Bruce – when I fully load my mag it’s fine . . .
But the last round or two won’t go all the way up and engage the lips – Help!
Must resist the “little blue pill” jokes – must resist . . .
First let’s look at what the spring has to do to function correctly . . .
This next pic gives you a rough idea of the little bit of space the compressed spring gets to live in – app. 7/8 of an inch or so – then when you fire and the slide reciprocates back and forth the spring must push the follower up fast enough to have the next round in place so that the slide can scoop it up and chamber it . . .
So let’s get the springs out – press the little button in the base plate with a punch or a small Phillips screwdriver and carefully slide the base plate towards the front of the magazine . . .
And keep your thumb over the bottom of the magazine to keep the bottom plate/keeper from taking flight and making a bid for freedom – they will travel a considerable distance across the house – don’t ask how I know – LOL! – and eye protection is a good idea while doing this as they can really take flight with considerable speed – Again – don’t ask . . .
The two used springs – the one on the left hung up every time – the one on the right hung about one time out of seven – if you have two mags the same age and one of them is hanging up just go ahead and replace both . . .
Here is the worst one . . .
And here are the 2 replacement springs from Brownells.com . . .
New spring ( top one ) vs the obviously bad one . . .
New spring ( top one ) vs the other used spring – not easy to see in the pics – but it is not “right” any longer – and no, you will never “re-bend” the old spring for it to be right again – trust me on that one – just throw them away . . .
Putting the mags back together? Have you cleaned the mags yet?? Might be a good idea while you have them apart – just saying. Cleaning them is simple – a little spritz of a CLP type product into the mag body and pull a cleaning cloth through them a couple of times. Just put the top of the spring on the bottom of the follower – slide it up into the mag – compress the spring into the mag – bottom plate/keeper on the spring – press it and spring into the mag with your thumb and slide the base on until the button pops into place – load and unload it a few times – the first time might be a little tough – the top of the spring has to settle into its “spot” on the under side of the follower – then get to the range and run each one several times to make sure that they will run when needed.
What you end up with is two basically new mags for about 30 bucks – $7.50 x 2 springs + shipping, handling, and taxes – beats roughly $32 bucks for 1 new mag!
If you take them apart and clean them once in a while magazines will last an incredibly long time – dirt and moisture are the things you need to be aware of . . .
And there you go – two refurbished mags – the way they came with this pistol is one has a flat plate and the other has the “pinky” extension plate – no extra round just extra real estate so if you have larger hands you can get a three finger grip on the pistol.
And a couple of short videos to look at and see just how mag springs are fashioned . . .
Have Fun! – Run the gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
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