KCI mag question regarding bolt hold open

[painter777]

Matt_X brought up a concern to me about the 'Hold Opens'.
Wondering if there were hard on the bolt.
I'd never gave it any thought before.
I have post War 30 rders with Hold Opens, but rarely use 30's.
I boxed up about 40 - 50 GI Parked Mags away years ago. Recently pulled a few and most all I tried acted up.
I can see inside the tubes that the Follower is scraping on the rough park finish. When time allows I've been scuffing the insides smoother. The couple I've finished seem better, especially after a coat of NAPA spray silicone in them. Next trip to the range.... we'll see.

[jond41403]

I'm not sure if it would be"hard"on the bolt in my opinion, but it does mar and scratch up the face of the bolt. I don't use them either and have never liked them because it's not a true hold open, as soon as you remove the magazine the bolt slams forward. I'm sure it has its uses, but in the carbine, I don't think a boat hold open is useful

[browningautorifle]

In the years gone by I did come across a supply of 15 rd mags that all had hold open followers. I was told at one point they had been done as a post Korea refurb...but haven't seen them since.

[painter777]

I bought a sealed pack of 50 at a gun show back maybe 2006~
50 for $300..... At $6.00 each I had to buy. Stored them away still wrapped and had forgot about them until just recently when I found them while trying to get things organized.
When opened all were Park'd, I added the only Park'd mag I had to these.
All are GI 15 rd Mags, 9 have Hold Open Followers.
I don't know why unless these parts came from 30 rd Mags.
Everyone marked for a Prime maker, not one being a Misc make Mag.

Little surprised that 15rd Mags were Parked / Rebuilt, considering how many Mags are out there. I don't see any sign of these being media blasted, none have any pitting.

PITA getting the inside of the tubes Park smoothed down. Just minor issues but need some tweaking. I'm using folded sandpaper for the inside corners and sandpaper folded over the blade of a flexible putty knife for the inner - sides. Just getting the upper 3/4 of the inner tube seems to be working. Bottom 1/4 doesn't come in contact with the follower. But I'm also trying to make the Follower smoother... Dremel is speeding that up. Bench grinder with Fine wire wheel and buffing pad is faster than the Dremel.

I'd be lying if I said the thought of dipping in Muriatic Acid to strip the Park and getting them Blued hasn't crossed my mind....

Hate the look of a Parked Mag, but not worth the effort to spray paint them. Figure if I get them to feed right I might as well use these for shooting. And save the wear on the other Blued ones.

These should last a long time for use in the 6 or 7 carbines that we shoot on a regular basis....... As long as my Ammo supply holds out.

[Wineman]

My Inland has always been able to use just about any magazine, even Pro-Mags. Frank was kind enough to send me a five round Made in USA magazine (30 round nubs, and hold open) that was parked. It likes to hang up (empty out, but still in the action) at least once per five rounds. I also had some M1 Garand clips that were over parked from HXP that did not like to play well. Those I used steel wool and plenty of oil and elbow grease to clean them up. I may try that with the parked Carbine magazine. It is short enough that getting inside should not be too much work.

Dave

[browningautorifle]

Honestly, if a glass bead blaster was available with silica glass beads you could clean the inside of both those easy. Clips and mags...

[Wineman]

I have a silica blaster in our maintenance shop at work. I am always reluctant to use it on nice things as it mainly gets a steady diet of rusty, grimy, mixed up metals and who knows what else. Just don't want to blast anything other than bolts or brackets.

Dave

[browningautorifle]

rusty, grimy, mixed up metals and who knows what else.

I understand...too bad. When we needed to, we'd sift ours with a fine strainer to get the most chunks out but there'd be nothing better than a fresh bag of glass beads in a clean cabinet.

[W5USMC]

I'm not sure if it would be"hard"on the bolt in my opinion, but it does mar and scratch up the face of the bolt.

Not possible that it would mar or scratch the face of the bolt because the hold open follower does not come in contact with the face of the bolt. It comes in contact with the same bottom ramp portion of the bolt that pushes rounds out of the mag and into the chamber.

[painter777]

I used some of that Kinder, Friendlier, Muriatic Acid today.
Applied inside the Tube with a Foam brush. I let it sizzle and eat the Park for about 2 minutes then applied some more.
After 4 minutes of total time with the M Acid on it I rinsed it with cold water.
It stripped all the Park from inside and revealed a thin coat of the Original Bluing.
I was careful not to get any on the outside of the Tube.
But after seeing the Original Bluing revealed inside, I would have applied over the outside Tube..... If the Acid hadn't eaten away the foam tip.
It was the only foam brush I had or could find.

When I have some extra time, I'll experiment on some more, maybe by just dunking them and limiting the time the Mur Acid is on it.

Thing is:
I seen no sign of any media blasting on the Park'd metal.
I expected NO sign of Bluing underneath.
How did they Park over Bluing ???
I can't be sure but assume it's Zinc Phosphate, but like I said I can't be sure.