New Mod 41 Mags

I was gifted two brand new magazines for a S&W Model 41 this past Christmas. I only had one so the extra two was a nice gift. I’m just now getting around to opening them up and trying them out when I found out they both would stick in the gun and would not drop freely when the magazine release was pressed.

I cleaned the gun but this did not solve the problem. I sanded down the high spots after marking them and checking for drag and contact areas. One needed very little work. The other was so bad it’s now half in the white. But I have two new mags now that smoothly go into the gun and drop freely on command. Now I just need to spend some time at the range with the gun and mags to make sure they also function. So many little projects!

A good friend of mine sold his M41 and sold a few new NIB magazines to me then gave me a few others and most dragged in the frame.

I measured them compared to my three old magazines then carefully squeezed the new magazines in a vice to match the old magazine dimensions. I also de-burred the feed lips and magazine follower tracks and set the feed lips all the same like they were High Standard lips.

Yup. I’ve heard some people hate on new or current production mags but I think with some tinkering they can be made to work fine. Should you have to make them work? No.. we want to buy a mag and toss it in the gun and go straight to shooting. But I don’t mind it much. It was something to do at the work bench and I like my time in the garage.

Manufacturers set the bar pretty low these days.

Tim:H11 wrote:…
I sanded down the high spots after marking them and checking for drag and contact areas.
…

What did you use to mark them and make the contact areas visible?
Not much would show easily on black metal.

I bought 3 mags last December and also got one that doesn’t drop. Have also been measuring, but could not really find the proper spot.

AlEg wrote:

Tim:H11 wrote:…
I sanded down the high spots after marking them and checking for drag and contact areas.
…

What did you use to mark them and make the contact areas visible?
Not much would show easily on black metal.

I bought 3 mags last December and also got one that doesn’t drop. Have also been measuring, but could not really find the proper spot.

I used a sharpie.