20/5 mini 14 mag springs catching on rivet ?

[hutchster]

I bought a new mini-14 a few months back and have an issue with the 2 factory 20/5 pinned mags, while a 5 round mag runs flawlessly.

Both 20/5 mags hold 5 rounds and not 6 so the rivet is in the right place, but i find 2 things happen with them.

Sometimes the mag will not have enough force to push the next round up causing a stovepipe with a loaded round and then occasionally I've seen it feed 1 or 2 rounds then fail to grab the next and when I pop the mag out, the follower stayed down and the rounds are now loose in the mag.

I've opened the mag's up and it looks like the spring is snagging and catching on the rivet, is it normal for the rivet to be protruding about a 1/4" into the mag ?

Any info would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Hutchster

 

[hutchster]

I keep looking at it and wonder if the rivet should have been on the front of the mag vs the back where it is now, the spring only attaches to the follower one way and this makes the spring ride straight up the back side of the mag ?

 

[ted_dent]

A 1/4" seems to be an awful lot of protrusion for a rivet. Since the purpose of the rivet is simply to limit follower travel, and the follower is usually only marginally shorter than the width of the mag (1/4" would mean a lot of follower 'slop') I'd say the rivets are too long. I guess removing them is technically a criminal offence but as long as the police don't arrive within the 10 minute or less time window it will take you to drill the rivets out and replace them with shorter rivets you will avoid jail time. BTW, I've found the best rivets to use are the 1/8" countersunk head ones available at Canadian Tire. They are steel and because the heads are countersunk you don't have to grind them down flush. You just have to countersink the hole in the mag (go easy, you don't need a lot).

Alternately, if the spring is essentially flush to the rear of the mag but not to the front of the mag (they are seldom flush both front and back) you could rivet the front to block the follower there. Same rivet and same technique but the measurement might vary unless the front and rear 'legs' of the followers are the same length.

 

[sunray]

Like ted_dent says, 1/4" is too long. Be too long in any mag.
Needs to be in back so it catches the follower. If you move it to the front, it'll be in a different place because the follower isn't the same there.

 

[hutchster]

I pulled the spring and follower out and laid them on the side of the mag and lined up the rear of the follower to the existing rivet.

I then marked and drilled a hole at the front so that the follower would only go as far as previously and sure enough 5 rounds not 6 fit.

But when I took it to the range to test I found that the front rivet caused the follower to tip to the rear when the full 5 rounds were loaded, but it worked fine with only 4 rounds loaded.

So I pulled the spring and follower again and marked both sides so the middle of the follower would contact the rivets and now all 5 rounds fit, not 6, and they don't tilt.

I will be going back to the range this afternoon to try them out and hopefully the issue is resolved