M1A 'Magazine Rattle'

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dukeNukem

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Sorry for the technical title, but hear goes...

I have a norinco m305 and springfield m1a when i insert a magazine they fit nice and tight with no movement.

A friend came over with his near new m1a NM rifle and tried a couple of magazines and all (incl 20 round usgi) clicked in but seemed loose and there was movement up and down and side to side. The magazine catch had engaged as you could not pull it out without first releasing the catch. We cycled a number of dummy rounds through and seemed to work ok, just seems strange that the mag should have this movement.

I know it is not the mags as they are nice and tight in both my rifles...

Anybody got any ideas on why mags could be loose in an m1a/m14 type rifle ?

Many thanks.
 
maybe the receiver's a little more out of spec ?- sproingfield's been notorious for that- the norc's a lot tighter- as long as they latch home and don't shift downward so it won't feed i wouldn't worry about it- maybe try a different stock as well and see if that's any better- the only reason i can think of for the"looseness" maybe so you can change mags easier in competition or something- if it's already bedded and not easy to try another stock, don't worry about it- at least the mags feed, some of the others out there don't or get hung up
 
M1A recievers are known to be slightly out of spec, but this is unlikely to be the problem, as the magwell is part of the stock, not the reciever. Wood stocks have a metal liner for the magazine well, but fiberglass stocks do not. Most likely your friend has a "well loved" stock on his rifle.

As mentioned previously, though, as long as the magazine doesn't cause feed problems, don't sweat it.
 
I would think that it could be in the spring guide or the trigger group .
The front of the spring guide latches against the magazine on the front and the rear of the magazine locks in place via the magazine catch on your trigger group.
I would swap the spring guide out of one that locks tight (Your rifle ) and see if that is the problem then move to the trigger group if that is not the problem .
Alot of NM spring guides are made from a piece of drill rod and the end of a regular spring guide silver soldered or welded to the drill rod ,perhaps the end is set too deep into the drill rod allowing for a loose lock up ?
Let us know which one it is ?
I hope this helps !
Mike
 
I have a similar problem, except it's the ammo that rattles. The mag is tight and rattle free; but, put a couple of rounds in either of my mags (I only have 2) and there is a perceptable rattle.
 
I can't figure it out myself. I'm thinking that it has somethin to do with the geometry of the bottom of the bolt and the follower. With one round, no rattle, with three rounds, same-same. Two rounds, and it's like there's an extra round rolling around in the bottom of the mag.
 
sounds like there's a slight bulge in the mag wall itself- the reason that you don't hear it with 3 and 1 is because the tension from the top and bottom rounds is holding the round in place-probably on the left side, given that the rifle starts to feed on the right- and the bulged part of the follower is on the left- either that which is unlikely or your mag spring may be getting a little tired (or be slightly short )which is probably the case-you're not getting tension all the way up on the left side
 
You will find that the rattle goes away with 20 rounds in the mag.
Unfortunately 20 rounds in the mag will make you "go away" too.
:eek:
 
if you take off the floorplate, you will see the spring has a "d" on the end of the waffle, while the other side is just a spring- it's the "d : that goes against the floorplate- it is possible to get it reversed and still have it feed, but the d part hangs up in the follower
 
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