LC9s Magazine question

I have a new LC9s that I shot for the first time today and it is a great advancement over the DA model. But, none of the six magazines I own will drop free from the pistol. Has anyone else experienced this? Suggestions to correct the problem are welcome.

Hmmm, that's one problem I haven't had with mine. Sounds like a gun issue since it's all magazines (are they Ruger mags?). Maybe Ruger over corrected for the problems with USA mags dropping under recoil?

All the magazines are Ruger, both US and Italian made.

I just tried the magazines again and they all drop free. Yesterday it was about 35 degrees and wet. Snow was melting and fog was in the air. The gun was shot with and without gloves and I never observed the problem when I started shooting. I saw it at the end of the session. The gun was exposed to the elements for about 90 minutes. I am going to presume it was something I did and its not the gun. I'll rack this up to cold hands for now.

Actually, under those conditions I wouldn't consider that too awfully unusual, then. Shooting that much and in those elements you probably got a fair amount of fouling in the weapon and then cold, wet weather could make it kind of sticky.

Actually, I need to recant my last message. With the gun, mags and my hand at room temperature, the slide locked to the rear, empty magazines will drop free only if the pistol is held completely vertical. Any slight degree off vertical and the magazine will drop about one inch and then stick in the mag well. With the slide forward magazines will usually, but not always, drop free even with the pistol at some degree (0 - 40) past vertical. I have six magazines, 5 Italian and 1 US. One Italian magazine seems more prone to sticking than the rest. By comparison, my DAO LC9 drops everything, at every angle, every time no matter the slide position.

I haven't measured the magazines yet or have I smoked them to look for rub points. I have not attempted to measure the magazine well either. With no data to indicate anything I want to see if there is any relationship to the magazine safety in this matter.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

FelixD said:

...With no data to indicate anything I want to see if there is any relationship to the magazine safety in this matter.

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Having removed my magazine safety (and thus being familiar with how it operates) I can say that it doesn't seem likely to be the culprit. The magazine safety is implemented as a small metal piece that pushes straight back against the front of the magazine (more properly, when inserted, the front of the magazine pushes the tab about 1/16" straight forward). The spring behind the device is very weak.

Thus, I don't think this device would have much impact on magazines not releasing at an angle side to side. Of course, I've been known to be wrong... LOL

BTW, this may not be an uncommon thing - I've noticed that some IDPA shooters "snap" their pistol through a sharp rotation as they release the mag on a slide-back reload. You can spot them because their magazines always fly off to the left a few feet. Not sure if that's to deal with potentially sticky mags or if they just want the magazine out of the way so they don't step on it as they run the stage or if it just positions the gun better for a reload. It's beyond my skill level, in any case.

Hmmm, just thought about it - 1" out would put the notch in the right side of the magazine (the mag release notch) at just about the level of the end of the mag well... You might see if that is where it is hanging.

I can say that at 1" the magazine safety is definitely not involved because it is in the "chassis" and contacts the magazine very near the top of the magazine.

I field stripped both pistols this afternoon and found that the spring that pushes the small metal pad against the front edge of the magazine to activate the magazine safety is stronger on the S than the DAO. Before I do anything else I'd like to remove the safety to see if it corrects the problem. Can the magazine safety on the S model be removed the same way as the one on the DAO?

It can be removed and it is almost the same procedure. Some of the parts in the chassis are different, and of course there is no main spring at the rear of the grip. I found that the most helpful video was this one. It's a detail strip video, not a "remove the mag release video" but it's very detailed and accurate whereas the same can't be said of the magazine release specific videos I found.

In this video the mag release has already been removed - but once you get the gun stripped that far the rest is pretty obvious.

If it's dropping at least an inch, it should be below the magazine disconnect by then, but maybe not quite past the mag release yet. On all of my USA magazines, they all have a very dull, flat finish on the blueing, but the finish on the Italian one that a friend of mine has is a very slick, shiny finish on the blueing, which would definitely cause less friction as the mag slides out of the frame. Are your USA ones dull, and the Italian one shiny? I'm wondering if all the USA ones have a crappy finish, or if some Italian ones have it as well?

This afternoon I removed the mag safety and now all the magazines drop free no matter the angle of the pistol. There is no longer an interruption in the movement if the magazine. I have no way to determine the strength of the disconnect spring, but it looks as if the disconnect was pressing directly against the mag as soon as it was released. Thank God its an easy fix. Thanks everyone for your help.

Interesting...well...that's the second time in my life I've been wrong about something. :wink:

Hard to imagine why something that presses against the front of the magazine in the top 3/8" or so would hang them up 1" out...good to know, though.

I just got two extra mags from Ruger for mine yesterday and decided to check this.... All three are pretty much 'thrown' out when you push the mag release button and the mags are empty and the slide closed or open.. what I mean is there is some kind of spring action inside of mine that pushes the magazine out... it will push an empty magazine completely out even if the gun is held horizontal. You have to catch the magazine.

edit: I read in a different thread about the problems with USA made mags and that the Italian ones are better (presume these are actually mec-gars) all three of mine are USA made and I plan to run a good bit of ammo through the pistol tomorrow.... if it runs good , I'm planning to wear this new Ruger on my trip to PA next week. I also got a ISW Triple K holster from Ruger at the same time...

Good point blume357 - I tried mine and it, too, kicks the mags out with pretty good force. There is a metal tab just to the left of the feed ramp. When an empty mag is in the gun it holds the follower down by maybe 1/8" to 3/16" so the magazine spring kicks the mag out. It is strong enough to kick the mag up maybe 1" even when the gun is inverted.

@psl1959 - you might have a look at this as when this is working right I can't imagine that little weakly-sprung mag-disconnect tab causing enough drag to really have much effect on the magazine travel if it's getting the proper "kick" from the magazine spring. If it wasn't all six of your magazines I'd say try cleaning and dry-lubing the mags but no way that six of them would be messed up unless maybe you've put tons of Wolf ammo through the thing or something like that.

This is a problem I've not heard of before. Most of the time the mags just fall right out, even when you don't want them to.

jb1911 said:

This is a problem I've not heard of before. Most of the time the mags just fall right out, even when you don't want them to.

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BWAA-HAAA. Oh, wait, that's not so funny.