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Old February 15, 2013, 09:55 PM   #1
ScottRiqui
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Rounds not feeding from Hi-Power magazine?

I just took my new Hi-Power to the range for the first time today. The gun came with two 13-round magazines.

I don't have weak thumbs, but I couldn't get more than 7-8 rounds into either magazine by hand. So, for the range session, I just stuck with half-loading the magazines. No feeding problems at the range all day.

When I got home, I used my LULA magazine loader to load the magazines all the way up. Then I started to "thumb" the rounds out of the magazine one at a time. The first four or five rounds come out weakly, as if the follower wasn't pressing up very firmly on them.

Then, the rounds would stop coming up at all, as if the follower is binding in the magazine body. After knocking the magazine a little bit, the rest of the rounds pop up and I can thumb them out. These last rounds come out like I would expect them to, with the follower pushing firmly on them.

Both magazines behave exactly the same way. I took them both apart, cleaned and lubed them, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Do I just need to keep loading/unloading them until the follower wears in a little bit?
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Old February 15, 2013, 10:16 PM   #2
jrothWA
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Suggest that you detail the mags...

to clean and lube (lightly) the interiors.

Are the mags browning supplied or after-market?

Does the follower ride up and down the mag using a cleaning rod?

Post some photo's for us to try and help.
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Old February 15, 2013, 10:26 PM   #3
ScottRiqui
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I've cleaned and lubed them both. They're the original factory magazines. They have a rough parkerized-type finish, so the follower may just be dragging on the inside of the magazine.

I've loaded and unloaded them a few more times now, and it seems to be getting a little better, but they're not quite "right" yet. The first time I tried to press the follower down with a cleaning rod, the follower tilted and stuck in the magazine body.

I'll keep loading and unloading them and see if they keep getting better. If not, I might try polishing up the follower a bit with some 2000-grit sandpaper.
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Old February 15, 2013, 11:27 PM   #4
jaughtman
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Had that issue.....

But with some Argentinian military mags - could not get more than 6-7 rounds in and I pride myself on being pretty strong. I guess the Argentinian military are gorillas. Sold them and bought some FM factory mags and had no problems.

J
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Old February 16, 2013, 03:09 PM   #5
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Try MecGar mags, standard capacity.
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Old February 16, 2013, 08:09 PM   #6
ScottRiqui
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I'm making some good progress with the factory mags.

After loading the mag all the way, I thumbed the rounds out until I got to the first one that wouldn't pop up on its own. Then I used the LULA loader to repeatedly press the remaining bullets in the magazine down one position, and then let them come back up. Then I pressed them back down again, and let them pop back up again, repeating the process 100 times.

Basically, there are "tight spots" where the follower is binding against the inside of the magazine. By repeatedly moving the follower up and down in the rough spot, I'm either smoothing out the finish on the inside of the mag, or I'm polishing down the follower.

Regardless, I can now hand-load all 13 rounds into the mag, and all 13 rounds will pop up when I "thumb" them out. They don't all pop up with the same force, so I still have a little more to do, but I think this is going to work.

I'm still going to look at getting a Mec-Gar mag once the buying frenzy calms down, though.
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Old February 23, 2013, 02:24 AM   #7
ScottRiqui
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Quote:
Regardless, I can now hand-load all 13 rounds into the mag, and all 13 rounds will pop up when I "thumb" them out. They don't all pop up with the same force, so I still have a little more to do, but I think this is going to work.
Just a final update. I went to the range a few days ago, and with both factory mags loaded fully, the pistol fired fine, with no failures of any sort.

When thumbing rounds out of the magazine, the rounds still don't all "pop up" with the same amount of force, so the follower is still dragging a little bit, but I think the recoil when firing is allowing them to feed without the follower sticking enough to cause a problem.

I should point out that it's entirely possible that fully-loaded magazines would have worked perfectly reliably from the very beginning, even without the work I did to smooth the contact points between the follower and the magazine. But considering I couldn't physically load 13 rounds into either magazine before smoothing them out, I'll never know.
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Old February 23, 2013, 05:25 AM   #8
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I guess this is what they mean by "break in".
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Old February 24, 2013, 05:46 PM   #9
oldcspsarge
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You might also want to try replacement mag springs from Wolff

www.gunsprings.com They make the best !
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Old February 24, 2013, 06:06 PM   #10
FairWarning
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I've never had any problems fully loading my factory Browning mags, MecGar 20 rd (actually 21 ) or Ramline 15 rd mags.

It does take a take stout pull to load the chamber, however. Neither my mom nor dad could do it.
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Old February 24, 2013, 07:15 PM   #11
ClydeFrog
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If it were me....

If I had a P35 or Hi Power with magazine issues, I'd contact www.chestnutmountainsports.com or the Hi Power wizards at www.cylinder-slide.com .
Karl Sokol is a top rated pistolsmith & did custom work for the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team(HRT). Each Special Agent on HRT had 2 Hi-Power 9x19mm pistols in the 1980s/1990s.
I'd buy a few tuned Hi-Power magazines.
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