Hello, I recently bought a 908S and finely got a chance to take it out to the range.
Although it's a good little shooter I was having trouble inserting the mags. I removed the slide and found that the leading edge of the feed lip was hitting the frame. With a light clockwise twist of the mag they would then slide in.

I just removed the grips to check it out and realized the mag release is putting just enough pressure on the mag to cause it to hit the frame. If it didn't have that cheep plastic press on mag button I would just back off the nut a few turns.

Anyone have a suggestion on how to fix this issue?
This is where it hits the frame,


By the looks of the scrape in the mag well this has been happening for a while.

Interesting, I've had a few issues with 908's and magazines myself lately. I have a 908 that is very difficult to eject a loaded magazine from, like the catch is catching on the magazine slot; and, I have 1 mag that came with it new/unfired that will not load into the gun (or any other 39xx gun). I believe the magazine got squished sometime and it slightly bent the feed lips out of spec, though I can't exactly pinpoint where by sight.

I also looked inside a few of my 39xx guns, and they all had similar wear marks on the inside if the grip frame that you have pictured on your 908, so that could be normal.

My only guess would be that maybe some debris is preventing the magazine button/catch from fully depressing, sending your mags into the frame wall with more force than usual and binding them up. But that's just an amateur guess, really. I will be watching to see what the experts have to say here with vested interest.

Spring tension from the mag release is pushing the magazine body over and against the opposite side of the well and creating the rub mark and impact site in the photo.
You could try slightly crowning (rounding over) the outside edge of the magazine lip at the location where it is striking the well. Be careful not to change the magazine shape, but just crown the sharp edge at the contact point.

__________________
Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Yes, that is exactly what's happening.



I tried slightly bending the mag lip while at the range, but It didn't seam to make any difference. I don't want to trade one issue for another.

Thanks for your suggestions.
Sabre

My good friend Bubba said he could fix that with his new Dremel tool, all you have to do is hold his beer for a few minutes!

Randy

I was thinking about filing the edge of the frame a little. But thought I would check if there's a fix for this problem before doing something that's irreversible.
But tell Bubba I said thanks.

Bubba seems to know alot about fixing guns with his Dremel...I will tell him Hey!

Randy

Hi,Sabre! How are the twins?
Re: Your mag problem. Allow me to share some observations.
1: The 908S was built on CNC machines by craftsmen who were by then knowledgeable and experienced on these machines, so unless a previous owner "did a bubba" on the magazine well with a file or dremel (to facilitate "faster reloads") it should be dimensionally correct and require no modification.
2: The mag catch is a MIM part and (the opinions of luddites notwithstanding) we all know how dimensionally accurate those parts are. Do not do anything to change the spring tension. All that will do is make the mags fall out.
3: In your second picture, the red follower in that unloaded mag seems to be protruding so far out of the top of the mag body that most of the front leg on the follower is visible through the slide stop cut out.
None of my single stack 39 series 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen mags allow the followers to stick out that far.
What keeps the followers in place?
The feed lips.
While I can't say for sure if yours have been modified, I think you should lay your hands on some known good mags (and ideally a known good pistol) and do some swapping to see if the problem follows the mag(s) or the pistol.
Then we'll know for sure.
BTW, the edge on the mag that is bumping into the frame is not vital to feeding like the lips are so armorer951's suggestion to slightly bend in that edge would probably cause no feeding problems.

John

I believe that's what armorer951 meant when he suggested crowning the outside edge that's making contact - carefully filing off the sharp corner, as opposed to bending anything.

*edit* Except he was talking about the magazine body, not the frame of the gun, of course.