Posted: 10/17/2009 12:34:08 PM EDT
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I've always seen that stored loaded magazines are fine and I believe that. This is a case where it there was a functional failure.
I visited my ex for a fishing trip. Checked out the W. German Sig 226 she got custody of and reviewed operation with her. To my surprise, when I went to unload the magazine by hand to replace the older Winchester SXT with some newer 147 Ranger T the magazine did not work properly. The nose of several rounds dove into the front wall and were stuck enough to stay in that position until nudged up. Recoil might have kept them from sticking or the whole deal might have just failed. Wish I had pics but I don't. We found the back up magazine and I checked it for function several times and it was fine. I brought the one that had issues home to look over on the bench. I reloaded the magazine with new ammo and it cycled fine. The magazine had been static for a couple of years in Houston humidity but I'm still not clear on the nature of the failure. Springs are made to work over many years in a compressed state. The rest of the mag should be designed to work smoothly. It has not been lubed but I see mixed reports on the whether this is a good idea. Guess I'll figure it out when I take it apart and report back if I can see what the failure is. Something on the front of the bullet might have corroded to a sticky state with the metal of the mag. Don't know. Just wanted to provide some feedback that it is possible to see this kind of failure. |
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Quoted:
Did you hand cycle the slide to unload the magazine or just try to push the rounds out of the magazine with our thumb? Says he emptied it by hand. I bet it would have functioned in the pistol. I have had some nose dive due to the way I was pushing them out. More downward force that straight out. I have had several pistol mags that have been loaded for years and have not given any problems. |
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No update from disassembly yet but to answer a few questions:
- This is not a new magazine. It came with the gun new and has always worked in the past. It's probably had 200 rds cycled through it without any issues. - I unloaded by hand and the 2 or 3 rounds that were angled down with their nose sticking on the front of the magazine wall. I don't think they came up enough to be stripped by the slide and given their angle I suspect they would have nose dived rather than feeding. - The spring feels fine just pushing it down by hand. No visual issues with the follower. - It had been sitting on the nightstand for maybe a couple of years untouched. Gun hasn't been fired in like 5 or more years but I think it's been cycled more recently. If I had whacked the backbone against my palm this might have seated them rearward where they were supposed to be. Would have worked better with a helmet of course.. |
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Seen that many times on ranges when LEOs would unload their duty ammo from mags and switch to training ammo. Remember that when shooting, both recoil and the rearward motion of the 'stripper' on the bottom of the side act to sort of 'bump' the next carttridge into a correct attitude for feeding up and under the extractor and into the chamber.
Nothing to worry about. |
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Quoted: If I had whacked the backbone against my palm this might have seated them rearward where they were supposed to be. Would have worked better with a helmet of course.. If you have to whack the back of the mag to make it work right then it's either a bad mag or you've the wrong ammo in it. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
If I had whacked the backbone against my palm this might have seated them rearward where they were supposed to be. Would have worked better with a helmet of course.. If you have to whack the back of the mag to make it work right then it's either a bad mag or you've the wrong ammo in it. I agree with this.. no whacking should be required even if that would have worked. Not that I wouldn't do it if I were in a war zone. I took the magazine apart and there is nothing wrong with it. I cycled it by hand and through another Sig 226 and it was fine. The tension on the spring feels like a broken in version of a new OEM mag. What I believe is that this is an ammo failure not a magazine failure. The ammo felt 'sticky' after being stored for years in Houston humidity. It had a slight blackish cast to it (as opposed to shiny new ammo). I don't know enough about metal to know what kind of corrosion brass/copper/lead is susceptible to but the ammo did feel sticky. The mag looks fine (doesn't feel sticky inside btw). I also checked ammo that had been in the box for the same number of years. There was no apparent corrosion or buildup like I saw on the rounds in the magazine. So.. in this case just leaving a mag in the gun over the years did lead to some issues. Wish there were some actionable specifics rather than just a heads up, but the ammo is in Houston and is unavailable for scrutiny. Would it have fired flawlessly? Honestly, I don't think so. The rounds were coming up 30 degrees nose down though recoil might have shaken them loose. In the future I'll check the gun more frequently even though after some discussion and a trip to the gun store she's getting a SXS 20inch 12 gauge for Christmas which will be her primary. |