Phantom not dropping mags freely

[ZedHeadHunter]

It drops the supplied CZ 18 round mags great but the 16 round Mec-Gar mags all get stuck. I tried 16 different mags and most of the time they got stuck. A few times they dropped out fine and surprised me when it did. It did seem to get a little better as I kept trying it. It I don't think I ever got a 50% success rate.

When pressing the release it does feel a bit rough and repeatedly pressing it has smoothed it a bit. Just odd and trying to figure out what I need to do to get magazines to reliably drop free

[anonymouscuban]

Did you check that the mag brake is seated properly?

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[ZedHeadHunter]

Did you check that the mag brake is seated properly?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

This is on a Phantom so as far as I can tell there is no mag break. That would have been one of the first things I checked if it was a metal frame.

I've had magazines stick on a mag break before and this is different. When I press the mag release it drops about 1/8 in and no further. The 18 round CZ mags launch out with no friction.

It also feels as if I cannot press the magazine release in far enough. I've heard that the CZ magazines are skinnier than the Mec-Gar. Maybe the mag release is going just far enough to drop the CZ mag and the Mec-Gars are just a few thousanths thicker enough to stick.

[tdogg]

Do you have calipers such that you can measure your magazine thickness?  On my TSO I had to squeeze some new TS mags in a vice that were too thick so they would drop free without hanging up.  If they are old enough you can see where they are worn and try squeezing them slightly near the worn spot but measuring them would be best.  Compare the dimensions with the magazines that drop free.

It could be front to back as opposed to side to side as well.

If you take the slide off it may help pinpoint where they are hanging up.

Cheers,
Toby

[AZ_CZ]

My Gen 1 won't drop the newer Mecgar style with the +2 basepad but runs original 16 and SP-01 mags great. Just one of those things. Gave the Mecgars away- problem solved.

[ZedHeadHunter]

I'll check with calipers when I get home. I did notice that the CZ 18 round mags did rattle a little more.

I did check with the slide off and no slide catch installed with no change. I couldn't see a place that it was hanging up on.

If I fully inserted a mag then pressed the release quickly and hard the mags had a better chance of dropping free. I still wonder if my mag release is the issue. It feels very gritty when pressed.

I'll keep the Mec-Gar magazines because they work in my SP-01 Tactical and hopefully will run good in a Shadow 2 if I ever get one.

For now I'll see if just inserting and dropping a mag 1000 times will smooth it out.

[ZedHeadHunter]

The calipers measured very little change but the Mec-Gar mags were a few thousandth larger. I just kept working the magazines in and ejecting them a bunch of times and it smoothed out a little. Then it was able to eject fine with the slide closed but not locked open.

So this is when I started to get fed up and started slamming the mags in like I was doing a tactical reload. Then they all started working. it was a 75% success rate for open and closed. The sticky ones just got slammed in a few extra times until they now work. I have 2 out of 16 that still occasionally stick but they get better after every insertion. I must have finally rubbed off a burr in the metal or flashing in the plastic and now they work.