Please note that there are three posts in this series. The method in the third post would fix just about any magazine while the other two helped some of the magazines:
I just bought eight brand new .22 Marauder magazines for my BNM breach and about half of them were sluggish. In other words they didn’t really want to come back around and feed the pellets the way they should. In closer investigation, some had been over tightened during assembly. I simply backed the cover screw off with a 1/16 inch Allen key and that easy change did help a couple of the mags but not all. I would turn a little bit and test, turn little bit and test, etc.. I bet I backed off less than 1/4-1/2 a turn for the magazines that had problems. It didn’t fix all of them. Two were still sluggish. This is quick, easy and worth trying if you have a problem:
Note, the allen screws uses a 1/16″ key:
The other recommendation I would make is to use a silver Sharpie pen and label your magazines so you can keep track of how they perform. I’m also experimenting with spring position some and will write that up in another post. I have started putting a silver dot on the factory spring hole. So far all eight were in the exact same hole.
Frankly, I think they went with a cheap design. I still have two things I want to try – using a dry lube and changing the internal spring position. These will be in my next two blog posts.
I like Zastava firearms – notably their rifles – M70, M72, M67, M77, and M92. I’ve owned variants of all of those at one time or another and think highly of the designs and the quality of manufacturing. I ran across this short 160 year commemorative video released in 2015 and thought I would share it:
My magazine was a bear to pull out from my CP1002 BNM breech. I talked to Sergei at BNM about the tight fit and told me that they keep they keep their tolerances tight on purpose. He would rather things be tight vs. loose and that makes sense to me. So if your Marauder magazine is a bear to push in and out of the breach, a tiny bit of fitting is needed. The bottom of the Marauder magazine can be lightly sanded to allow magazine to be inserted easier. It probably is not the front to back dimension that you need to worry about so try the following first.
All you need to do is get some 320 grit sand paper, rub the bottom lightly, evenly and test. You just need to do the part that slides into the receiver. 320 was all I needed it took off enough to do the job gut also left a fine enough finish. Another benefit for those of you that may be nervous is that it can only take off a small amount of material. It will fill fast so with each pass, use another exposed surface of sandpaper. That is why you see two ends used on the second photo.
For mine to fit way better, it was just a tiny amount I had to take off. So don’t go crazy and take off a too much too fast. Literally, do 4-6 rubs, blow it off and test. Do this until it fits. I think I did all three of my mags with just a couple of rounds of sanding and testing each.
I could have sanded it with 400 grit and even gone up to a polish but just doing 320 seemed to work great so I stopped there.
Guys, I am serious fanboying over this video. I really like Dragunovs and this video has three Drag variants that are in the May 2017 auction at Rock Island Auction Company. The presenter does an amazing job taking each of the rifles and giving history and explaining the differences. He takes the bolts and trigger groups and sets them side by side and explains the differences. This is AMAZING. If you like Drags, you have to check this out. Seriously. I drooled on my keyboard just so you know.
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There are some great scenes of machinery and firearms in the Kalashnikov factory by Russian Insider. This was released in March 2017 and is pretty cool. You’ll also see a lot of firearms we never get to see over here. I’m fascinated about the evolution of the Russian arms industry. Growing up we heard about how backwards they were in terms of processes and equipment but in these videos you see a fairly modern plant with well laid out work centers, clean, a lot of CNC equipment and so forth.
The Video
If you are interested in Kalashnikov firearms and manufacturing, then you’ll want to watch this video.
Please note that all images were extracted from the video and remain the property of their respective owner(s).
If you need to quickly and accurate find and set the angles of sin tables, jigs and so forth, a digital protractor is worth its weight in gold and then some. I’ve had this Fowler Mini-Mag Eelectronic Protractor (PN# 54-422-450-1) since about 2008 and use it every day for setting the angle of drilling jigs for grips. It’s small, a breeze to use and the plain 9 volt battery lasts a very long time. I may change it once every year or two — it’s sure not often. Fowler says you should get about 250 hours of use from one battery and given how short of a time it runs when I do a set up, it’s no wonder it lasts a long time.
Basically, you zero the protractor, set it one your work piece or jig and record the angle. The grey circles on the sides of the protractor are magnets that I rarely use. The photo of it stuck to the side of my drill press’ column is just to show that the magnets can hold it in place. By the way, I true my table to my drill press’ column so zero for me is the table.
Now this is a precision gauge so I protect it and have never dropped it (knock on wood). As far as standing up to daily use, it has done great and my shop goes from hot and humid in the summer to below freezing in the winter. I literally just took the above photos for this blog post and am pretty sure the unit is nine years old or real close to it. It sits in its box on my shelf except when I need to use it.
I selected this originally because of the Fowler brand name and its specs. It can measure 90% on each side so 360 degree total with +/- 0.2 degree accuracy. Yes, that is two tenths of a degree and repeatability is .05 degrees.
Another consideration for me was size. In the photos, the Mini-Mag is sitting one one if my drilling jigs. I needed the unit to be relatively small and it certainly is. It’s 2-3/8″ tall x 2-3/8″ wide x 1-3/8″ thick and its all of my jigs just fine.
Once I got this, I was able to set up faster and the number of times I made a mistake due to the wrong angle plummeted. Like I said earlier, for me, it’s been worth its weight in gold and then some.
