52-2 magazines and slide stop?

[Jeff423]

I have a couple of 52-2's and several magazines. On either gun only the magazines with metal followers will reliably lock the slide open after the last round. I've installed new springs and followers (plastic) but the result is the same.
The width from the outside of the mag to the engaging side of the metal follower is 0.4590". The same measurement on the plastic follower is 0.4375". I tried shimming the plastic follower to move it closer to the "ear' on the slide stop. That made it engage the follower but it did not then function reliably as a magazine.

It seems like I need wider followers or longer "ear" on the slide stop. I got a new slide stop from Numrich and still have the same problem.

Would it be realistic to weld a tiny bit of metal on the ear and then file it to fit? I'm not a machinist, welder or gunsmith

Any other thoughts?

Jeff

 

[handgunner356]

The problem with adding to the slide stop is that you may find the bullets bumping it as they are being chambered causing it to engage. Other than finding medal followers for your mags I'm not sure what you can do. The slide stops are fitted on 52s' so if it's not helping I'd put the original back in.

 

[H Richard]

The problem is the plastic followers in the mags. S&W has replacement followers, and they do work. I had the same problem and once the follwwers were replaced the problem went away.

 

[Jeff423]

The problem is the plastic followers in the mags. S&W has replacement followers, and they do work. I had the same problem and once the follwwers were replaced the problem went away.

Unfortunately not in my case. I got these from S&W yesterday.

Jeff

 

[Jeff423]

I called S&W and spoke to a very nice gentleman there. He told me that the best bet was to tap or peen the "ear" to make it a little longer. I tried that and it worked fine.

Jeff