How do I pin a hi-cap mag to make it legal?

adam880

adam880

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I feel like I'm asking a bit of a stupid question, but for years I've enjoyed shooting either with factory pinned mags, or the fine steel mags that mother CF has given me. Recently I came into ownership of a whack of hi-cap pistol mag bodies that I'd like to make legal.

What I'm looking for is advice on the following:

1. How do I figure out where 5/10 rounds is on the magazine relative to the plate inside the mag?

2. How do I go about drilling a hole? (Is there a recommended drill/sized bit/technique?)

3. Is there another way to "pin" other than actually drilling a hole?

4. What do I use to actually "pin" a mag?

5. How should I finish it for looks/function?

6. Have I missed anything?

I'd appreciate any advice or help offered.

Thanks!

Adam
 
I machined up some aluminum blocks that fit in the bottom of 9mm Browning mags blocking them to 10 rounds. The block is held in by a 8-32 button head cap screw through the bottom floor plate of the mag. The Ontario CFO himself looked at them and gave them the thumbs up.
 
You can only "pin" or pop-rivet an external type mag on a rifle.
Pistol mags have to be pinned from the inside.
It can be a bent piece of "L" shaped metal either spot welded or monster glued to prevent the mag follower from going down past 10 rounds. It has to be "permanent", as in not easily removeable as would be the case of sticking a wooden dowel inside the mag case.
 
When this business first came into effect, there was a pamphlet circulated describing "approved" methods. Nowhere was something like a pop rivet mentionned.
It even showed how to alter an AK magazine to hold 10 rounds.
It is rare to see a magazine altered using the "approved" methods.
It would seem that if something must be cut, or tools used to reverse the limiting method it is OK. Cutting would be evidence of intent.
 
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cr/SOR-98-462/bo-ga:s_1::bo-ga:s_2?page=2

"(4) A cartridge magazine described in subsection (1) that has been altered or re-manufactured so that it is not capable of containing more than five or ten cartridges, as the case may be, of the type for which it was originally designed is not a prohibited device as prescribed by that subsection if the modification to the magazine cannot be easily removed and the magazine cannot be easily further altered so that it is so capable of containing more than five or ten cartridges, as the case may be.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), altering or re-manufacturing a cartridge magazine includes

(a) the indentation of its casing by forging, casting, swaging or impressing;

(b) in the case of a cartridge magazine with a steel or aluminum casing, the insertion and attachment of a plug, sleeve, rod, pin, flange or similar device, made of steel or aluminum, as the case may be, or of a similar material, to the inner surface of its casing by welding, brazing or any other similar method; or

(c) in the case of a cartridge magazine with a casing made of a material other than steel or aluminum, the attachment of a plug, sleeve, rod, pin, flange or similar device, made of steel or of a material similar to that of the magazine casing, to the inner surface of its casing by welding, brazing or any other similar method or by applying a permanent adhesive substance, such as a cement or an epoxy or other glue. "

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cr/SOR-98-462/bo-ga:s_1::bo-ga:s_2?page=2
 
Griffoneur said:
You can only "pin" or pop-rivet an external type mag on a rifle.
Pistol mags have to be pinned from the inside.
Click to expand...

Not exactly true for all pistol magazines. I pinned three Glock mags just this evening. 1/8" rivet through hole #14, dremel them down, and good to go. This should work with any mags with witness holes, provided you can slim the rivet down enough and/or there is enough room in the mag well.

Counter-sunk rivets can be used for a more flush fit without the need to grind them as much, or at all.
 
Stevo said:
Not exactly true for all pistol magazines. I pinned three Glock mags just this evening. 1/8" rivet through hole #14, dremel them down, and good to go. This should work with any mags with witness holes, provided you can slim the rivet down enough and/or there is enough room in the mag well.

Counter-sunk rivets can be used for a more flush fit without the need to grind them as much, or at all.
Click to expand...

Time for Glock bashing... loose fitting POS. :D
My pistols are too tightly machined to allow for the thickness of a poop ribbet. Get yerself a "real" gun. :50cal::evil:
 
Griffoneur said:
Time for Glock bashing... loose fitting POS. :D
My pistols are too tightly machined to allow for the thickness of a poop ribbet. Get yerself a "real" gun. :50cal::evil:
Click to expand...

yup my grandfather told me how great tight fitting guns are

he saw many fellow germans killed when thier tight fitting guns were too cold to work the russian "loose" fitting guns ALLWAYS worked.....

Ill stick with my glock

My 1st gen g17 with orig mags I drilled the follower bottom and inserted a steel pin and crazy glued it in cfo at the time said it was good to go
 
maynard said:
I machined up some aluminum blocks that fit in the bottom of 9mm Browning mags blocking them to 10 rounds. The block is held in by a 8-32 button head cap screw through the bottom floor plate of the mag. The Ontario CFO himself looked at them and gave them the thumbs up.
Click to expand...

You don't happen to have any drawings of that do you?

Still makes it difficult if you want to clean the mag doesn't it?
 
thanks to all on the tech info, and the legal section

i found the glock very tight fitting with the mags.

i had problems with a glock mag,(rivet head roundish, and sticks out like a screw head) and a member did mention filing the rivet down, to get in dropped free.

another glock mag just came in with a rivet,(flat head) but it drops free

now i can see the difference, as to rivets head types,

have a bunch of pinned ar mags, and notice the previous owners had filed down the heads, some too much thinned out, gonna change them to proper rivets with flat heads. different guns with different mag wells, have different needs for pinning. i think in some cases, the members advice as to non riveting options will have to be tried. regards to all....
 
ps anybody try the dimple indent heat approach on a steel mag?

have them on my sig 2340 mags when they came

how would you ever do this at home and not punch into the wrong place and ruin the whole mag? trial and error or templates?
 
Thanks to all so far. The legal bit is gold (I think you've saved me at least two arguments I can think of...) and the rest has caused me to spend a lot of time reading about rivetting.

The mag bodies I'll be working with are Browning Hi-Powers. With all the good info you guys have brought up, it seems the common thing is to find where ten rounds is. Any further suggestions on how to find the right place to pin without using a sacrificial mag for trial and error? The thought of ruining a mag unnecessarily (insert joke about pinning in the first place here...) makes me cringe, so I'm hoping for advice to make that less painful.

Thanks again!
 
Adam880,
Make a tool out of coat hanger wire. Needs to be long enough to reach the depth of the mag. Bend a tight "U" shape, then bend the tips of the "U" so that they touch.
Take your mag apart. Load 10 rounds, with the follower in. Slide the tool down till one of the inwards bent arms is against the follower. The other arm acts as a telltale on the outside. Mark it with a felt tip, or tape, and work from there.

It would be a good plan to then load 11 rounds. Mark the spot. You want the rivet to allow 10 in easy, but not quite allow the 11th round.

I converted a bunch of High Power mags by putting a plate of 1/8" aluminum onto the bottom of the follower, using the aluminum "welding" rod that can be bought at Home Depot. It uses a propane torch for heat.

According to the quoted excerpt above, epoxy will suffice, but I would probably want a screw in there to hold it, as well, if I were using epoxy. Heck, even just installing a long enough screw, with a goober of epoxy on the threaded portion, would meet the requirements.

If you use rivets, get countersunk head rivets, and open up the hole for them. Carefully done, they will sit flush, and out of the way. Another place to look for, is the cutouts in the stampings that make up the mags, if there are any. You can get down below the surface level that way, without having to do too much drilling.

Cheers
Trev
 
dmv said:
You don't happen to have any drawings of that do you?

Still makes it difficult if you want to clean the mag doesn't it?
Click to expand...

I have the CNC program for a long piece of aluminum that is cut to length afterwards. To clean the mags you just need to remove the screw with an Allen key, and disassemble.
CFO had no problem with it because you need a "special tool" (allen key) to remove the block. I mean really, even if you were to pop rivit a mag to limit it to 5 or 10 rounds you could aways drill it out in about 10 seconds if your intent was the break the law.
 
Maynard:

Thanks - if an Allan key is OK, then a security Torx would be even better (I have one that I can use.

I really don't want to have to damage a perfectly good mag.
 
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