CW45/P45: Flush fit magazine - UPDATED

[wyntrout]

I took advantage of those prices and got a few more magazines to play with, as well as a few other things. At "$9.99 shipping for 1 to 1,000 items", I tried to get as much stuff as I might need/want.
I bought two of those stainless Officers 6-round magazines and one of the blackened stainless 7-round Officers mags.
The 6-rounders had good followers and matching springs, but the 7-rounder had a much weaker spring and it wasn't matched to the follower.
Both types of followers were similar, but the 7-rounder's had a shorter skirt which allowed the tube to hold 7 rounds. The 6-rounder would accept about 6 1/2 rounds, so the skirt length is the determining factor.
The 7-rounder's spring was way too weak to operate the PM45 slide lock. The 6-rounder springs are much stronger and seem to hold the slide back, but I had a Colt Officers 6-rounder hold the slide open until tested under actual firing, where it would not lock the slide back on empty. I expect this to be the same, but $9.99 for a stainless magazine with removable base... hard to go wrong.
of course I'll experiment a bit with these, too, trying the good spring with the shorter-skirted follower, etc., for 7 rounds capacity.
I filed just a bit off the top of the lips so that the mags snick into place, locking in easily now... less than 1mm off and then sanded them.
Pictures, of course.
Wynn

[Mr. Zero]

Wyntrout-

I would suggest that it is not the follower length that dictates the round count, but rather the spring stack when compressed.

Try this: remove the follower and spring from the magazine and drop in 7 rounds. Then measure the distance from the top of the last round to the top of the mag tube along the spine. I think what you will find, is that there is enough space to accommodate the follower length. Skirted mags require the spring to have more coils because they cannot go from front to back of the mag tube. When that spring coil is compressed it is taller, thus, 6 rounds instead of 7.

[camsden1]

Flush Fit Magazine

I have been following this post and today I decided to get involved. I found a MegGar magazine with a formed metal follower. It is not a split metal follower but a solid but formed follower. I made a pattern of the top of the Kahr magazine and transferred it to the MegGar magazine. Using the dremel tool I made the top of the magazine as close as possible to the Kahr magazine. I also made sure that the magazine didn't hit the follower when the slide moved. I cycled the slide and made small adjustments until I was satisfied. I loaded the magazine and loaded the first round into the chamber with no problems, I then cycled the slide until the last round was gone and the slide locked open as it is supposed to do. I am going to go out and field test it tomorrow and I wil post my results.

camsden

[phred]

Is the MegGar mag a 6 or 7 round mag?

[wyntrout]

Wyntrout-

I would suggest that it is not the follower length that dictates the round count, but rather the spring stack when compressed.

Try this: remove the follower and spring from the magazine and drop in 7 rounds. Then measure the distance from the top of the last round to the top of the mag tube along the spine. I think what you will find, is that there is enough space to accommodate the follower length. Skirted mags require the spring to have more coils because they cannot go from front to back of the mag tube. When that spring coil is compressed it is taller, thus, 6 rounds instead of 7.

Look at my pictures. I have experimented with all kinds of combinations of followers and springs with these magazines. The tubes are all the same... length and number of holes. The big difference is the length of the skirt. The six-rounder's skirt is about .4" longer and bottoms out leaving about 6 1/2 rounds capacity. Switching to the shorter skirt allows 7 rounds in all of the tubes. The tubes have observation holes for 7 rounds in all versions.

The shorter skirted follower and the matching spring allow 6 rounds in the 5-round Kahr and 7 in the 6-round Kahr, but the spring design doesn't have enough lift at the front of the follower to reliably operate the slide lock in the Kahr pistol, especially during firing.
The plastic Kahr follower takes up a lot of space and the narrower(front to rear) spring allow one less round capacity.
The the top part of the good springs is mated to the follower. The length of the springs coils and correct mating top of the spring holds the follower in place.

In another post I tried the Wilson Combat kit that increases capacity from six to seven in the officer's model magazines. This skirted plastic follower won't work in the Kahr magazines because the front part of the skirt is too short in the front.

Link to that (as soon as I find it):

http://kahrtalk.com/pm-series-pistol...html#post36945

Wynn

[camsden1]

It is a 6 round officers magazine.

camsden

[camsden1]

Flush Mag

I got a chance to go out and play today. The modified MegGar magazine for my CW45 performed perfectly. It fed well and locked the slide back on an empty magazine just as it should. I ran 10 mags thru it and consider it a complete sucess and I am going to buy another one for modification as soon as I can.

camsden

[gb6491]

I got a chance to go out and play today. The modified MegGar magazine for my CW45 performed perfectly. It fed well and locked the slide back on an empty magazine just as it should. I ran 10 mags thru it and consider it a complete sucess and I am going to buy another one for modification as soon as I can.

camsden

Excellent report camsden!
Please post photos of your modified magazine and it's follower.
Regards,
Greg

[camsden1]

Flush Fit Magazine

Here come the pictures, hope they came out clear.

[gb6491]

Here come the pictures, hope they came out clear.

The photos are good to go; thanks for posting them
I saw that follower on an ACT-MAG Officer's magazine when I ordered the Checkmate magazine from Top Gun Supply. I was going to order one but they were out of stock (still are): ACT-MAG 1911 Officers .45 ACP 7rd magazine - BLUE - Top Gun Supply
They have nickel versions of the Mec-Gar you are using in stock. Do you have a source for the blued version?
Regards,
Greg

[camsden1]

Flush Fit Magazine

I just have a local dealer that usually stocks them. They are around
$18.00 each.

[wyntrout]

CDNN has the Nickel and the blued Mec-Gar Officers 6-rounders for $13.99 each. The shipping is $9.99 for all that you order, so load up.
Officers 45acp 6rd Blue Mag New Mec-Gar

I wish I had gotten a few of these to play with, too. I would like to see the follower alone, outside the tube. Maybe its skirt(s) can be shortened a bit to give 7 rounds capacity. The tube is the same as the colt and Metal Form ones... observation holes for 7 rounds, too.

Wynn

[gb6491]

Thanks camsden1.

CDNN has the Nickel and the blued Mec-Gar Officers 6-rounders for $13.99 each. The shipping is $9.99 for all that you order, so load up.
Officers 45acp 6rd Blue Mag New Mec-Gar
Wynn

Thanks Wynn!
Regards,
Greg

[wyntrout]

It's hard to shop for these things over the Internet. Often they show the magazines loaded and you can't see what the followers look like. Those Mec-Gar have skirted front and rear metal followers.

I had some trouble with the 7-round converted ones today. Failures to feed and to go into battery. A few got skinned... one round so bad that it's a throwaway... couldn't even chamber it to fire it. The case rim caught on the chamber rim, I guess, and got pulled back. That just happened on the short-skirted ones... the Black Colt Officers 7-round and the one six-rounder I had converted with a short-skirted follower, but mated springs on both. It happened repeatedly on the third round and in the black one, several times more in a row on the same mag-full.

I'll have to look at the chamber and maybe polish it some, but it could be the angle of presentation with the magazine... or the spring....

The un-modified COM-6 rounders worked fine. I had a few slides locked back on empty, but that was kind of rare.

I fired off 250 rounds, less 6, in the PM45 and about 30 out of the P380... mostly fun.

Wynn:53:

[sonofodin]

Still waiting for Kahr to admit that since they sell guns for CCW purposes that flush fit mags might be a good idea. I know I know bawanna....some things are just too much to ask for.....