I broke down my Shield .45 magazines for cleaning last night, and encountered the dreaded reassembly problem with the 7-rounders. Once I had them back together, the guide tabs would not retract into the floor plate. The tabs were angled forward, and were not aligned with the slots in the floor plate that would allow them to retract. In this condition, the magazines are useless, as they cannot be inserted into the magazine well.
The obvious solution was to partially slide off the floor plate, and slide it back on again while trying to hold the tabs at just the right angle so they'd slip into their slots. At this, I failed miserably. Plan B entailed using a screwdriver to push the tabs rearward with the floor plate fully installed, hoping once I'd gotten them to just the right angle, they'd line up with the slot and retract. No go. Plan C was actually Plan B.2, using a small flat-head punch in place of the screwdriver. (When all else fails, go to the flat-head punch.) The punch was able to make better contact with the tab than the screwdriver, which made it easier to push. Because I was thoroughly annoyed by now, I pushed the tab way beyond what I thought was the correct angle, basically as far back as I could push it. At that point the punch slipped off the tab, causing it to snap forward...and into the floor plate. Success! I then repeated this procedure successfully with my other two 7-rounders. It took as many as ten push-and-releases to get get the other tabs to retract, but it eventually worked.
To summarize:
1. Reassemble the magazine just as if it was a normal, properly designed magazine.
2. Unless you are incredibly lucky (or good) you will now see the two guide tabs angled forward on each side of the magazine tube.
3. Using a flat-head punch or similar, push one of the tabs (the other will follow) as far toward the back of the magazine as you can, and let it snap forward.
4. Repeat as necessary.
5. Cuss out Smith and Wesson for designing this mess of a magazine, and for not showing you how to properly reassemble it in the owner's manual.
Hope this helps.
The obvious solution was to partially slide off the floor plate, and slide it back on again while trying to hold the tabs at just the right angle so they'd slip into their slots. At this, I failed miserably. Plan B entailed using a screwdriver to push the tabs rearward with the floor plate fully installed, hoping once I'd gotten them to just the right angle, they'd line up with the slot and retract. No go. Plan C was actually Plan B.2, using a small flat-head punch in place of the screwdriver. (When all else fails, go to the flat-head punch.) The punch was able to make better contact with the tab than the screwdriver, which made it easier to push. Because I was thoroughly annoyed by now, I pushed the tab way beyond what I thought was the correct angle, basically as far back as I could push it. At that point the punch slipped off the tab, causing it to snap forward...and into the floor plate. Success! I then repeated this procedure successfully with my other two 7-rounders. It took as many as ten push-and-releases to get get the other tabs to retract, but it eventually worked.
To summarize:
1. Reassemble the magazine just as if it was a normal, properly designed magazine.
2. Unless you are incredibly lucky (or good) you will now see the two guide tabs angled forward on each side of the magazine tube.
3. Using a flat-head punch or similar, push one of the tabs (the other will follow) as far toward the back of the magazine as you can, and let it snap forward.
4. Repeat as necessary.
5. Cuss out Smith and Wesson for designing this mess of a magazine, and for not showing you how to properly reassemble it in the owner's manual.
Hope this helps.
