8 round Howa Mini magazine that works perfectly and cost penny's in consumables!

[raamaudio]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18190[/ATTACH]

Thanks to tdbru for being the pioneer for the 7 round conversion!!!

Two new 5 round mags came in yesterday so today I decided to try for 8 rounds on the 7 round I had already completed.

It took quite some time as worked each part over several times to prevent going to far and ending up with a failed project. I cleaned up and mildly polished all mods but the pictures make them look pretty rough, they are not and in some ways better than the factory finish.

Removed as much as possible from the bottom plate and follower, cut new spring perches in the follower and dialed in a bit of an angle to lift the front of the round just a bit. The last step to get the 8th round to load in without forcing it and not being able to cycle the bolt on it was to cut the spring perches to the depth as shown as the spring was bottoming out and I did not want to cut a coil off of it which may of worked but might of caused other issues.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18191[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18192[/ATTACH]

The follower sits a bit lower now than before which is due to the cross slot spring notch which I could alter a bit but the mag loads perfectly as is not matter how soft I work the bolt, 1 round in the mag, 8 rounds, makes no difference. I only have 123 grain ELD and American Gunner to test it with but so far could not get it to fail even when trying.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18193[/ATTACH]

First mag took a couple of hours, next two will be much faster and just copy the specs on the first one.

I still love the idea of a 10 round magazine but in reality, one in the chamber, 8 in the mag, carry two spares that weigh just 6.7 ounces loaded with 123gr brass case for the same $34 price compared the the 5 ounces of stock magazine loaded, not much of an issue

Rick

[Stinky Coyote]

So when I did the 7 round mod and actually shot the gun they just tipped nose down in the magazine. Let us know how it works at the range. Cycled fine without actually pulling the trigger of course.

Want more reliable and more rounds for same size magazine then time for ruger ranch. I’d be all about the hinged floor plate or Cz mag conversion kit for the last howa action I have which one day will get the pendelton stock and likely the cz kit. It’s already had a fluted bolt and slabbed action and shortened barrel...just needing the stock, cz mag kit and timney trigger to turn into a sheep hunters wet dream...takes some coin to get these howa’s right. I will finish the project one day but have 3 built ranches now in mdt chassis that are the shizzo so may wait for the downfall of the cabal and better times to finish that Howa project.????

[tommyguns]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

[raamaudio]

Sure

If I have a problem when firing it I will stretch the spring a bit to see if it helps though might need a stiffer one to keep the rounds from nose diving in the magazine when firing it. In the mean time I will chamber a round, safety on of course, hit the muzzle with a dead blow hammer and then cycle in a new round, pull the magazine and check it out, repeat until all rounds have been ran through it. Best I can think of until I get to the range which will be soon.

Thanks
Rick

[tdbru]

raamaudio,
impressive, hats off to you!
-tdbru

[raamaudio]

Thanks tdbru but I would never have thought of it unless you did your 7 round version first, I just expanded on your great work

Been to busy to do more testing, have out kitchen torn up installing a 24" 240V oven but while apart decided to start the new base cabinet, 2cm soapstone countertop, undermount sink, new 2 burner propane and a 2 burner induction cook top in our full time RV. I had to wait until the local wildfires were out, mostly so finally, 2.5 months of smoke!

I am going to stretch the front edge of the spring and leave the rear edge as is to put more pressure up front, if needed. And I can change the angle of how it engages the follower just a bit more as well.

Rick