Cleaning Glock Magazines

[Parker Schreiber]

Question out of ignorance. Is it safe to use Hoppes #9 when cleaning the spring on a Glock Magazine?

 

[chris_1001]

Question out of ignorance. Is it safe to use Hoppes #9 when cleaning the spring on a Glock Magazine?

?

As in taking it apart?

The spring won’t care, it’s metal. And nor will the plastic.

I’d assume you’d be more worried about the body and not the spring. All good

 

[rep308]

Ultrasonic for the win

 

[chris_1001]

Ultrasonic for the win

Then you need to dry it all out. Too much of a pain.

And I sooooo wish this was the simple answer.

I’d love to dunk, buzz and go.

 

[drgrant]

Ultrasonic for the win

Overkill for a Glock, or most handguns for that matter.

 

[Boghog1]

hmm, I should pull mine apart, it's been 10 years with nothing more than blowing them out with air

 

[Parker Schreiber]

hmm, I should pull mine apart, it's been 10 years with nothing more than blowing them out with air

I’ve had 3 FTF over the last two range outings, so it’s time.

 

[Boghog1]

I’ve had 3 FTF over the last two range outings, so it’s time.

are the followers worn?

 

[M1911]

Question out of ignorance. Is it safe to use Hoppes #9 when cleaning the spring on a Glock Magazine?

Yes it's fine. But why would you need to? Did you drop your magazine in mud or deep sand? I've been shooting Glocks for decades and rarely, if ever, clean the magazines.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

are the followers worn?

Don’t seem to be. I figure I reloaded them about 50-60 times each.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Yes it's fine. But why would you need to? Did you drop your magazine in mud or deep sand? I've been shooting Glocks for decades and rarely, if ever, clean the magazines.

Nope. I’m trying to fix some failures to feed.

 

[Boghog1]

Nope. I’m trying to fix some failures to feed.

Limp wristing it? only time I get that is when I'm tired from shooting. Glocks are easy to limp wrist, at least for me

 

[M1911]

I’ve had 3 FTF over the last two range outings, so it’s time.

I doubt that dirt on the springs is doing that. Maybe if the body and/or follower are really crusty. More likely, I would change the followers and springs. Brownells and Midway should have both.

 

[whatluck]

I have had some .22 mags that the edges of the followers and mag body got gunked up enough to cause some FTFs. I would say it's a once a thousand rounds kind of operation.

 

[whatluck]

Do you number your mags to keep track of which ones give failures? What kind of FTF? Are you getting a stovepipe? Is the round going tip up and getting stuck? Is the slide going forward without grabbing a round?

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Do you number your mags to keep track of which ones give failures? What kind of FTF? Are you getting a stovepipe? Is the round going tip up and getting stuck? Is the slide going forward without grabbing a round?

I use the same two mags on regular basis and both resulted in a tip-up stuck round today. The first was on the 3rd round in the mag. The second was on the 9th (of 10). This was in my TNW PCC.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

I doubt that dirt on the springs is doing that. Maybe if the body and/or follower are really crusty. More likely, I would change the followers and springs. Brownells and Midway should have both.

I’ll try cleaning first then start replacing things.

 

[whatluck]

I use the same two mags on regular basis and both resulted in a tip-up stuck round today. The first was on the 3rd round in the mag. The second was on the 9th (of 10). This was in my TNW PCC.

Do you have a glock handgun you can test these mags in? Are these mags OEM? Hows your feed ramp look? Should be as smooth as glass. Does the action cycle smoothly? Some feed ramps don't like certain types of ammo. If you break the rule and ease the bolt forward very slowly does the round get stuck?

Quick google search...

Reliability: 6/10, 10/10 if you locktite everything out of the box.

A simple Modern Sporting Rifle-style buffer tube screws into the upper, which holds a spring and a weighted buffer. It's held by a castle nut that's in no way, shape, or form staked or otherwise secured and could back out in as little as 50-100 rounds. This is a straight blowback firearm that relies on the balance between the bullet load, recoil mass, and recoil spring to operate reliably. Failure to reinstall the buffer tube at the correct depth will cause constant failure to feed, extract, or eject. This is the most common complaint I heard about this firearm during my pre-purchase research. I had some initial issues with Barnaul and I thought it was caused by the lacquered steel cases, but it ended up being casued by me reinstalling the buffer tube a turn or two too shallow after adding a sling mount on the tube. It ran like a champ after screwing the tube in deeper and locktiting the castle nut in place as it doesn't need to come off for cleaning.

The upper receiver joins the lower with two non-captive takedown pins passing through two studs protruding from the upper receiver, similar to the rear plunger on the AR18 platform. The depth of these two studs can also be changed as they are threaded into the upper, and it's the same story as the buffer tube. Locktite it out of the box at the OEM depth and you'll save yourself a lot of future hassles. It's a whacky design

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Do you have a glock handgun you can test these mags in? Are these mags OEM? Hows your feed ramp look? Should be as smooth as glass. Does the action cycle smoothly? Some feed ramps don't like certain types of ammo. If you break the rule and ease the bolt forward very slowly does the round get stuck?

I don’t have a Glock handgun right now, but may be buying an MR920 with my next bonus. Mags are genuine Glock 10-round mags for the 19. The feed ramp and action are fine. I haven’t tried easing the bolt forward, but given that 18 of the 20 feeds were fine, I’m not sure what it would prove.

 

[whatluck]

I don’t have a Glock handgun right now, but may be buying an MR920 with my next bonus. Mags are genuine Glock 10-round mags for the 19. The feed ramp and action are fine. I haven’t tried easing the bolt forward, but given that 18 of the 20 feeds were fine, I’m not sure what it would prove.

Easing the bolt forward will allow you to feel if there's anywhere the rounds are getting stuck, you'd be looking for a sandpaper or detent kind of feel.

 

[kalash]

I doubt that dirt in the mag is causing your issues. I've dropped my mags in sand and mud dozens of times and the most I've ever done is use an old toothbrush to get the most obvious crud off the top of the follower; I've never taken them apart for a thorough cleaning.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

I doubt that dirt in the mag is causing your issues.

Thanks for your comment. I cleaned both mags on Sunday and all went smoothly. It may be my imagination, but reloading seems easier as well. I’ll figure out next steps, if any after hitting the range on Friday.

As for ammo, I’m running 147gr SynTech in those mags, which I’ve been using for about a year. I had no issues with Underwood 147gr +P in Glock 26 mags.

 

[M1911]

I don't have any experience with AR9s. I get the impression they can be a bit temperamental, but that's third hand. I'm glad yours is running again.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Followup -- Been to the range twice since cleaning things. As usual, the nut behind the stock still needs adjusting, but otherwise everything worked as it should.

 

[DJBrad]

Followup -- Been to the range twice since cleaning things. As usual, the nut behind the stock still needs adjusting, but otherwise everything worked as it should.

So this model is a proprietary build so it makes sense that you are troubleshooting some minor issues and I would guess the magazines are not to blame. My ar pattern build has been flawless notwithstanding a non lrbho.



View: https://youtu.be/mne5BbeZs8k?si=O2xmtK1GbE-KeDml

 

[Parker Schreiber]

So this model is a proprietary build so it makes sense that you are troubleshooting some minor issues and I would guess the magazines are not to blame. My ar pattern build has been flawless notwithstanding a non lrbho.

I had a lot more problems with it initially, but with stovepiping rather than a failure to feed. It took 3 trips back to Oregon to get it to work correctly, and after that it was running smoothly for well over a thousand rounds until this latest issue popped up. I'll see what happens with the next couple of hundred rounds, but I'll also pay more attention to the mags in the future.

 

[allen-1]

I had a lot more problems with it initially, but with stovepiping rather than a failure to feed. It took 3 trips back to Oregon to get it to work correctly, and after that it was running smoothly for well over a thousand rounds until this latest issue popped up. I'll see what happens with the next couple of hundred rounds, but I'll also pay more attention to the mags in the future.

Stovepiping is usually rounds insufficient to push slide/spring. Or very dirty slide adding friction. Clean it. Change ammo. Change spring.

 

[Parker Schreiber]

Stovepiping is usually rounds insufficient to push slide/spring. Or very dirty slide adding friction. Clean it. Change ammo. Change spring.

Been there, tried most of that. I bought the thing during the ammo drought, so at first I thought it was the Browning 115gr ammo I had managed to get ahold of. But it kept happening even with brand name 147gr ammo like Lawman. At one point, I took it to Northeast Firearms to see if they could sort it out. Afterwards, the suggested I try Winchester Nato for some extra oomph, but the stovepiping still happened the next trip out. After that, I sent it back to Oregon. They may have well tweaked the buffer spring or weight -- I didn't think to check it out.

The latest problem was with 147gr Syntech Training and Match, which I had been using without issue all year.