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I was inspired by smcdurmon's thread on making a flush mag for the Howa and decided to tackle it myself. Here is a link to his thread.
For my flush mag I wanted to see if I can get 4 rounds in there and did things slightly different from smcdurmon.
I edited the pictures with notes on them so I am not going to type out the whole process. I'll just give some tips here.
1. The first thing I did was cut the mag body. I purposely cut the body a little long so that I can sand it down manually to have a better fit with the base plate.
2. The next step was to make sure the mag will lock into the mag well easily. I did this by sanding down the top of the base plate until I was able to insert the mag and have it lock in with slight pressure without having to smack it in to get it to lock. I was trying to achieve a mag that had as little play in the mag well as possible. During this step you should leave the magazine guts out and assemble the mag with the base plate only.
3. Moving on to the mag internals I recommend that you sand down the lower base plate lock/spring seat first then move on to the magazine follower. you will need to sand down the bottom of the follower, assemble, and test loading four rounds. what you are looking for is to be able to fit 4 rounds and have a little wiggle room. The slight play is important and will allow you to insert the full mag with the bolt closed. To make the fitting process go faster do not install the base plate all the way on to the mag body. Just slide it on far enough so that the mag guts do not fall out while test loading the mag.
When you think you have it correct, try inserting the loaded mag into the gun and verify that it easily locks in with the bolt forward then try cycling a few mags of ammo through. Please use dummy rounds if possible, remember firearms safety is your responsibility not mine.
One last thing, if you are thinking about using this mod to fit more rounds into an uncut mag body, I tried it and you are able to fit 7 rounds into the standard 5 round mag body with the modified follower and spring seat. However the factory uncut spring is slightly too weak to push all of the rounds up properly. First round came out of the mag fine but the second round was binding up. I had to give the mag a smack for the second round to come up into position.
Edit:20171018_085642.jpg20171018_085632.jpg20171018_085619.jpg20171018_085523.jpg20171018_085920.jpg20171018_085729.jpg20171018_090119.jpg20171018_190044.jpg20171121_090013.jpg
For my flush mag I wanted to see if I can get 4 rounds in there and did things slightly different from smcdurmon.
I edited the pictures with notes on them so I am not going to type out the whole process. I'll just give some tips here.
1. The first thing I did was cut the mag body. I purposely cut the body a little long so that I can sand it down manually to have a better fit with the base plate.
2. The next step was to make sure the mag will lock into the mag well easily. I did this by sanding down the top of the base plate until I was able to insert the mag and have it lock in with slight pressure without having to smack it in to get it to lock. I was trying to achieve a mag that had as little play in the mag well as possible. During this step you should leave the magazine guts out and assemble the mag with the base plate only.
3. Moving on to the mag internals I recommend that you sand down the lower base plate lock/spring seat first then move on to the magazine follower. you will need to sand down the bottom of the follower, assemble, and test loading four rounds. what you are looking for is to be able to fit 4 rounds and have a little wiggle room. The slight play is important and will allow you to insert the full mag with the bolt closed. To make the fitting process go faster do not install the base plate all the way on to the mag body. Just slide it on far enough so that the mag guts do not fall out while test loading the mag.
When you think you have it correct, try inserting the loaded mag into the gun and verify that it easily locks in with the bolt forward then try cycling a few mags of ammo through. Please use dummy rounds if possible, remember firearms safety is your responsibility not mine.
One last thing, if you are thinking about using this mod to fit more rounds into an uncut mag body, I tried it and you are able to fit 7 rounds into the standard 5 round mag body with the modified follower and spring seat. However the factory uncut spring is slightly too weak to push all of the rounds up properly. First round came out of the mag fine but the second round was binding up. I had to give the mag a smack for the second round to come up into position.
Edit:20171018_085642.jpg20171018_085632.jpg20171018_085619.jpg20171018_085523.jpg20171018_085920.jpg20171018_085729.jpg20171018_090119.jpg20171018_190044.jpg20171121_090013.jpg
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