For John and others who want the "load assist" buttons, this link will show you how you can easily make your own.

DIY Load Assist Buttons

Sorry, no idea if anyone has extra followers though -- other than S&W -- as the cut-down mags would be useless without 'em.

Good luck.

Old No7

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Thanks a bunch Old No7. I stopped at the hardware store on the way home from work and picked up 3 #10 machine screws and 3 nylon insert lock nuts. I couldn't find the nylon fasteners I also contacted Brett248vista about this since he has the video showing us his loading technique without using the load assist pins so I thought he may have some laying around not wanted. Ended up calling S&W customer service, and they are sending me 3 new pins, NO CHARGE. Don't even have the 15-22 yet, and already am liking the customer service.

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10 Round Magazines are now available from S&W. Part Number is 40495. Cost is $20.00

I was gunna say they were in stock here but they're temporarily sold out. Still bookmark it though:

Smith & Wesson M&P15-22 10rd Magazine Short [MGSW19924] : Allied Armory, Shooting & Tactical Accessories

$16.95 without shipping (think it's $7-8)

just want to say thanx to old no 7 for the insperation for the 10 rnd mag

My son sent me three 10 limited (long) mags today and I decided that since they only take 10 rounds, I'll cut them down to size.
For those of you who don't have a band saw or table saw.
Or the lazy ones like me who just can't bring yourself to dig your saw out from under a pile of rubble.
You might consider using a miter box with some big clamps, furniture or C-clamps, and a hacksaw.
Its very easy to make clean straight cuts with the mag clamped into a miter box and a hacksaw.
Here's a couple or three pics of my cutting up a mag to show how I did it.







You can see how the hacksaw cleanly cuts the mag body and with it clamped into the miter box there is little or no chance of making anything but a nice straight cut.

Now I just have to figure out how much to cut the spring.
Reading through this thread to see what others have done I think I'll start with cutting it in half and work down from there.

brillant! esp for people like me who don't have a table saw

Maybe I have a different answer for you. I didn't use the cotter pin because I like the idea of keeping things simple and I still wanted the ability to take the mags apart, at least as much as you can with a limited one.
So instead of using the cotter pin I just put a notch in the spring retainer so I could move the spring forward a little.
This makes it easy to glue the bottom back on, no spring pressure, and I can easily remove the bottom to pull the spring and follower (on 25 round mags) out for cleaning.

Pics ain't the best, but I'm not a photographer and don't pretend to be.

Here's the retainer (I think that's what its called) with the notch cut into it.



And here it is on the end of the spring waiting to be pushed up into the bottom of the mag.

edit; OOPS! I took the pic and posted this before I put it back together.
That's when I realized that the retainer is actually on the spring backwards.
But it still accurately shows how the spring fits into the new notch.



Doing it this way also eliminates the potential problem of the spring falling into its old position on the retainer and binding up at the bottom on you.

Hope that helps answer your question.

Ta-Da, just got around to finishing up the last of my three mags, load assist buttons and all.
Now I have 2 medium length 10 round mags, and 1 short 5 round (that actually holds 7) mag.



Thanks #7 these should make shooting off a bench a lot better.

great job ! How long are your springs in the 10 and 5 rounder?

I cut the longer ones basically in half and used half for one and half for the other.
That leaves me with an entire one unchanged for whatever I need.
The short one I cut to about 3.5" and that seems to work fine.
I haven't had a chance to try them out at a range.
But I had no trouble manually feeding rounds from them and they will hold the bolt open after the last round.
Soon as I get a chance I'll try them out with live ammo at the range, but at this point I don't imagine I'll have any trouble with them.

Thanks, I just got a few more mags in the mail. I'm going to cut them down this weekend.

Have fun and don't forget the nylon 10-32 or 10-24 screws and nuts for the load assist buttons.
Let us know how you make out and if you find an easier to way to do the cut and pasting.

Thanks, I made one before worked great. I used JB weld to epoxy the two halves back together. They are still holding up like cement, no spring will separate them by pushing down. I was trying with all sorts of stuff to make a load assist button, never would I have thought of a nylon machine screw. DOH!!! I work for a fastener distributor so I am going to see if I can get some nylon screws and nuts tomorrow. I am going to see if we have black nylon ones, if not I believe that you maybe able to dye them black using RIT dye, not positive , but I will try it.

I wanted to use binding screws like these for the assist button;

Binding Post Screw Sets | Fastenal

But I couldn't find the right size locally.
Then I found the thread in here about using nylon screws and used them instead.

I tried button head sockets with nylon insert locknuts, just wasn't right. Then I was lookin at Chicago screws

They are a binding screw also

something like these:

Chicago Screws - Colored Aluminum Chicago Screws Posts Bookbinding

Those are pretty much the same, but I do like the color option.
My only concern might be if the heads are too flat or small for anyone to be able to get a decent grip on with your finders.
The nylon screws use a standard round head with a nut on the other side its very easy to grip.
Wish I had thought to find some black ones, but I doubt they are real easy to find in the local hardware store.
But that's OK, if I decide I don't like the white ones I have a bottle of black nail polish one of my son's strange Goth girlfriends left behind.
It should work and if not, its no great loss.

Anyone consider using a end mill to get the pin out of a pinned-10 (20) round mag?

I am going nuts trying to buy a couple of short 10 round mags for my MP15 22 before the dreaded "Out of Stock" notice goes up but have been totally skunked. If I try to cut my 25 round, restricted ones down, I'm reasonably sure I will lose at least one or two fingers so here it comes... can I buy a couple from one of you handy gentlemen? It sounds so crass I know but I really am desperate. I have 2 of the long ones that are blocked or whatever they do to them in CA and I just hate them. Thanks.

Sorry to ask this but if it sounds fun to somebody i would gladly buy a 5 round mag from someone. I want to go hunting with my rifle but regulations where i live says 5 rounds max for a semi auto

Re: OP. Thank you for a overall end to end no drips, runs or smudges excellent delightful post! Sincerely. bruce.

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Wow, I just got a new "Like" on my 10-year old posting...

Funny thing is though, after getting into vintage single shots (about 180 degrees opposite the M&P .22) I ended up selling that one off...

It was fun while I had it though.

Old No7

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