followers a bit to lower the slide stop ledge (the Grams followers sit really high). You could always buy the parts and assemble them and if they're not working right, send the tubes to Brazos for tuning...might save some bucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucas Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Dawson no longer also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Abrahams Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Beven AND Dave does anyone know whats going on...Chet, Roy??? are they getting out of the "custom" business altogether? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 In the last 4 or 5 months I have bought over a dozen STI magazines in 38/9 and 40. Every single one of them needed tuning. There were several that the factory STI follower wouldn't even come to the top. Several wouldn't drop free from a frame and grip that have been sanded out and that I KNOW is plenty generous internally. Two of the Super mags wouldn't hold a super between the lips if you loaded more than 3 rounds, it would just spit them back out at you. To cut to the chase, STI magazines are REALLY inconsistent. If you buy a new one today and it runs out of the package go buy a lottery ticket. SV magazines, in my very limited experience are a good bit better. BUT, they still need a little tweaking to be perfect. I won't accept a magazine that 'runs', sooner or later it will bite you. I need to pull the top off a dirty gun and see the bullet marks on the feedramp in a nice neat circle half way to two thirds of the way up the ramp. I need to see the bullet marks in the top of the chamber halfway down or so and relatively short. Lots of guys tune magazines, they just don't guarantee capacity. Getting magazines tuned isn't a big deal nor is it very costly, you just need to get the right guy. It shouldn't take months and months to get them back either. Tuning to a guaranteed capacity is a little more difficult but not impossible. I tune all my own, and a few for friends, but no way am I taking on tuning for just anyone until I finish the tooling I need to get the tubes straightened out. Once I get the tooling done I will be able to make a tube straight, dimensionally correct, and workable in one step. Then tune the lips and it will be done. Without the tooling to 'fix' the tube it can be a nightmare straightening some of the tubes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 HSMITH, once you have that sorted out... you could quite possibly have a nice little business tuning mags... Be aware, though, that could drown in the amount of work Price yourself accordingly.... BTW - I think Brazos still sells tuned mags - $125/ea w/ Grams or Dawson pad, Grams guts... If you buy the 4 pack, they come numbered, as well - I don't know if Bob will number single mags for you or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin40 Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Beven AND Dave does anyone know whats going on...Chet, Roy??? are they getting out of the "custom" business altogether? I talked to Beven last week, he no longer tunes your mags. He now sells completed tuned mags. The amount of time it takes to tune someone elses mags must take alot more time an effort. Keeping track of everyones mags, shipping etc. Now he can just buy a lot of tubes, tunes them and sell them. Flyin40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihatepickles Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Beven and Dawson both sell pre-tuned mags. They just don't want to tune people parts anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 I can't find tuned mags/tubes on Dawson's site anymore??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Hello: From what I have seen the SVI mags will be easier to make hold 20 than the STI mags. The side walls can be drawn out to hold more rounds. Is the cost for 1 round really worth it? I guess most will have to make up there minds on that. For me I just tuned the feed lips on the STI 40 mags and use Dawson base pads and Grams follower and spring. Some of them actually hold reloadable 20 and the others only 19. So sometimes you get lucky. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 I talked to Dawson about it a long while back-- it's not cost-effective to tune random magazines because usually by the time they come in, they A) are pretty much guaranteed to be defective somehow (who sends perfectly good mags to be tuned?), have typically already been beaten on and abused by the shooter and/or buddies trying to fix them, C) have a random collection of incompatible springs and internal parts in various stages of modification, and D) are sometimes way out of spec. With new factory mags and tubes, if the odd one is really bad, they can send it back to the manufacturer and get a replacement issued, and you pretty much know what you're getting. I think you can still get DP tuned mags with a gun, but don't quote me on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Abrahams Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Beven and Dawson both sell pre-tuned mags. They just don't want to tune people parts anymore. WHEEEW!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitman Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 I have bought and sold 25 STI 40 mags in the last 2 months and no one is having any problems getting 20 with no feeding issues or rattling rounds. All did have the new style follower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Hitman, what follower and spring are you using? What basepad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robb315 Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Dawson isn't tuning mags anymore. Tried to get some about two weeks ago. Maybe with the purchase of a gun, but not separately anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitman Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Followers, STI angled, Springs STI, Dawson +1 basepad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00bullitt Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 A few guys I shoot with were having feed lip problems start appearing. They sent theirs to Benny Hill and they were back and running in a little over a week. So if Dawson and Beven are no longer accepting customers mags.......looks like Benny can take care of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Wow hitman, I couldn't get 20 in the 40 mags with a hammer just adding a Dawson pad. I had a heck of a time getting 20 in the Super mags with just adding a Dawson pad. In both 40 and Super I had them turn to rattles until I squeezed the body down too. I wish I had gotten some mags from the run you got them from, I might have gotten a 21 round 40 mag with a Dawson or Grams follower!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitman Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 (edited) Cut half a coil to a coil off the spring depending on follower hight. Not sure what or why but I have 2 diff. hight STI followers but I am not getting any more as I like Daves new follower much better. I did get 21 with a cut spring and Dawson follower but it didnt always feed the last round and it was a real nightmare to get that last round in not to mention getting it seated in the pistol. PS: I dont call that tuning, I call it customer service. Edited April 10, 2007 by hitman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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