I know that I'm not the only one that thinks the mags look a little too long and "wonky," so has anyone ever sawed their mag to correct-ish USGI mag standards? I just received three Promag 10 rounders, and their too long for my taste. I was thinking about heading down to the shop, and sawing/dremeling it in half or something. I haven't yet thought about how to keep the spring retained after I saw the bottom off, but I've got an idea for a quick fix. What a slow Saturday.

Are you limited to 10 rounds where you live? If not you can modify those to 32 rounds. If you are limited to 10 rounds, why not buy the short S&W 10 round mags if your worried about size? I would do that before hacking down a good mag.

I live in Tejas so no, but those were the only ones that were available. I guess I just like the length of the normal 30 rd AR mags better than I do the 15-22, although I do understand it's longer because they do not truly double stack.

What are USGI mag standards? Something that applies to military magazines? If so, they don't apply to magazines for civilian .22 LR magazines.

Simple solution ... If you don't like long .22 LR magazines, don't buy them.

I don't believe there is a standard, but I was just speaking of any regular sized 30 round magazine for an AR-15 (a Pmag for example). I was planning on maybe chopping off about 3.5 inches of the promag to make it look more "regular" for my taste.

Touche. I guess I will have to sell my whole collection then! All 3 of them!

What ever turns you on ...

There will be a line at your door to buy them.

I was wondering the same thing. Seems like you could cut it down, a bit of super glue or epoxy and make a 15 to 20 round.

I'm still figuring it out before I cut it up willy-nilly! These things are worth their weight in gold nowadays so I don't want to just throw it away... or maybe if I messed it up, I could sell it as a parts kit for the same price! Lol j/k. IT seems if I cut it about 3.5 inches, it'll give it that "just right" mag look, but I'm sort of hesitant.

You may be able to trade with someone on here for some OEM ones.

Also, at around that height, it looks like the follower could go just around 20-21 rounds.

I am positive I saw someone do that to a factory S&W one but I can't find the thread.

If you find it let me know! I could use it as a cross-reference. I don't have the most advanced tools in the world- I really don't have any at all- but I do have the strongest tool in the book- a will! And where there's a will, there's a way!

You can cut body and plastic weld the floor plate back on it but what about the spring? You get that wrong and the mag is worthless/unreliable.

Do you mean the tension of the spring will be off? Please elaborate. I wasn't the best in physics.

Here ya go...

“D I Y” Short 5- and Medium 10-Round Magazines!!!

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M&P15-22/Moss500/Glock27/SKS

Another one...

Project Report: Shortening M&P 15-22 Mags (For Appleseed) - INGunOwners

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M&P15-22/Moss500/Glock27/SKS

If you shorten the magazine significantly, you have to shorten the spring a corresponding amount to keep spring tension constant.

This is a case of, if you don't know what you are doing ... Don't.

Basically. If you take the same length of spring and compress it into a smaller space you will get more force from the spring pushing rounds up. So you'd have to trim the spring but you don't know how much. You are going to run into reliability issues with the wrong spring rates.

Edison didn't know what he was doing when he and his buddies invented the light bulb at Menlo Park. One of his better known quotes was "I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."
The only difference between me and him, is that I don't have 700 mags.

Hm, I'll look into this. Thank you so much for your input

If I were to have never seen how he did his... Mine would've looked a lot crappier. Thanks for the thread!

Whats the point of that short 5 rounder?

It's cute

I know my stock 25 round doesn't drop free usually so I'd imagine that look mag would be a little tricky to get out quickly.

A bit off topic, but I've mentioned before that I'd like to see a Plinker Tactical mag cut down to approximately a 20-round AR size. Seems like it might actually be MORE reliable as I think some of Plinkers issue is trying to make the mag function as well with 5 rounds as with 30 rounds. I think there's just a lot of spring pressure variation between those points in their mag that causes some of their unreliability. But that's my opinion only.

Not off topic at all! I actually was thinking of cutting that down instead because it would just look cleaner. The thing is, I bought that magazine for $35 dollars, and I can't justify ripping up a 35 dollar purchase lol. What I find odd about the plinker mag is that the spring is circular and not rectangular, although the follower is what makes contact with the bullets, the spring could have somewhat of a factor into why they do not function so well. Less tension surface or something. However, it looks like the spring and follower from a promag would fit just fine in there. Someone could possibly do a spring and follower swap to see if the feeding issues are rectified.

So, I went along the idea of cutting up the plinker mag and drew up how it would look if it were cut to a 30 mag. The 20 round VN mag looks like it could also be done.
Here's a unprofessionally done Paint image:

Plinkers mags don't work right normally and you think its gonna work after you modify it? LOL!

Who said it had to work? Lol just kidding. Mine actually works pretty well. 150 or so clean rounds through it thus far.

Maybe that's what they need...

I concur!!!

I was being quasi-factitious.

Well, I did the mod, and it turned out pretty good (aside from the horrid soldering marks). I actually JB Welded it and soldered it just to have some peace of mind. In hindsight, I think the epoxy would have been more than sufficient. I commenced the mod about two weeks ago, but didn't want to put an update until I tested it. To my surprise, it actually worked very well. I fed around 100 rounds through it, and aside from having a hiccup the first time with the round not chambering (which happened when it wasn't modded too so I can't really blame the mod), it fed solidly.
I tried the about 50 rounds of the Remington Goldens, which everyone hates, and that went well. The other were some CCI and Fiocchi which fed flawlessly as well. All in all, I'm content with the mod, and will gladly update it's durability and performance in the long run. BTW, the mag holds exactly 20 rounds, and is only slightly longer than a normal 30rnd mag.


Here's how it looks like on the gun, with a Magpul just to hide the defects

I put this thread together on modifying the S&W OEM magazine that you might find helpful:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/subscri...ption&t=309766

It's a little off point but out here in CA- 10round mags are the norm- folks still like to be in denial about the restriction so they bling it up w/ a long mag. I refuse to be in denial, but again, I don't have too because I am authorized to use hi-caps. Whether it is full size battle rifles or their 22 little brothers, I have both long and short mags. I use pmags and hi-cap 22 mags for training, off bench manipulation, anything requiring movement. I use short ten round mags for all accuracy work- bench or prone. Moral- use the mag as designed-JMHO

Mike

I understand your point, but there's nothing wrong with shortening a mag or making it longer for lower or higher capacity. Three gunners do it all the time. There's also nothing wrong to modifying a mag to your liking. Heck, that's why the majority of people buy an AR platform- something that they can build upon and improve for performance or aesthetics sake. I concur with your moral, but that's counter-intuitive to what innovation is all about. I'm sure Eugene Stoner doesn't mind what the myriad of other companies have done to his platform. A mag is meant to hold the bullets, and in my opinion, that's what it's still doing after this mod, so in fact I am using it for it's intended use. I appreciate your opinion though

No heartburn from me, it's just my opinion. The one other opinion i might share w/ the collective is: To me, mags are consumable items- when they begin to malfuntion, I tag them as junk and I throw them into my training bag to use on poor unsuspecting students in malfunction drills. Again, just my opinion... I've even been known to throw a handgun or two to the curb for the same reason. I need them to go bang, every time I pull the trigger.

Cheers,

Mike