by Wapiti » 03 Sep 2025, 7:07 am
On the journey to finally find a Brno/CZ rimfire that was actually as accurate as the myths out there said, plenty of magazine issues have come up and all of them were subtle differences in either the magazine lips or the flimsy bent steel follower, coupled with the wildly different lengths of magazine springs, allowing varying tension.
A further explanation of what JohnV said, when there are a number of cartridges in these mags, the mag spring is under more tension, and the top cartridge is held at the angle the feed lips are bent at.
When only one, sometimes two cartridges are left, the follower has a big influence on how the cartridge is presented to the chamber hole.
A good way to see these issues is to disassemble the mag causing problems completely, and one that is working great. Compare the angles of the follower and the feed lips, comparing one against the other. Don't mix them up!
The steel is very soft, of quite low tensile. It can easily be tweaked with some long nosed pliers. If you put a wrap of electrical tape on the plier jaws, you won't scratch the finish and put burrs on the soft steel that may cause metal shavings. It's that simple, and pretty easy.
If you have this drama with the plastic cheapies, it most likely is the follower. Bent at an angle that presents the cartridges incorrectly. And/or the spring being weak.
Do not be afraid to stretch it out to give it more tension when only one or two cartridges are in the mag.
Farmers have the most dramas with these rifles feeding terribly at the worst moments. Most come from the magazine springs being shortened because they are often stored for years with a full mag, which shortens the cheap quality spring steel and the last 2 cartridges often almost fall out of the mags. Let alone the marginal manufacturing consistency of these rifles, which is why there are such varying feed lips angles in these mags.
"The only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing."
Aristotle.
Regards G,
AKA Dr. Doolittle