SGW Gunsmith
Blackhawk
Many of the magazines currently involved with the purchase of either new magazines, or new pistols, seem to have a very gritty feel when running the follower button down. Being that the magazine body is the same for all the currently available Ruger Mark pistols, this process will envelope all of those. I came up with a cheap, simple to make, tool to help with disassembly and then reassembly of these magazines and get that "snake" length spring back into place much more easily. A coat hanger cut to 5-1/2 inches in length and then having one end bent to a 90-degree angle so it produces a "leg" 1/2-inch long.
Use either end of the tool to depress the spring guide through the access hole in the baseplate, and then slide the baseplate off the magazine body.
Once the baseplate has been pushed off the bottom of the magazine body, the follower spring and spring guide will launch out of the magazine body. The follower can easily be pushed down to the bottom of the magazine body where the round portion in the slot for the follower button is, so the button can be pulled up and out. The cartridge follower will now drop right out of the magazine body.
Here is another tool easily made from a hardwood block. The one shown here is made from white ash, but maple or oak will work just as well. The working edge of this block is sanded to a 60-degree included angle, or 30-degrees on each side. This sanding block, along with a small section of #400 emery paper, is used to polish the button slot for the follower. If you have a moto-tool, you can follow up the sanding with a hard felt bob charged with as fine a rouge as you have to give the slot a mirror finish so that it's very smooth. To go further with polishing, you can go to #600 next, followed by #1200 to get it really smooth and shiny.
Now we can turn our attention onto the follower button. Because I have access to a metal lathe, I will use it for this operation, but an electric drill where you can lock it to the "on" position, will also work just as well. Chuck the small end of the follower button tightly and while it is spinning use that folded up piece of #400 emery to polish the groove in the follower button that rides in the, now polished track in the magazine body. In this picture a follower button (on the left) has been polished, as opposed to the button on the right, that is still rough. Here again, you can progress to the #600, and then #1200, to get that groove very smooth and shiny.
A moto-tool with a hard felt bob works best for this next step, but it can also be done with the sanding block we previously shaped, along with the #400 emery paper. Polish in and around the feed lips of the magazine to remove any and all sharp edges that may be present. Sharp edges will shave lead off bullet noses as the rounds are fed into the chamber and we don't need that happening. You can now check the cartridge follower for any plastic "flashing" along the parting lines of the follower. These will show up in the form of thin, raised lines of plastic that squirted out of the mould when the molten plastic was formed. A smooth cut file is used to remove those lines so that there will be no rubbing in the front or rear of the inside walls of the magazine body.
To clean the inside of the magazine body, and we need to do that to remove any sanding dust now in there, I use a 5/16-inch diameter bottle brush wrapped with a cotton .30 caliber cleaning patch soaked with EEZOX. Then a dry patch is run through the magazine body to remove any excess solvent. The magazine is left to dry. If you have a .30 caliber nylon bore brush that will work in the same manner as the bottle brush, and with the cotton patch wrap.
We're now ready to reassemble the magazine and test it for smooth operation. Install the follower, making sure you have the left side of the magazine body facing up. Slide the follower up to allow the alignment of the follower button hole to be centered in the stamped out circle for the follower button to be installed. Tilt the magazine body so the follower slides to the top of the magazine. Install the magazine spring until it engages the cylinder on the follower. Here is where that magazine spring tool you made will make you smile, if you ever tried installing that "snake-of-a-spring" without one.
Insert the short end of the tool into the spring, about where it is in the picture, or a bit higher. Push that spring into the magazine until the bottom end of the follower spring guide disappears below the magazine bottom and hold it there. Slide the baseplate back onto the magazine body, but at the last 1/8-inch to go, tilt the spring tool forward and out of the magazine while pushing the baseplate all the way on. Once assembled, then exercise the follower button to see how smoothly it operates now.
***NOTE*** This whole process will also work when using the Mec-Gar magazines also.
Use either end of the tool to depress the spring guide through the access hole in the baseplate, and then slide the baseplate off the magazine body.
Once the baseplate has been pushed off the bottom of the magazine body, the follower spring and spring guide will launch out of the magazine body. The follower can easily be pushed down to the bottom of the magazine body where the round portion in the slot for the follower button is, so the button can be pulled up and out. The cartridge follower will now drop right out of the magazine body.
Here is another tool easily made from a hardwood block. The one shown here is made from white ash, but maple or oak will work just as well. The working edge of this block is sanded to a 60-degree included angle, or 30-degrees on each side. This sanding block, along with a small section of #400 emery paper, is used to polish the button slot for the follower. If you have a moto-tool, you can follow up the sanding with a hard felt bob charged with as fine a rouge as you have to give the slot a mirror finish so that it's very smooth. To go further with polishing, you can go to #600 next, followed by #1200 to get it really smooth and shiny.
Now we can turn our attention onto the follower button. Because I have access to a metal lathe, I will use it for this operation, but an electric drill where you can lock it to the "on" position, will also work just as well. Chuck the small end of the follower button tightly and while it is spinning use that folded up piece of #400 emery to polish the groove in the follower button that rides in the, now polished track in the magazine body. In this picture a follower button (on the left) has been polished, as opposed to the button on the right, that is still rough. Here again, you can progress to the #600, and then #1200, to get that groove very smooth and shiny.
A moto-tool with a hard felt bob works best for this next step, but it can also be done with the sanding block we previously shaped, along with the #400 emery paper. Polish in and around the feed lips of the magazine to remove any and all sharp edges that may be present. Sharp edges will shave lead off bullet noses as the rounds are fed into the chamber and we don't need that happening. You can now check the cartridge follower for any plastic "flashing" along the parting lines of the follower. These will show up in the form of thin, raised lines of plastic that squirted out of the mould when the molten plastic was formed. A smooth cut file is used to remove those lines so that there will be no rubbing in the front or rear of the inside walls of the magazine body.
To clean the inside of the magazine body, and we need to do that to remove any sanding dust now in there, I use a 5/16-inch diameter bottle brush wrapped with a cotton .30 caliber cleaning patch soaked with EEZOX. Then a dry patch is run through the magazine body to remove any excess solvent. The magazine is left to dry. If you have a .30 caliber nylon bore brush that will work in the same manner as the bottle brush, and with the cotton patch wrap.
We're now ready to reassemble the magazine and test it for smooth operation. Install the follower, making sure you have the left side of the magazine body facing up. Slide the follower up to allow the alignment of the follower button hole to be centered in the stamped out circle for the follower button to be installed. Tilt the magazine body so the follower slides to the top of the magazine. Install the magazine spring until it engages the cylinder on the follower. Here is where that magazine spring tool you made will make you smile, if you ever tried installing that "snake-of-a-spring" without one.
Insert the short end of the tool into the spring, about where it is in the picture, or a bit higher. Push that spring into the magazine until the bottom end of the follower spring guide disappears below the magazine bottom and hold it there. Slide the baseplate back onto the magazine body, but at the last 1/8-inch to go, tilt the spring tool forward and out of the magazine while pushing the baseplate all the way on. Once assembled, then exercise the follower button to see how smoothly it operates now.
***NOTE*** This whole process will also work when using the Mec-Gar magazines also.
