Re-Assembly of 7rnd .45 Shield Magazine

[sonofthebeach]

Just picked up a .45 Shield today, and can't wait to take it to the range when the rain lets up.

I cleaned the pistol, including the magazines, and can't figure out how to get the "floorplate catch" and floorplate re-assembled on the 7 rounder. Is there some trick to getting the spring, catch, and floorplate back together?

Stuffing all of it into the magazine tube is what's giving me fits. Thanks.

 

[dodgegirl.mg]

Can you send a pic?

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[dodgegirl.mg]

I just took my mag apart and put it back together do you need help?

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[Ole Joe Clark]

Make sure you have the spring and bottom plate pointed in the right direction, and the bottom plate against the spring. Push the spring into the magazine with the bottom plate, then slide the retainer plate over the bottom plate and make sure the raise area clicks into the opening of the bottom plate.

I'm sure my titles of the pieces is not correct, and just going from a poor memory on the procedure. It works on a similar pistol for me.

Have a blessed evening,

Leon

 

[sonofthebeach]

Let me get a pic posted.

 

[sonofthebeach]

Here are a few pics. I can't seem to fit the small
"arms" of the "floor plate catch" into the mag tube along with the spring which it slips on to. Thanks for your help.

 

[dodgegirl.mg]

When I have a hard time I get a small screw driver and push the bottom plate down enough for me to slide the end cap on. That must be one tight spring. Mine was like that when I first got it but I've used mine so much that it has loosened us a lot.

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[sonofthebeach]

Once I get the floorplate "catch" thingey stuffed into the floorplate, I can't slide the inner grooves on both sides of the plastic floorplate onto the ledge on both sides of the outer stainless mag tube without the spring getting hung up.

I've got to be doing something wrong. I never had a floorplate with this design.

 

[Amp]

Check the photos in your manual.
I know from my 9mm the need to be lined up just right.

 

[sonofthebeach]

When I have a hard time I get a small screw driver and push the bottom plate down enough for me to slide the end cap on. That must be one tight spring. Mine was like that when I first got it but I've used mine so much that it has loosened us a lot.

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I'll try to get a punch or small driver to compress the spring like you suggest. Thanks.

 

[dodgegirl.mg]

Are the arms attached to the floor plate or the spring.......dang yours is different from mine.

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[Bonephish]

Stuffing all of it into the magazine tube is what's giving me fits. Thanks.

I push the spring into the mag with a pencil-eraser and push a punch through the holes to hold in place, then assemble.

 

[sonofthebeach]

Make sure you have the spring and bottom plate pointed in the right direction, and the bottom plate against the spring. Push the spring into the magazine with the bottom plate, then slide the retainer plate over the bottom plate and make sure the raise area clicks into the opening of the bottom plate.

I'm sure my titles of the pieces is not correct, and just going from a poor memory on the procedure. It works on a similar pistol for me.

Have a blessed evening,

Leon

Your naming of the pieces is fine...what I have in front of me, just doesn't seem to work together the way yours does. But thanks for your help anyway.

 

[dodgegirl.mg]

May I suggest I none of our ideas work that you try a sledgehammer or dynamite...... totally kidding. Honestly though you can call Smith and Wesson and tell them the problem.....they may be able to help.

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[sonofthebeach]

Are the arms attached to the floor plate or the spring.......dang yours is different from mine.

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The arms are a part of a flat piece of metal which nests in the floor plate...I just figured it out.

I thought that a rolled narrow piece of the flat metal was supposed to slide into the first turn of the spring, when apparently it wasn't attached to the spring at all.

When I put it together without the attachment, the floor plate finally slid over the stainless ledges of the bottom of the magazine tube.

Thanks all of you for waking my brain up, and enabling me to get the mag together again.

 

[Holmes375]

That 7 rounder is just about the silliest *** design I've ever seen for a magazine. Mine gave me some fits the first time when I disassembled it for cleaning and Duracoating.

For those of you whom have not taken down the Shield 45 7 rounder its a little different design than your usual mag. There's a small fork spring clip that is a rather fiddly little booger.

 

[sonofthebeach]

Hi again everybody. What I thought was a successful re-assembly of the 7 round mag. last night was only a "stuff it together success"... I can only get 6 rnds into the magazine.

And Holmes375, I agree that I've never seen a magazine like this one before. And the "fork spring clip" that you mentioned in your post is the part that's still giving me problems...I just can't get the blasted thing together correctly.

Do you have any hints as to how you finally assembled it that first time?

Thanks.

 

[kthom]

I found that you must hold that flat plate on top of the spring and keep that little tongue on the front of the plate in the corresponding spot at the front of the mag wall as you slip the base plate into position. I finally put a piece of leather around the outside of my mag and placed it in my bench vise for use as a third hand. After I slid the base plate onto the mag over the interior plate, I could then hold the interior plate down in its corrrect position with a small punch and slide the base plate into position. I also found that using my finger down on the side of the plate to hold/move those two "legs" of the interior plate toward the rear, in other words straight up and down allowed them to fit properly into the corresponding slots in the base plate and pop up into position as the base plate moved fully into position. Until I put the mag in my vice so I could use both hands to do this job, I fought it till I was about to get up. After finally getting it done and figuring out how to do it, it then was much easier! It's definitely not as easy as the instructions make it out to be, and the instructions could certainly provide more valuable information with the 7 round mag reassembly!

 

[sonofthebeach]

kthom, thanks for your advice...I think that with both hands available to guide both base plates into position, I might have a chance at getting the thing together.

I'm off to the garage (with a small vice) to give me the use of both hands. Wish me luck everybody.

 

[kthom]

Let us know how it goes!