This month we’ll take a look at magazines. When it comes to law enforcement duty magazines, there are three simple rules:
- If your full or semi automatic firearm has had a hiccup in its operation, check the magazine before checking any other aspect of your gun.
- Regardless of the quality and design of your gun’s magazine, every officer should consider them expendable.
- Have a plan for inspection, maintenance and rotation of your magazines.
Magazines are bullet dispensers for semi and full auto firearms designed to allow the gun to reliably feed and digest cartridges. Depending on the application, magazines vary in quality. In military applications most, but not all, procurement agencies considered them consumable. That is, if they were dropped on the battlefield, one returned to supply for more, no questions asked. If one had a questionable one, it was discarded.
We don’t think of magazines as something that can be discarded, but we should be a little less sentimental about them. If you think about it, every immediate action that corrects a firearm failure addresses a magazine issue first. For example, for an AR-15 jam, soldiers are taught to use SPORTS:
Slap upward on the magazine, insuring it is fully seated. This also may release a jammed follower.
Pull charging handle to the rear.
Observe the ejection of the brass or cartridge.
Release the charging handle.
Tap the forward assist.
Squeeze the trigger.
For a handgun failure, it’s Tap-Rack-Target. That is, Tap firmly on the base of the magazine, Rack the slide smartly, re-engage (or reassess) the target.
How many magazines should you have? If your handgun uses standard capacity (over 10 round) magazines, then you should have a minimum of two additional magazines on the belt. This will give the officer 36-45 rounds on the belt. There should be at least five more reloads in the patrol bag for a total of 60-75 rounds. If your duty gun is an M1911 variant, 4 on the belt and 10 in the bag. Magazine capacity should never be a factor when looking at a duty gun (or creating legislation for that matter). The one that fits the hand and launches bullets accurately and reliably trumps everything.
Check your magazines first
An officer with whom I occasionally trained had purchased a new custom 45 he was going to swear in for duty. I was familiar with this model and knew of its outstanding quality. It was a beautiful gun and I had the pleasure of inspecting it. It didn’t come with enough magazines for anyone’s taste, so the new proud owner went to a local gun store and bought some. It was a tack driver. However, several times that day it failed to feed. By the second box of 45’s, he was using choice words to describe his gun. He started boxing it up, saying that it was going back to the gunsmith immediately. I told him to check his magazines first, but we were beyond negotiation here.
Like most manufacturers, they asked for the gun and the magazines used, accompanied by a description of the problem. When the gun arrived six weeks later it came with duct tape wrapped around two of the magazines-the cheap ones from the gun store. The Sharpie instructions on the tape said, “Do not use these magazines”. Like I said, check your magazines first.
Magazine failure isn’t immediately apparent, but there are only a couple of things that cause failure: Bullets either come out when they’re not needed or bullets don’t come out when they are needed. For the first part of the inspection, remove all cartridges and look at the outside for cracks, dents and corrosion. Line ‘em all up empty and look for anomalies.
Magazines with metal bodies will have a seam where they are welded together. For box type, like AR-15 magazines, premium manufacturers like D&H use two piece bodes that are spot welded on the fore and aft part of the magazine body. D&H is good about having consistent seams and removing sharp edges. Although I cannot pronounce the city from which D&H hails (Oconomowoc, Wis.), I can attest that they are manufactured in the U.S. using U.S. parts and labor.
Look for consistent weld beads on magazines that aren’t spot welded. One of my favorite 45 magazine manufacturers is Metalform. I have some Elite magazines with Wolff Springs and round followers. They are the standard on the range. That is, when I’m on the range testing new ammo, I use them because of their consistent performance. If you have not heard of Metalform, it’s OK. If you are carrying a name brand gun that uses metal magazines for duty, Metalform likely made your magazines.
Consider your magazines expendable
If the magazines fail this, or any subsequent inspection, don't toss them, mark them. In fact, save all of your questionable magazines. They are the best range training tools ever. Firearms trainers spend a lot of time trying to induce failure when training. I use my worst magazines in order to experience an unexpected failure.
I don’t exactly toss my magazines. I sort them. I use stock magazine bodies, but all of my magazines have Vickers Tactical Magazine Floor Plates from TangoDown. Not only do they have a wider profile, they have aggressive grip surfaces for positive extraction, even in really, really bad territory. The Vickers Plates come in colors and they have eight dots on the bottom. For me, the black and Glock tan ones are for duty, blue are for training. There are orange plates are for specific types of training. The dots on the bottom allow officers to number them, the best method to rotate rounds and record maintenance.
The second part of the inspection is to look at the feed lips. They should also be devoid of chips or cracks, but you are looking for a consistent curve around the cartridge. All feed lips should have the same curve. When empty, the follower should push all the way up to the lips.
Next, if the follower doesn’t go all the way up, or it rattles when shaken, begin by replacing the magazine spring. Use Wolff replacement springs or OEM. If your gun is a Glock, use only Glock springs. Bear in mind that not all magazines have parts interchangeability, even ones supplied with a purchased gun. Disassemble magazines separately.
Look to see if the magazine holds cartridges correctly. This inspection includes eyeballing them, but the important test is to bang them. Fill the magazine to half its capacity and bang the base on a table. The force should be sufficient enough to cause the cartridges to move down slightly. An alternate version of this test is to drop them on the ground (the ground, not concrete)from waist level. If cartridges fly from the magazine, it failed the feed lips test. Repeat this test with a magazine filled to capacity. There shouldn’t be any vertical “play” in a fully loaded magazine.
The third part of the test is to disassemble the magazine and look at the follower. Bear in mind that some magazines were not designed to be disassembled. For example, the baseplates on original Colt M1911 magazines do not come off-they are welded on. One disassembles them by pushing the follower down halfway, then sticking a punch through one of the viewing holes, trapping the spring. The follower can be shaken out.
AR-15 magazines and most later model handguns, including Glock, S&W M&P, Springfield XD and even the Bersa FireStorm I tested recently for this column have a hole in there base. This is a two-piece baseplate where the smaller piece fits inside the magazine body. Hold the base of an empty magazine away from your face. Stick your Glock tool into this hole and pull the nose of the baseplate toward the nose of the magazine. The baseplate will slide completely off.
Now that we have the magazine disassembled, have a look at the follower. A pitted or cracked follower should be discarded. Replace it with the OEM part. The spring should be rust free. Clean the inside of the magazine body with a dry cloth. Use a stiff brush as necessary.
The fourth part of the inspection is to fill your magazine with cartridges and run it up the magazine well. Does it seat without rattling (assuming your magazine catch is healthy)? Does it drop free when when released?
Now let’s dispel some myths:
- Leaving bullets in magazines will wear out the spring.
- Every once in a while, bullets have to be taken out of the magazines to allow them to “rest”.
- Magazines should never be oiled.
Magazine springs are generally formed using wire that doesn’t really lose it’s spring even after years of being under tension. However, some users believe that the magazine springs should either “rest” or be “exercised”. This entails removing all of the cartridges from the magazine periodically. There’s no reason to be superstitious about it. Every officer should release the spring tension from their magazines periodically…by shooting their duty rounds on a regular basis. In the wake of ambushes of law enforcement officers nationwide, not just by the media, rotating duty rounds for training is a good idea.
All magazines can take a light coat of oil. Originally, it was taught that oil would corrupt the powder and primers. Put some on, and wipe it completely dry. I use FrogLube for this.
Final note: Keep your magazines healthy and they will take care of you.
