Galloway Precision "+3" followers for Ruger SR22P - Review

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Erich

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
180
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Okay, ran across these in a couple of threads - ordered them on Wednesday and they were delivered Saturday. $10 for a pair of them, plus $6.95 postage. Why? Well, because it pleases me to think of the shade of Bill ("No honest man needs more than 10 rounds in any gun.") Ruger and the countless other dipsticks who discount Real America suffering indigestion at the thought of a factory magazine being converted from 10-round to greater capacity.

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Galloway Precision has manufactured these shorter-than-normal followers for the Ruger SR22P, which they advertise as "+3" followers. The part that was shortened is the portion that allowed the pull-down-the-follower magazine buttons to assist in loading, so that's no longer there.

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Galloway advertises that their followers are of a slicker composition than the Ruger factory plastic. What I found was that they were of a rougher composition. Not sure if this cell phone macro pic shows it, but it might:

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Installation was not entirely hassle-free. The first of the followers that I attempted to install was slightly oversized - it hung-up when inserted in the mag and would not lift fully to the top without a stouter push than the factory magazine spring provided. I called the Galloway Precision number to ask about it and got an answering machine message telling me that the best way to get them was via email. Okay. Well, I tried pushing the oversized follower up and down within the mag body to see if it would "wear in," but the only thing that was happening was that I was getting frustrated.

So, I went out to the garage and grabbed a sanding sponge. Three minutes later, and the follower slid perfectly within the channel. I installed the magazine and floorplate and ran a bunch of rounds through the gun, whipping the slide to simulate firing. No failures to feed.

All right, I figured I'd hazard installation of the second follower. This one dropped right in and worked perfectly from the get-go. Go figure.

Here's the thing, though: my followers did not permit 13 rounds to be seated in the magazine - only 12. I would have had to force the rim of the thirteenth round below the steel magazine lip in order to seat it. Since that's where the 'splody stuff lives, I didn't think it was worth my effort to do so. I consider these to be +2 followers.

But the proof is in the shooting, right? I ran the two mags out to the range and put 150 or so rounds of mixed (low velocity target, 60-gr Aguila SSS, match, high velocity and hypervelocity) rounds through the gun. I ran full 12-round mags, with a chamber round of the same type.

The followers worked. The only failure I had was with a underpowered (I was chronoing at the time and this round was 200 fps below the mean of the others) Remington Subsonic 38-gr hollowpoint - the round simply didn't generate sufficient force to throw the slide back far enough to pick up the next round in the mag. Honestly, I feel that the Galloway Precision followers worked better than the Ruger factory ones . . . possibly because they have no drag from the loading-assist button.

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Do you need them? Probably not, if you're using the SR22P as a plinker. Do they work? It sure seems like it.
 

WIL TERRY

Buckeye
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
1,973
Location
Single Chute, SD USA
ALL IS WELL IN THE NORTH COUNTRY !! Winter has alternated between cold as all gittout and surprisingly mild. I've spent my time loading ammo for this year come spring and am well over 10M rounds ahead at this point. We only burned up 15,688 rounds last year because we did not get out to shoot until April 29.
Been batching it for the past ten days with three weeks to go, just me'n' the dogs, a large bottle of Brandy to keep me warm, and all of Skeeter's books to read these winter evenings; I read 'em every winter. Sometimes Elmer's SIXGUNS again for the 757th[+ -] time.
Hope all is well with you and yours' Erich.
 

Richbaker

Blackhawk
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
Messages
641
Location
Tucson, AZ
What happens if you cut the factory follower to the same length as these? Looks like it would work, to me... and be free.
 

Erich

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
180
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Thanks Terry - actually having a couple of older friends passing on to the next world. But fortunate to have had them in my life. You remind me that I've got to get Sixguns out, since I haven't read it yet this winter. :) And it was 60°F and utterly cloudless today - not bad for February in the high desert - gotta count the blessings!

Rich, the tricky bit would be getting the angle right - and getting the seat for the spring right. Look at the pix and you'll see what I mean. :) I suspect your "free" might cost you more than the Galloway followers. ;)
 

WIL TERRY

Buckeye
Joined
Jun 8, 2003
Messages
1,973
Location
Single Chute, SD USA
SORRY TO HEAR of your heartache, Erich. I too have a tough time this time of the year. A week ago was the anniversary of my Momma's death, next week is the anniversary of my brothers death, and the 22nd is the anniversary of my Daddy's death. Lost 'em all in less than three years. You can expect to outlive your parents, it is part of life. But losing my brother knocked me for a loop bigtime.....
And so it goes...
 

LenC

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 30, 2012
Messages
15
I also got a pair of these from Galloway Precision for my SR22P. Received them several weeks ago, but had to wait until now to get my hands on some .22LR to test them with. Contrary to Erich's experience, my set allowed the advertised +3 rounds. After the 13th round, there is still a little depression of the stack possible, but not enough for another round. Erich, no doubt you checked the installation of the Galloway followers to make sure the spring was seated correctly. I would still send Galloway an email about the problem and ask for a new set.

One thing that is clearly mentioned on the Galloway website, is that the side tabs (on the sides of the mag that are part of the original follower) that set the slide lock on the last round are lost with the modified followers. However the sides at the top of the Galloway follower are canted inward slightly so that a portion of the follower extends above the lips of the mag allowing the modified follower to stick up and catch on the slide after the last round.

This catches the slide, but one has to then slightly retract the slide and set the slide lock manually in order to remove the mag for a reload. With the shortage of ammo, I haven't been able to visit the range and run several mags through it to see how I am going to like this change. The good news is that it appears one could easily ramp the rear edge of the Galloway follower so that it won't catch on the slide after the last round if this is a bother.

For what it's worth . . .
 

Erich

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
180
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
I'm glad they've now got that clearly on the site - I don't find it to be too much of a hassle. I find that one of my early followers catches the slide most of the time, and the other doesn't.

The inventor of these things has contacted me and said that Galloway pulled them all and made them right after I experienced the issues I detailed above. I'm glad to hear your report that they're 100% now, Len! :)
 

LenC

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 30, 2012
Messages
15
Erich said:
. . . .
The inventor of these things has contacted me and said that Galloway pulled them all and made them right after I experienced the issues I detailed above. I'm glad to hear your report that they're 100% now, Len! :)
Galloway seems to be fairly responsive to customer experiences--at this time they are really busy, but they do respond to their emails.

I had purchased another "new" item in their line from them and had some problems with it that seemed to be a systematic design problem. Emailed them with my findings and assessment and they pulled the item and redesigned it. They are replacing all that were previously sold.

My preference would be to work things out by phone, but given the current crush, I can live with the email route.
 
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