Here we go again…
In this post, I’ll include pictures and commentary for “how I did it”. There may be some other or even better ways to do this, so new ideas and methods are encouraged. Just understand that since I can’t control what happens in your workroom, if you do decide to cut into your own mags, I can’t be held responsible for the results.
The first pix below shows the mag setup on my table saw, which has the fine-toothed “plywood” blade installed. My plan is to cut just inside the masking tape. Note the use of a wooden block on my saw guide to help stabilize the mag as it’s cut. Wood smiths use extensions or blocks like this quite often, and it’s a helpful tip. I don’t have a fancy angle guide on my saw, but you can see the surface is ribbed. I just aligned the top and bottom of each cut parallel with a rib, then tightened the block to the saw guide.
The mag must be held very tight and carefully to the block, don’t let it lift up or shift left or right on you, or you won’t get a clean cut at all. Luckily, the plastic cut easily and it put very little pressure on the blade, so once it was started right, it tracked straight and finished with a nice clean cut.
Here’s a close-up of how the tab on the follower (held in place by elastic, so it won’t slide down and engage the blade!) and the curved edge of the magazine align on the wooden block to stabilize the mag for cutting. It can “rock” some if you allow it to, so you have to ensure those 2 points are fully pressed against the block on the saw guide.
OK, the cuts are done. Here’s a view of the clean cuts for the middle piece which is removed, and the bottom baseplate which is salvaged to work on the new shorter mag.
Just a note that I did not have to cut the original spring from this mag, as I just used the leftover piece from the spring which was cut to make the 5-round mag. I guess having an extra 25-round magazine spring won’t be such a bad thing to have around.
OK, here is where it gets interesting… The pix below shows the now cut-off baseplate mounted on the mag where it will be glued. For this 10-round mag, the baseplate will sit correctly front to back, with the removable “toe” where it should be. The red circle on the left shows an area where some plastic must be removed in order to remove the spring through the baseplate for cleaning. I used a sharp Xacto knife, followed up by a file.
The red arrow on the right shows a solid plastic wall which runs the entire length of the mag body. That wall was one of the challenges I had fitting the baseplate onto the 5-round mag, and why I ended up reversing the baseplate. For the 5-round mag, it was just easier to cut out the extra plastic from the reversed baseplate so the spring could be removed. I don’t think the baseplate would have mounted correctly on the small 5-round magazine, as think of this -- when viewed from the right side of the rifle, the bullets start out at the top left of the magazine, but then they end up at the bottom right. So... When you put the cutoff baseplate onto the very short mag body of a 5-rounder, the slots for the spring won’t line up at all. Reversing the baseplate made it work though, as that was a much better/closer fit.
Next is a view of the baseplate for the 10-round mag with some plastic already removed from the inside top left corner, so you can see what needs to be cut out. The bottom inside left corner must also be trimmed to match so there’s room for the spring to be removed later. Note the wedge-shape of the original slot on the right side, if you cut your baseplate and mag body to make a short 5-round mag, you’ll need to cut out all the plastic on that side too.
The crude drawing and dimensions in the background were leftover from my first effort to make the 5-round mag. My original plan was not to use the factory baseplate at all, but to try to replicate the grooves and cuts to hold on the removable toe of the baseplate. That was going to take way too much filing or Dremeling, and it turns out the glued-on baseplate (as supported by the cotter pin) works just fine.
Stay tuned for Part 3 -- as I can't add 2 more pix you will want to see...
Tight groups!
Old No7