Custom made mags?

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Custom made mags?

Post by S O K A R » 24 May 2022, 5:16 pm

Not sure if this is the right section for this

But does anyone know if there is anywhere that is able to custom make magazines for a specific gun? Can't seem to find what I want anywhere
Not sure if it is even do-able, but no harm in asking hey
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by Blr243 » 24 May 2022, 5:50 pm

Gunsmith or very good sheet metal worker with good gun knowledge could do it. But it would be 600 or more
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by yumastepside » 24 May 2022, 5:54 pm

Details...gun, calibre, how many rounds, etc.

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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by S O K A R » 24 May 2022, 5:57 pm

Blr243 wrote:Gunsmith or very good sheet metal worker with good gun knowledge could do it. But it would be 600 or more

Ouch, didn't think it would be cheap but damn
Was trying to find a higher capacity mag for my cz 515, ideally 20-25rnd
But couldn't seem to find anything
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by S O K A R » 24 May 2022, 5:58 pm

yumastepside wrote:Details...gun, calibre, how many rounds, etc.

Roger

Gun is a cz 515, 22wmr, ideally after 20-25rnd capacity
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by bladeracer » 24 May 2022, 6:24 pm

S O K A R wrote:Not sure if this is the right section for this

But does anyone know if there is anywhere that is able to custom make magazines for a specific gun? Can't seem to find what I want anywhere
Not sure if it is even do-able, but no harm in asking hey


I don't think I've tried to make a rimfire mag, too fiddly. The easiest is to simply extend a 5rd or 10rd mag, and make a longer spring. I find 15rds is the most I enjoy loading, the spring tension combined with the tiny rounds makes it very awkward. You can buy various loading devices, but I haven't found an effective one. If you're making your own mag put an external button on the follower for loading.

I have eight 25rd mags that are restricted to 10rds and 15rds. 25rd mags are too awkward for hunting, and can be difficult when bench shooting. But for plinking and just practicing at home the 15rd capacity does make it a bit more enjoyable than constantly reloading a 5rd, 6rd or 10rd mag. In the field I prefer single-stack steel 10rd and 15rd mags like the old Stirling Model 20 used, much more pocket-friendly than the rotary Ruger mags.
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by bladeracer » 24 May 2022, 9:28 pm

You might even be able to simply cut the bottom off one mag, cut the top of another, and weld them together, and make a new spring or put a dummy follower in between two standard-length springs.
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by S O K A R » 25 May 2022, 6:19 am

bladeracer wrote:You might even be able to simply cut the bottom off one mag, cut the top of another, and weld them together, and make a new spring or put a dummy follower in between two standard-length springs.

Is it legal to make your own? would of thought that would be illegal? or is it somewhat of a grey area?
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by bigpete » 25 May 2022, 9:28 am

Depends what state you're in.
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Post by MontyShooter » 25 May 2022, 10:32 am

It would be a weird looking banana mag to fit 25 rounds. I have seen them and they look more like an ingrown toenail curling back towards the forend.
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by bladeracer » 25 May 2022, 12:28 pm

S O K A R wrote:
bladeracer wrote:You might even be able to simply cut the bottom off one mag, cut the top of another, and weld them together, and make a new spring or put a dummy follower in between two standard-length springs.


Is it legal to make your own? would of thought that would be illegal? or is it somewhat of a grey area?


It is legal here in Victoria, I've been told in Qld you need an armourer's licence to make any modification to a magazine.

I don't know about Tasmania, but I did check and there appears to be no restriction on mag capacity for rimfire rifles as long as they're not semi-auto. Up here I think the restricted states only allow up to 15rd detachable mags for CatA rifles, other states have no restriction. It would certainly be illegal to bring your magazine up to Victoria.
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by bladeracer » 25 May 2022, 1:03 pm

MontyShooter wrote:It would be a weird looking banana mag to fit 25 rounds. I have seen them and they look more like an ingrown toenail curling back towards the forend.


Because the cartridge is rimmed there will be a curve in the mag depending on how you stack them.
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If you stack each round on each rim then you get quite a curve, like the Ruger 25rd mags. I only have one of these restricted to 10rd as they are very bulky, much wider than need be as the spring runs up the side of the magazine, like the spring in a tape measure, but this does make the mag shorter in length. The Ruger mag is also glued together during the restriction so cannot easily be opened for cleaning. I think these were $90 when I bought mine.

If you stack them so a rim sits on a case rather than the rim of the next round you get less curve, like the Archangel (restricted to 10rd and 15rd), similar to the MP5 curve. And the Archangel uses a conventional rectangular spring, so is narrower and longer, but it is more difficult to load the last few rounds. These are a conventional design with a removable bottom plate that allows you to remove the internals for cleaning. The Archangel also comes with an external cover to give the appearance of an AR15 mag, but I don't use these. The cover doesn't fit on the RPR without modification and I have had one stoppage that required me to disassemble the mag, and getting the outer cover off requires tools and three hands. These were $50 so I bought a bunch of them, I prefer using these over the rotary 10rd Ruger mags. These mags don't fit into my MDT rifles though, I could probably dress them a little with a file, but that might make them less reliable in the RPR and non-chassis rifles so I haven't bothered, I have a pile of standard BX-10 mags for those.

The BX-15(10) is still the best Ruger mag in my opinion, relatively compact, does away with the rotary design and works flawlessly. But although there is no law making it illegal to import them into Australia, and 15rd rimfire mags are legal in all states, Border Force won't allow them on the basis that they _might_ be used in a Ruger Charger pistol. There is a law making it illegal to use a 15rd mag in a pistol, and laws prevent crimes apparently, so I can't see any issue with allowing us to have magazines for our rifles. The only true BX-15's in Oz came with the original batches of RPR rifles as far as I'm aware, after that they were sold with the restricted 10rd version. I bought mine in late 2018 with the BX15, a mate bought his six months later with the restricted 10rd version.

I still haven't bought additional CZ mags though, I'm still using the 10rd mag that came with the JW25A. Does anybody know if there are 15rd mags on the market for the CZ45x/JW15/JW25A/Lithgow?
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by MontyShooter » 25 May 2022, 2:48 pm

There are 15 round cz compatible 22LR mags available locally. But I haven't seen a wmr version which I'd be interested in.
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Re: Custom made mags?

Post by bladeracer » 25 May 2022, 3:01 pm

MontyShooter wrote:There are 15 round cz compatible 22LR mags available locally. But I haven't seen a wmr version which I'd be interested in.


Nice, I'll have to chase some of those up.
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