Christmas Present to Myself

[Neuraleanus]

Apparently, inter-changeability is not a Brit strong suite. Here are three No. 4 mags:

On the left is the original reproduction follower, with a little bit of filing, inserted into the mag body from Liberty Tree, in the middle is an original Savage mag, and on the right is the follower from Liberty Tree inserted into the original reproduction mag body. Of these, the left most one is working out the best. The Savage mag has a tendency to pop the left-most cartridge out of the receiver. Notice the more pronounced hump on the follower. The right most follower has a weak spring. Cartridges will sometimes not get popped up enough such that the bolt head passes right over the round.

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[Alan de Enfield]

pparently, inter-changeability is not a Brit strong suite. Here are three No. 4 mags:

It is a well known fact that magazines have to be individually fitted and 'tuned' to correctly fit, and, they are not interchangable.
The 'ears' can be just a 'few thou' out of position and the rifle will not load correctly, this is why magazines were not designed to be removed (that is why they had chargers) or kept in pockets or pouches. because of the high risk of knocks.

[browningautorifle]

The right most follower has a weak spring. Cartridges will sometimes not get popped up enough such that the bolt head passes right over the round.

That's because the right spring in picture belongs to a #1Mk3 rifle magazine. When you look at them you see they're different. As stated your mag needs to be fitted when new and then stay with the rifle. They're mild steel and can be twisted so they misfeed. The one that pops rounds out needs lips reshaped. They should snap in cleanly or the spine needs to be altered a touch. Peter Laidler spoke of having buckets of them salvaged and just sliver soldering a new locking spine on before fitting.

[Neuraleanus]

That's because the right spring in picture belongs to a #1Mk3 rifle magazine. When you look at them you see they're different. As stated your mag needs to be fitted when new and then stay with the rifle. They're mild steel and can be twisted so they misfeed. The one that pops rounds out needs lips reshaped. They should snap in cleanly or the spine needs to be altered a touch. Peter Laidler spoke of having buckets of them salvaged and just sliver soldering a new locking spine on before fitting.

That's interesting. Are you saying that because of the increased curvature on the left side? It does resemble the follower in my No 1, Mk III. I know that the mag bodies are different, they are not interchangeable between rifles, but I did not know that the followers are different. This is odd in that it came from a No 4 mag. I'll take a look at Laidler's stuff.

On the issue of the Savage mag, how would I go about reshaping it? A bit of hammering with a ball-peen?

[Alan de Enfield]

On the issue of the Savage mag, how would I go about reshaping it? A bit of hammering with a ball-peen?

NO NO NO

It is a very delicate, almost microscopic, adjustment.
A small pair of needle-nose pliers and tweak the left hand side tab 'upwards' by 1/64" and see if it improves, if not try another 1/64" repeat a couple more times if still no sucess, then try putting the tab back to the original position and tweak the other tab.

Keep adjusting until you get it to work properly.

[browningautorifle]

A bit of hammering with a ball-peen?

That would end it's little life. They're SO soft. Just a tweak as A de E states.

It is a very delicate, almost microscopic, adjustment.

[Neuraleanus]

NO NO NO

It is a very delicate, almost microscopic, adjustment.
A small pair of needle-nose pliers and tweak the left hand side tab 'upwards' by 1/64" and see if it improves, if not try another 1/64" repeat a couple more times if still no sucess, then try putting the tab back to the original position and tweak the other tab.

Keep adjusting until you get it to work properly.

This is what I did:

I left the follower itself alone. I compared the height of the follower hump to the one that was working and found them to be identical. I also noticed that the right-most tab on the mag body was bent up more allowing a higher follower hump over the top edge of the mag. Upon hammering the tab a bit this reduced the follower height and I was able to make the follower profile appear more like the other mag. The result is rounds are no longer popping up out of the receiver, but sometimes the right-most cartridge will get stuck. The other mag does not do this. The left-side tab doesn't seem to have much of an effect on the follower position. I have not touched the rear tabs. Not sure what to try next.

This endeavor brings up an interesting question. If the Brits matched mags to each rifle what was their procedure? Is there a check-list of things to do, or is this all lost to time?

[browningautorifle]

Is there a check-list of things to do, or is this all lost to time?

Peter Laidler and a few others will have a checklist, not lost to time at all. The final thing you are chasing is just a minor tweek with the mag and your problem will be gone.

[Neuraleanus]

This is what I did:

I left the follower itself alone. I compared the height of the follower hump to the one that was working and found them to be identical. I also noticed that the right-most tab on the mag body was bent up more allowing a higher follower hump over the top edge of the mag. Upon hammering the tab a bit this reduced the follower height and I was able to make the follower profile appear more like the other mag. The result is rounds are no longer popping up out of the receiver, but sometimes the right-most cartridge will get stuck. The other mag does not do this. The left-side tab doesn't seem to have much of an effect on the follower position. I have not touched the rear tabs. Not sure what to try next.

Break through:
At least for this rifle, sample size of one, not only is the degree of bend of the front right-most tab an issue, but so is its shape. In comparing to my other mag I noticed that the rear corner had been removed. Upon filing this corner a bit the problem of stuck rounds was greatly diminished. Rounds are cycling much better now.

[Alan de Enfield]

Break through:
At least for this rifle, sample size of one, not only is the degree of bend of the front right-most tab an issue, but so is its shape. In comparing to my other mag I noticed that the rear corner had been removed. Upon filing this corner a bit the problem of stuck rounds was greatly diminished. Rounds are cycling much better now.

Great news.

This is why the magazines were dedicated to each individual rifle, and eventually were actually numbered to match to avoid any chance of them being lost.

Once the numbering instruction was introduced for new rifles, the instruction was also sent out to all armourers that the magazine should be numbered on all existing rifles the next time they came in for their regular sevice check-up.

In theory, if you have an un-numbered magazine then it is not original to the rifle, however, not all commonwealth countries followed instructions so it is possible that it was never numbered to the rifle.

The (alleged) French Resistance No4 rifles have 'mislaid' their magazines so you are always going to be starting from behind the 8-ball and will have to adjust & tune them to fit.