Hey all,
Sorry for the long post.
So took the Crossover .22 to my brothers farm, It has finally been blooded
bagged a few bunnies with it.
However the damn issue appeared again. bending the follower didnt seem to help, i would flatten it out to much or give it to much of a ramp.
I got home and was about to give up on the rifle and stick it up on used guns. Only to look at the pile of targets and realised that i like the rifle.. lol
So i searched the web for a new magazine, a CZ 452/455 5 rounder, was hoping for steel, but could only find a polymer.
Placed the order with gunsngear.com.au yesterday morning and it was delivered today. Fortunately i was off work today and i took the magazine and rifle into the workbench, grabbed some snap caps. Took the magazine out of the package and it feels heavier than the Lithgow magazine, feels a lot sturdier. So I loaded up the magazine and slid it into the rifle.
Problem... The magazine wont lock in.. it will just slip out. Taking out the magazine and comparing it to the Lithgow version and the locking lug is about 0.5mm wider than the Lithgow version.
Out comes the 240 grit sandpaper and a few seconds of sanding and now the magazine locks in cleanly and snugly.
Onto the test.. First round won't feed, the projectile hits the ramp and then wedges against it. I try again, same problem.. Decide to pull the magazine apart and bend the follower just a smidge and reassemble.
Reload the snap caps, cycle the bolt, action is flawless, 2nd, 3rd and 4th round its perfect. Now we are at the dreaded 5th round and fully expecting a stove pipe and it cycles perfectly.
Reloaded the mag with real rounds (federal champion) and ran through the same scenario with no hiccups, tried it again with CCI minimags and cycled perfectly.
In all i ran through this scenario 10 times, so 50 cycles of the bolt with no issues.
What i also noticed was the bolt was smoother, i always felt the bolt would catch on something or there was some sort of pressure preventing a smooth operation of the bolt. With the new magazine there was none of that.
Putting the old magazine back in the rifle and cycled the bolt and feeling that force again i decided to have a closer look. When the magazine is engaged it is not sitting flush, it would be may 0.2mm raised into the bolts path. It is only the rear of the magazine that is not flush. when the CZ magazine is in flush and smooth as.
It makes me wonder if the bolt is hitting the rear of the magazine pushing it down and causing bullet to angle up and miss the barrel.
I will note that i havent taken her to the range yet and we all know things change at the range
However i am feeling rather confident that it is the magazine(not the follower) thats causing my issue now..