Don't do what I just did! R9 Magazine Problem

[BlueC2]

Went to the range today loaded up all of my extra mags with Gold Dots and began shooting. First mag through was the carry mag (black one) with 7 flawless rounds. The next mag I grabbed was a silver colored one and when I went to load it I noticed that it was really hard to insert into the gun. Me being me, and not thinking things through, I gave it a good whack with my non-shooting hand and in it went. Another 6 flawless rounds but the mag was impossible to get out. When I say impossible I mean impossible. I tried all the tools I had in my range bag to try and pry it loose. The European mag release made things a little harder because one hand was dedicated to holding that while the other way prying with various tools. Unable to get the empty mag out I had to cut the range visit short after only 13 rounds through the R9. When I got home I had better tools but it still proved difficult to get the mag out. I ended up prying with a bigger flat head screwdriver so hard the magazine base plate and spring went shooting across the room. Once those were out I was able to grab the magazine with players and yank it out. All the prying left a few marks on the bottom of the frame that I was kinda bummed about but I was able to fix those with some Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black (see pics). When I went through all of the magazines (not including the ones that go with each early gun) I found 3 that don't fit into the Elite.

Has anyone else ever had this happen?

Example of how far the "Bad" magazines go into the R9 without having to push harder than normal:



Good Magazines vs Bad magazines - They look exactly the same to me


Did I somehow end up with 380 Mags? - NOPE


Are they the "old style" with the weld down the back? - NOPE all the new style:


Here is the damage from my prying and just the mag making contact with the frame:


Here are two pictures of the fixed dings using the Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black - Works Great!



Thanks for any ideas on why some mags wont fit - Also open to ideas as to what to do with the mags?

[Reinz]

Man what a bummer!  Especially to such a special R9.  And thank you for having the courage to share your story.

Obviously a call to the factory is in order.  Regardless, measurements need to be taken with caliplers or a micrometer.  Mainly the thickness at various points and widths as well.  ( mainly top of mag and midsection)

Compare measurements of bad mag to good mag.

It almost sounds like too much spring and matter was compressed inside the mag which caused a bulge.  Thus, when forced in the mag chute, the compression locked it up.  Of course the same thing would happen if out of spec as well.

Please let us know how it goes.

Good Luck 

[Faawrenchbndr]

Wow,....sorry to hear of this

[Robar233]

BlueC2,
 
 WOW, thanks for sharing this problem with us. Do you know if the bad mags were purchased in one order? I am wondering if there has been a bad lot that is not within specifications.
 Prior to reading this post I would have done the same thing you did, removal and all. I think now I will fit test all of my magazines I buy prior to taking them to the range.
 I guess we have to do this procedure now in addition to inspecting every bullet before loading and firing. I have also been told to chamber fit (barrel out of gun) all carry ammo.
 Good luck and please let us know what you find out.
 Regards,

 Robar233

[Z]

Can you determine if they are tight side to side or front to back?
If you have a micrometer, you can measure the magazines.

Did you try to insert the magazines into another PUP?

[BlueC2]

Do you know if the bad mags were purchased in one order? I am wondering if there has been a bad lot that is not within specifications.

Unfortunately I don't. Somehow buying and selling various R9s for the last year have wound up with 4 guns and 13 mags. 6 of the magazines are the old ones with the weld so they stay with the 3 early guns in the safe. I actually have 7 new style mags (even though I only showed 6 in the pics, there are 2 black ones). The black ones came from the factory after I got the Elite so around last December, another 2 of the silver mags came with the Elite and I am assuming those are the two that work. The remaining three mags came with some of the other R9s I have bought and sold, example bought a used gun with 3 mags and resold it with the standard 2 mags - so there is no way to tell when they were produced.

 

Can you determine if they are tight side to side or front to back?
If you have a micrometer, you can measure the magazines.

Did you try to insert the magazines into another PUP?

I have some digital calipers at my office and I will measure good vs bad mags tomorrow and post any noticeable differences. I will also measure both good and bad with and without springs installed.

I did not try seeing if any of the bad mags would fit into the older guns, probably b/c they did change the mags since then so I'm not sure what could I would learn from that.

I would assume that they fit into some R9s, probably the ones they came with. I wonder if there is some tolerance issues and like the slides Mags are hand fit to guns?!? That would make selling replacement mags a crapshoot though.

Anyway, I'll try to get to the bottom of this and will keep people posted.

[Reinz]

I would assume that they fit into some R9s, probably the ones they came with. I wonder if there is some tolerance issues and like the slides Mags are hand fit to guns?!? That would make selling replacement mags a crapshoot though.

Anyway, I'll try to get to the bottom of this and will keep people posted.

Mags are Not hand fit.  Otherwise you would see grinding marks on mags.  If they ground on the mag chutes of the guns then new mags would not fit.

Possibly your mags are a vendor/factory error.

[Jack_F]

I would assume that they fit into some R9s, probably the ones they came with. I wonder if there is some tolerance issues and like the slides Mags are hand fit to guns?!? That would make selling replacement mags a crapshoot though.

Anyway, I'll try to get to the bottom of this and will keep people posted.

Mags are Not hand fit.  Otherwise you would see grinding marks on mags.  If they ground on the mag chutes of the guns then new mags would not fit.

Possibly your mags are a vendor/factory error.

The mags that came with the R9 I bought eight years ago will not fit in the one I purchased two years ago. New mags fit old gun.... They may be old mags!?

[BlueC2]

The mags that came with the R9 I bought eight years ago will not fit in the one I purchased two years ago. New mags fit old gun.... They may be old mags!?

I think all the old mags have the weld seam down the back, so these mags arn't that old. Does anyone know roughly either date or SN range when the mag change happened?

[Reinz]

I would assume that they fit into some R9s, probably the ones they came with. I wonder if there is some tolerance issues and like the slides Mags are hand fit to guns?!? That would make selling replacement mags a crapshoot though.

Anyway, I'll try to get to the bottom of this and will keep people posted.

Mags are Not hand fit.  Otherwise you would see grinding marks on mags.  If they ground on the mag chutes of the guns then new mags would not fit.

Possibly your mags are a vendor/factory error.

The mags that came with the R9 I bought eight years ago will not fit in the one I purchased two years ago. New mags fit old gun.... They may be old mags!?

That makes more sense.  Maybe they changed the specs on the mags/mag chute.

[offrdmania]

Bumping an old topic. I recently ordered an NOS mag from Brandon and it had a similar bulge, But the whole mag was oblong. Almost as if when the bag was folded to weld the back seam that it wasnt flattened on the sides all the way. It was so bad that the ears on top barely held onto the round causing the round to never want to hit the ramp straight on and failing to go into battery. He sent me another mag and it worked perfectly. He said they havent made these mags for years and its just old stock. Im assuming that these mags may have been left over and could possibly be from one of these old bad batches. Its hit and miss.

[backupr9]

Went to the range yesterday to test some Underwood Extreme Defender ammo (another post) and took 3 mags, the black one that came with my Covert, and two more that I had sitting around as spares (have 5 or 6).  The black original worked fine, but one of the others was so bulged out that it would not go into the pistol (see the first of Blue's pics, above).  Interestingly, the other, which I had obtained as an extra with another R9 purchase slid in easily, but I kept getting jams, and had some failures to fire...realized that the mag did not seat all the way into the pistol, although the grip extension that came with the mag was held by the mag release properly.  These problems all occurred with Lawman 124 ammo (didn't try the Underwood in that mag).  Is there anyone taking responsibility for bad mags now that Remington owns the company?