Need Help with the new m&p 9 magazines

garybusey

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ok so anyone who has purchased a newer m&p 9mm or newer magazines for one has probably noticed it's almost impossible to get the 10th round in, and once its in, almost impossible to seat in the gun with the slide closed. I know this is because smith and wesson heightened the follower in the magazine because the mags before could fit 11 rounds. so what they did is added height to the follower so that it has no room to put 11 in but is also too tight for 10 now. these newer modified magazines have a "9" stamped on the top of the follower. I've put a ton of rounds through it and its loosened up somewhat, but unless you're using an uplula you're probably not going to be able to load that 10th. I was loading full 10 round mags in with the slide closed tonight because I need to be able to load to capacity for ipsc. the amount of force required to properly seat the full mag with the slide closed is ________ stupid. i dont like slamming them in that hard...and theres no reason I should need to. I had to do it so hard that I was worried I'd actually be causing damage to the handgun and I know thats a hard thing to do. now after doing this all night I realized I can't shoot ipsc with this piece of _____ if I have to slam the mags like that. and after doing this I noticed my mint condition mags were beat up with slight scratches and some paint missing. I need help from someone who knows how to PROPERLY modify these followers to eliminate this problem. any help is greatly appreciated.
 
the 9 on the follower refers to the caliber. the follower has never changed.

i've had 0 problems, try leaving the mags loaded for a week at full cap to compress the spring, or clip it even.

no matter what, the 10th round is always a tight fit
 
I've just been leaving my mags loaded and now its getting a little easier to set the 10th in .. I was thinking of taking a coil out of the spring but the price of the mags I don't want to mess one up.. Mine set in the gun with the slide closed with minimal added force .. Just a half slap, ill probably but a mag loader as loading the mags to begin with sucks but if anyone knows a way to fix this I'm all ears but in the mean time I'm not gunna mess with it
 
the 9 on the follower refers to the caliber. the follower has never changed.

i've had 0 problems, try leaving the mags loaded for a week at full cap to compress the spring, or clip it even.

no matter what, the 10th round is always a tight fit
I don't want to sound mean or anything but you have no idea what you're talking about. do some research please. I've left the mags loaded 24/7 since the firearm was purchased, it only helps to an extent.
 
I've just been leaving my mags loaded and now its getting a little easier to set the 10th in .. I was thinking of taking a coil out of the spring but the price of the mags I don't want to mess one up.. Mine set in the gun with the slide closed with minimal added force .. Just a half slap, ill probably but a mag loader as loading the mags to begin with sucks but if anyone knows a way to fix this I'm all ears but in the mean time I'm not gunna mess with it
I've heard of people cutting coils too, but you can buy replacement followers for like 3$ if you mess up...I'm not sure about springs, I'd recommend modifying the follower because it's cheaper to replace if you mess up and apparently you get the same results.
 
the 9 on the follower refers to the caliber. the follower has never changed.

i've had 0 problems, try leaving the mags loaded for a week at full cap to compress the spring, or clip it even.

no matter what, the 10th round is always a tight fit

Have you seen the new vs. old mags? The old shiny finish ones have a black follower and the new dull finish ones have a gray follower. The follower in the old shiny finish ones has no "9" on it, the new dull finish ones have a "9" stamped in the top... The follower was definitely changed from the old mags.
 
the 9 on the follower refers to the caliber. the follower has never changed.

i've had 0 problems, try leaving the mags loaded for a week at full cap to compress the spring, or clip it even.

no matter what, the 10th round is always a tight fit

You're wrong. The follower has changed. Gen1 mags had no "9" and they were a different shape and you could easily get 10rds in on the shiny mag tubes. Gen2-4 uses the new grey follower with the "9" and matte finish mag tubes and it's almost impossible to get 10rds in. Gen 2-4 also had different spring lengths.
 
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I trimmed my followers (as in the 2nd video above), and then left them loaded for a couple of months, and they are fine now. As delivered, they were 9 round mags.
 
I have 4 of these new mags, and I "can" fit 10 rounds into all of them. Is it easy? NO, not even a little, but they are certainly not 9 round mags.
 
I have 6 of the old mags and 10 of the new ones.

Same solution for both, as they both had the same problem when NIB......

Load them to capacity, leave them for a month. They will work fine, with out surgery.

I know about which I speak, I have over 20,000 rounds through one M&P9. I also have a M&P pro in 9 and an additional M&P9 as a back up. I also have M&Ps in 357 sig, 40 and 45.......
 
I have 6 of the old mags and 10 of the new ones.

Same solution for both, as they both had the same problem when NIB......

Load them to capacity, leave them for a month. They will work fine, with out surgery.

I know about which I speak, I have over 20,000 rounds through one M&P9. I also have a M&P pro in 9 and an additional M&P9 as a back up. I also have M&Ps in 357 sig, 40 and 45.......

I wish this were always true. First springs don't lose significant tension under compression. When was the last time you changed the springs in your car? They do wear with use. In most cases the new 10 rd mag followers need to be trimmed. There is no getting around it. As others have pointed out the follower did change from the originals and S&W hasn't to my knowledge made any effort to correct the problem.

Take Care

Bob
 
I have 4 of these new mags, and I "can" fit 10 rounds into all of them. Is it easy? NO, not even a little, but they are certainly not 9 round mags.

Well some are for sure. The follower bottoms out on the fully compressed spring. With a couple of mine if I managed to load 10 in them I couldn;t get the mag to seat in the gun when the slide was closed. In those cases the mags were definitely 9 rd mags.

Take Care

Bob
 
I have 3 mags that are less than 3 months old. I was getting a little concerned with the availability of parts for my "normal use" M&P (it is over 20K with-out so much as a spring change) so I bought a spare pistol, just in case I had a break down.....

I loaded them up, let them sit for 4 weeks. took them to the range and ran them for a bit, tested them, (ran 200 rnds a piece through them) no issues, no stoppages, seat on a closed slide. They are now in the "reserve" pile.

I don't understand the problem most people seem to have with M&P mags. They work. They always do!
 
Well some are for sure. The follower bottoms out on the fully compressed spring. With a couple of mine if I managed to load 10 in them I couldn;t get the mag to seat in the gun when the slide was closed. In those cases the mags were definitely 9 rd mags.

Take Care

Bob
cause you didn't hit it like a man. hit it harder and it will seat with the slide closed but it does NOT feel good on your hand or the gun when you do it.
 
cause you didn't hit it like a man. hit it harder and it will seat with the slide closed but it does NOT feel good on your hand or the gun when you do it.

Yep, that's the truth. All you have to do is hit it harder.

That being said, the modification in the video at the start of this thread really works wonders. I did it to all of my mags today and they all work just like the old style mag now. And just for the record, it is still IMPOSSIBLE to get an 11th round in the mag. It gives the mag about 1/8" of extra play, which is exactly what it needs to be able to seat properly without breaking your hand hitting the mag into the gun.
 
Yep, that's the truth. All you have to do is hit it harder.

That being said, the modification in the video at the start of this thread really works wonders. I did it to all of my mags today and they all work just like the old style mag now. And just for the record, it is still IMPOSSIBLE to get an 11th round in the mag. It gives the mag about 1/8" of extra play, which is exactly what it needs to be able to seat properly without breaking your hand hitting the mag into the gun.
cool thanks for the info andrew. I'll be modifying the followers on 3 of my 5 mags tonight and test them out and go from there. I need to be able to reload a full magazine with the slide closed just as effortlessly as I can reload a magazine with the slide closed and only 9 rounds in it, this is crucial for shooting ipsc.
 
cool thanks for the info andrew. I'll be modifying the followers on 3 of my 5 mags tonight and test them out and go from there. I need to be able to reload a full magazine with the slide closed just as effortlessly as I can reload a magazine with the slide closed and only 9 rounds in it, this is crucial for shooting ipsc.

No problem. The main things to remember to do when you are moding them are: (I spent an hour playing with them as I modded them to see exactly what was actually necessary)

1) Cut 1 full loop off of the spring.

2) Bend what is now the new bottom loop so that if you put it down on a table it will stand straight up.

3) Trim the "feet" off of the front AND back of the follower. (You'll see what I mean by feet when you take it apart)


Do these 3 things and you will have mags that function exactly the same as the old 10 round mags.
 
cause you didn't hit it like a man. hit it harder and it will seat with the slide closed but it does NOT feel good on your hand or the gun when you do it.

A so you have discovered a way to make two things occupy the same place at the same time. Great! Fact is some mags are worse than others. Once the follower bottoms out on the fully compressed spring no amount of force will allow the mag to seat. Triming the follower makes more sense to me then cutting the spring. Trimming is much easier to control the end result.

Take Care

Bob
 
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