cas Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Okay.. here's the question for you. I have a Limited in 45 ACP, only a few hundred rounds through it at this point. Today I had a couple malfunctions I hadn't run across before. A couple times I failed to get slide lock on the last round. I wasn't concerned about that when it happened the first time, I had regular Slide Glide on the rails, and it was about 10º out, so she was running real slow. The real worry came when I went to drop the mag and she went nowhere. I had to pull it out with some resistance. It happened a few more times afterwards. Back home I was able to replicate the problem rather easily with the empty mags. The nose of the follower gets a little high, and misses the slide lock. It's then wedged in place and won't drop. I could probably live with no slide lock, but the non dropping, need to be stripped mags isn't going to work. Has anyone come across this before? Is it a common problem or do I have a mag or two out of spec? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHA-LEE Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 How many rounds do you have through the mags with the same follower? Did you check the follower for damage? I can see this happening if one of the "Legs" on the bottom of the follower was broken off or cracked and it allows the follower to get wedged in the top of the mag body at a strange angle. They don't last forever you know. If it only happens with that magazine then I would suggest replacing the follower with a new one. If all of your mags do this same thing and the followers look good, then its probably something wrong with your slide release lever. Check to make sure that it isn’t damaged where the follower pushes up on it and also check to make sure that the axel part of it isn’t separating from the lever portion. They are two separate pieces that are pushed together or something like that and can break free from one another. If the lever portion is flopping round then it would cause this same failure mode to happen. Good luck and happy hunting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 I have probably less than 200 rounds through the gun, spread out over 8 magazines, so the wear is minimal if any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Hepworth Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 the lever actually does not look as though it is in far enough,...like it is not fully inserted.? is the spring holding it tight to the frame? you could experiment with one mag,..try bending the spring so it tilts the follower to the slide lever side?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnsyk Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 We could try putting a 40 follower in your mag. I've noticed that the 45 follower have a tendency to pop up on one side. btw an aftermarket follower for 45 may see daylight this spring. If it will provide a solution for this as well remains to be seen, but higher capacity will be the goal. I don't use the factory slide stop for partially the problem you're having. I had a 38 super which worked flawlessly locking back on the last round for year. Then one day it decided it wanted to lock back before it was empty. And it cost me valuable time on a stage. I put replaced the slide stop with a pin to ensure I know exactly what happens every time. Works wonders for me and I count bullets when I shoot so I hope to reload before I run out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 It seems to be just the one mag... I think. So I guess the first thing I'll do is swap this follower into another body and see which mag will cause the tie up, if either. That should point to either the follower or the mag body as the culprit.. in theory anyway. If they both do it then, well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 BTT with more questions. I THINK I may have the problem mention above narrowed down to one mag, so I'll just use it as my LAMR mag. Cleaning up my mags today I noticed something. Some of my magazines have followers that seem to be a deeper, darker red. They sit up high like the one above, and seem to rock front to back more (what causes the problem above). Others appear to be a lighter red, more towards orange to my colorblind eyes. These sit lower and are tighter and seem to be a smoother shinier plastic. (the flash washed out the colors so I toned them down a little) Can anyone who's been around these things a bit explain why they're so different? Any suggestions on replacements? (the high ones seem to be the ones causing trouble) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-Ho Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 BTT with more questions. I THINK I may have the problem mention above narrowed down to one mag, so I'll just use it as my LAMR mag. Cleaning up my mags today I noticed something. Some of my magazines have followers that seem to be a deeper, darker red. They sit up high like the one above, and seem to rock front to back more (what causes the problem above). Others appear to be a lighter red, more towards orange to my colorblind eyes. These sit lower and are tighter and seem to be a smoother shinier plastic. (the flash washed out the colors so I toned them down a little) Can anyone who's been around these things a bit explain why they're so different? Any suggestions on replacements? (the high ones seem to be the ones causing trouble) I had the same thing happen with a 9mm CZ/Witness mag. I'd measure the mag to make sure it is the same size as the other. If it is, then I'd say the follower is out of spec. The problem I had was a mag the was not quite right. I don't remember what brand it was, but you get what you pay for and it was cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHA-LEE Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Measure the distance between the feed lips of the magazine. I bet tha the one with the higher follower has the feed lips spread apart a lot wider than the other. You need to keep a close eye on the feed lip distance as they will spread out when you drop the mags with rounds still in them during a mag change. When the feed lips get spread out you start to get all kinds of funky feed problems. Every time I clean my mags I will measure the feed lips and readjust them to the correct setting if needed. Since you are shooing .45 I am not sure what the right feed lip gap is suppose to be. The best thing you can do is get a brand new mag and measure it and use that as your standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Hepworth Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Measure the distance between the feed lips of the magazine. I bet tha the one with the higher follower has the feed lips spread apart a lot wider than the other. You need to keep a close eye on the feed lip distance as they will spread out when you drop the mags with rounds still in them during a mag change. When the feed lips get spread out you start to get all kinds of funky feed problems. Every time I clean my mags I will measure the feed lips and readjust them to the correct setting if needed. Since you are shooing .45 I am not sure what the right feed lip gap is suppose to be. The best thing you can do is get a brand new mag and measure it and use that as your standard. I agree,...just use a set of pliers and press in near the top (push thefollower down with your other finger) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cas Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 I checked one of the low sitting ones against one of the high ones. Not surprisingly the higher one was slightly wider in a few spots. Not terribly so however. I made adjustments to it to match the other one (maybe even a bit smaller) and it didn't make much of a noticeable difference in how the follower was sitting. So I stripped them both down again to make some more comparisons when I notice something obvious that I'd been missing, even though it was staring me right in the face. The followers are different. The Low sitting type on the left. The High sitting type on the right. I had to fiddle with the brightness and contrast so it would show up. They're different in a number of ways. Is one an older style and one a newer style? Some other difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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