Normal or not? magazine won't stay in when loaded and bolt closed.

S

secondgen

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Hi folks,

I'm very new to the AR thing. I put together my first rifle a while ago but didn't get a chance to shoot it until recently.

When at the range I noticed that my metal mags won't click in all the way when loaded and with the bolt closed. I messed around with the mag catch however nothing changed. Curiously, my plastic mags seem to work just fine. It feels like I am not able to push the mags far enough in to get a positive click. Is this normal for metal mags? I bought a bunch of D&H mags thinking that they were good quality was I wrong?

Rifle specs: LMT upper (10"??), LMT bolt, Aero lower and DPMS LPK.

Other than that this thing is a hoot!

Thanks!

PA270002.jpg
 
By definition: not normal. Granted the spring may be stiff on a full mag, you still should be able to lock the magazine inside the well, even on a closed bolt.
 
Fairly common issue.
Most likely the follower is pushing against the pin and bullets have no vertical play when entering mag well.
Try loading with 1 round less, if it works then the follower needs to be trimmed down or shaved from the underside.
 
Very very common. Seating a full mag into a closed bolt AR often requires LOTS of force to seat. Most professional AR operators will only load a magazine to 28 rounds and not 30 for that exact reason. Try seating the mag with only 4 rounds instead of 5 and it will likely work without a problem
 
I think it is just the Mags. They may be too tight when loaded to full. The guys with 30 rounders download it to 28 for this particular reason.
 
Once you have the mags adjusted follower/rivet such that they can hold about 5.5 rounds, the next step is to tune the mag catch window on the side of the mag. Download the mag by one round, then file the top edge until you can seat the mag with only moderate strength. And if you want to go all the way, though there is risk to this if you didn't get the 5.5 rounds part right, repeat the last process with the mag at full capacity.
 
P
secondgen said:
Hi folks,

I'm very new to the AR thing. I put together my first rifle a while ago but didn't get a chance to shoot it until recently.

When at the range I noticed that my metal mags won't click in all the way when loaded and with the bolt closed. I messed around with the mag catch however nothing changed. Curiously, my plastic mags seem to work just fine. It feels like I am not able to push the mags far enough in to get a positive click. Is this normal for metal mags? I bought a bunch of D&H mags thinking that they were good quality was I wrong?

Rifle specs: LMT upper (10"??), LMT bolt, Aero lower and DPMS LPK.

Other than that this thing is a hoot!

Thanks!

PA270002.jpg
Click to expand...

Normal operating procedure for loading loaded mags on closed bolts is to forcefully tap up on the magazines (tap & rack). Do not alter the release or catch as it will create FTF due to magazine looseness.
 
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*MALICE* said:
Your mags are likely pinned to exactly 5 instead of 5.5. As mentioned above, trim the follower a skootch
Click to expand...

This. I've had issues with a couple pmags I bought from one retailer. I'd either have to remove the pin and drill a new hole 1/16"-1/8" lower which would mean the original hole will most likely collapse when I rivet the new pin and turn into a mess. The other option is to pin it from the other side of the mag. The third (and easier/cleaner) option is to cut a very tiny piece of the follower leg on the side of the pin and reinstall a rivet.
 
All my D&H mags do that ass well. They are pinned to 5 rounds. Past that they don't move, as a result there is no give when you try to put mag on closed bolt.
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies!

I took one round out and everything works great. With 5 rounds in the spring is very tight and there is basically no play in the mag. It does makes sense that the spring is too tight as I did have a couple problems stripping a round off the mag when I was at the range.

Kinda sucks that I now have 12 D&H mags that don't work as intended. It would have been great if the vendor would have told me that these were more realistically pinned to 4 rather than 5 before I bought them. I will look into some of the suggested fixes.

Thanks again & Happy Halloween!
 
secondgen said:
Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies!

I took one round out and everything works great. With 5 rounds in the spring is very tight and there is basically no play in the mag. It does makes sense that the spring is too tight as I did have a couple problems stripping a round off the mag when I was at the range.

Kinda sucks that I now have 12 D&H mags that don't work as intended. It would have been great if the vendor would have told me that these were more realistically pinned to 4 rather than 5 before I bought them. I will look into some of the suggested fixes.

Thanks again & Happy Halloween!
Click to expand...

It's not that the "spring is too tight", it's that the rivet is preventing the follower from moving down enough. Honestly, I wouldn't loose any sleep over this. When I'm goofing around with my ARs I almost never insert a mag on a closed bolt...shoot till empty, insert fresh mag, repeat until perma-grin is achieved. If you are competing then you may want to be able to insert a mag on a closed bolt but in that case you are probably not going to be using 5 rounders anyways (unless you are doing cqb/service rifle stuff).
 
*MALICE* said:
Your mags are likely pinned to exactly 5 instead of 5.5. As mentioned above, trim the follower a skootch
Click to expand...

This ^^^
Do not do anything else to your rifle or magazines. Your problem is 100% that your mags are pinned too tightly.
Simple test, with 5 rounds in the magazine try to push another round in. You should be able to push the 6th round in partially but not enough for the feed lips to catch it.

If you don't want to modify your magazine followers then just load on an open bolt when using those mags. It will prevent you from doing tactical reloads but if you're just playing at the range it's not a big deal.

Have fun
 
Trinimon said:
This. I've had issues with a couple pmags I bought from one retailer. I'd either have to remove the pin and drill a new hole 1/16"-1/8" lower which would mean the original hole will most likely collapse when I rivet the new pin and turn into a mess. The other option is to pin it from the other side of the mag. The third (and easier/cleaner) option is to cut a very tiny piece of the follower leg on the side of the pin and reinstall a rivet.
Click to expand...
A fully loaded 30 round mag will have the identical symptom which requires a hard tap to seat. I personally would not modify the mag in anyway as it may eventually lead to FTF or FTE malfunctions.
 
You should file the leg of the follower to allow just over 5 rounds to fit and all 5 round mags should be tuned to lock into a rifle with a closed bolt while containing 5 rounds.
When it comes to work guns never load more than 28 rounds in a 30 round mag.
 
Send them back and have them send you proper 5.5 pinned magazines.
Enough people do this and this issue might be relegated to the archives.

L
 
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