Magazine question

[sipowicz]

Why do rifle mags feed differently than handgun mags...specifically double stacks where rifle rounds feed up almost side by side at the top and handgun rounds feed into a single column?

 

[mkk41]

If ya look at a true double stack mag for something like an MAC-10 Uzi or M3 'grease gun' , they're pretty wide at the top. So the frame and slide would have to be much wider.

The first double column pistol mag that I'm aware of is the Browning Hi-Power. It was originally designed as a single column mag , but the guy that took over for JMB simply widened the mag without having to redesign the slide.*
IIRC , we actually owe that feature to the French. They requested FN make it with 13 shots.

*Just like Para-Ordnance did with the 1911.

 

[Cyrano]

, but the guy that took over for JMB simply widened the mag without having to redesign the slide.*
IIRC , we actually owe that feature to the French. They requested FN make it with 13 shots.

*Just like Para-Ordnance did with the 1911.

That would be Dieudonné Saive. He went on to design the FN 47 auto rifle. I think he may have had something to do with the FAL, but I'm not sure.

 

[yaktamer]

Dieudonné Saive.

I hear that penicillin will clear that right up.

 

[Rastoff]

Yep, it's all about size. Rifles don't have the requirement to be small like a handgun.

For the record, rifle double stack mags aren't all that great. At least AR mags aren't. Take a loaded AR mag and give it a quick rap on the bottom. You'll see at least one round pop out and sometimes more. This is why it's a good idea to do a closed bolt load on the AR.

Back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

[mkk41]

That would be Dieudonné Saive.

Knew the name , just couldn't spell it at the time.

 

[Jack Flash]

... we actually owe that feature to the French. They requested FN make it with 13 shots...

Some people mock the "High Power" name since it fires the 9x19 round which the mockers consider lacking in power.

The French referred to it as the Grande Puissance, which might be more correctly translated as "High Fire-Power" or "High Capacity" (or "A Whole Bunch of Bullets" for us low-brows).