Tired of muscling the mag release on an Anschutz or Cooper

horseman2

horseman2

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This is the Extended mag release for an Anschutz installed on my Coopers.

t was rather cold at our last 100 Metre Rimfire practice which prompted me to do the install on Monday.

The extended mag releases are available from Nordic.

A bit of a beast to install as the work area is limited.
The pin is drifted out. Once the spring is back in place it has to be over-extended to get the hook back on the hanger.
Study it for a while in order to get the relationship of everything into your brain. The second one was easier that the first.

 
The short mag release on sporter rifles and the like is indeed strange and antiquated. I believe Anschutz did it as such for preventing snagging on things or ease of carrying when using a short mag (rather than ease of mag change, lacking leverage). The long mag release has always been on biathlon rifles in various guises (short or long mag well), where older style rifles necessitated a long mag release because of the depth of the stock with no relief cut and on newer stocked rifles, the standing grip protects the mag release.

The only rifle I have with the short mag release is a 1710 HB XLR, which I haven't bothered to do but I have two complete mag assembly spares off my biathlon rifles that I can swap complete.
 
The magazine and release design go back to the mid-to-late 1950s, and it's not the easiest to operate because the standard release lever is nearly flush with the bottom and is held by a relatively strong spring. The first Anschutz repeaters, both 54 and 64 action, were designed as hunting rifles. Since these generally don't require rapid magazine changing, a design that helped ensure that magazines were not inadvertently dropped from the rifle may have been seen as a benefit.

When Anschutz specifically designed repeaters for biathlon, the magazine release extension lever became necessary. The original Anschutz magazine release design couldn't anticipate the long range shooting sports where rapid magazine replacement is considered an important feature. The new 1761 platform which is intended to accomodate various needs has a magazine release system that is easy to access and operate. These rifles will soon appear in Canada in a variety of configurations, including an MPR-style model and a 3P target-style model, among others.
 
Yes those releases are a pain, esp in cold weather during a competition under time constraints, lol. I have tested the model 1761 a while back, and really appreciated the mag release; loved it. I like the new stocks in MPR and MSR configuration. The thumbhole design has a nice flat forend, but not enthralled with the big opening in the butt stock....esp if it's nice wood and wood has disappeared.
 
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