Magazine problem

[Stony]

I started a little experiment this evening with an ASC 5 round mag that is giving me problems. It seems like the spring is WAY too strong and just trying to unload the mag scratches the dickens out of a case and they just don't come out smoothly. I pulled the spring, and have never seen anything like it! It has a top like a normal mag spring, but the bottom part of it is like a collapsed spring that seems to serve as a stop for the follower. I tried cutting off 1/2 inch off the bottom of the collapsed portion, and now it seems to work much better...but I haven't fired it yet.
I just don't think their mags need as much upward spring pressure as they have built into them....after all the spring just has to push the next round up into position.
The mag now holds 6 rounds...was purchased as a 5 round....and only held 4 !

[Trueblue]

L52 explained how to polish the bbl. ext. He called it a meltdown. I did it on last 5 builds, Plus sanded and polished under the magazine lips - then run a Q tip over all to verify a snag free item.

Brass comes out scratch free.

Can you post a link to this?

[VASCAR2]

Can you post a link to this?

Take a look at this thread, I think it has the info you asked about polishing the barrel extension.


http://www.65grendel.com/forum/showthrea...len-barrel

[Klem]

Stony,

You probably know this but ASC '5-rd' mags use the same body as their '10-rd' mags. They compress the bottom coils so the mag is legal in States/Countries that dictate a 5rd mag limit. No doubt the reason for 5rd mags being slightly more expensive ($20) than their 10-rd mags ($18) is because they use more steel in the spring as a blocker. The fact you can tamper with these and turn them back into a '10-rd' mag is not their problem. They might even shrug this off with a smile.

You won't get 10 Grendel rounds into an ASC '10-rd' mag due to the height of the anti-tilt follower. By removing the spring completely and reconstructing the mag you can however confirm they fit a max of 9-rds. If you want a 9-rd mag copy the number of coils in this photo, cut and stretch them out evenly. Note the short curved tail at the bottom of the coil so it sits evenly across the bottom plate. It feeds fine.

You are right about ASC getting the round count wrong. I don't know why other than maybe they used a normal follower during testing. Or maybe the marketing department is in charge of the specs.

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I prefer their '15-rd' mags which are the same size as the old .223 '20-rd' mags. They fit 14 Grendel rds but it's still short enough not to touch the bench when shooting from a rest or the ground when prone.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11689[/ATTACH]

[Stony]

Klem....I agree with you completely on the 15 round mags as being a preferred size. I really am not hung up on getting a lot of cartridges in the mags, as I mostly use them for hunting and a lot of rounds is not a necessity for me. My only real concern is the force they use to push the rounds upward in the mag. Given the fact that the feed lips seem to almost dig into the brass combined with the force pushing the rounds up into them make for a very poor performance. I'll probably play around a little polishing the lips of the mags too and see if this combined with a softer spring pressure makes things better.
I shot my first hog with the Grendel the other night and love the round, the only problem I have run into is the quality and performance of the mags. I purchased the ASC's in 5 rd., 10 rd., and 15 rd., initially to play with.

[Tex Nomex]

Pretty sure the ASCs are 6.8 SPC mags with a different follower. That's why they hold one fewer round and cut into the sides of the cases.

[Stony]

Shot 3 hogs with my Grendel between yesterday morning and last night. The mag I altered is working just fine now. It loads up easily and rounds seem to slide out a lot easier. Feeding is not a problem. I guess maybe I'll have to play with some of my others and see if I can have the same success.

[Klem]

Stony,

Excellent news (well, not for the hogs!).

[jdelong]

i ran all elander 17 rounders in a long range class with Hornady AG ammo and experienced multiple failures to feed. Upon examination, the followers seemed to stick and not apply enough upward pressure to load the next round. They also appeared to allow major forward (front end of bullet) tilt when banged on/around to see if I could get it to feed (tap bottom of mag on table). It ended up looking like someone randomly dumped ammo into the magazine. The mags are pretty dirty from running suppressed all the time; could this be the issue? They are less than a year old so I'd like to think the springs are not toast already. Anyone have experience getting replacement springs from elander? I switched to these from ASC since I had similar failures with those (frequently).

[VASCAR2]

I’ve not experienced any issues with my E-Lander mags other than having very stiff springs when new. When I’ve had problems with my ASC mags I took them apart and cleaned them. I’ve not disassembled my E-Landers but in a sandy environment using a suppressor I’d take them apart and clean them. Inspect the weld points for failure and any rough or dented spots in the body. I’d also check the follower for excess molding/flashing which might impede function.

I don’t use any lube inside my mags as it can attract crap but I don’t live in a sandy enviroment. I’ve read where some people use dry lube inside the mag bodies.

[bj139]

The springs are extra stiff to overcome the increased friction due to dirt.
The springs will also weaken over time especially if left loaded.

[jdelong]

i thought the debate about loaded vs. unloaded was now "settled science" (i.e. it does not matter)? Or am I wading into Ford vs. Chevy territory???

I leave mine all loaded pretty much 100% of the time (mostly magpul's and some Okay metal mags in 5.56) and don't think I've had a spring problem yet on those in 10+ years in some cases. Based on that, if e-lander told me that leaving mags loaded wore out the springs, I would wonder what is different in theirs vs. magpul/Okay.

Thanks!

[bj139]

I just meant the springs are extra stiff when new and when sitting loaded for a while they end up perfect.

[jdelong]

gotcha, thanks. i am going to take apart, wipe down and see if that takes care of things. i hope so!

[DRW]

Are you able to fully load the 17R E-landers? I bought two for my Grendel build, have not used but one of them so far and it works perfect as long as you only load 10, after that it will not feed at all.

[VASCAR2]

DRW how old are your E-Lander mags. I loaded my E-Landers I bought back before Christmas and loaded them to full capacity. I’ve kept them loaded the whole time except to unload and reload them. By April the E-Landers are now easy to load and unload. I may have used a mag or two to shoot a few rounds but all have functioned 100%.


In my experience the Elander mags function is smoother after the mag spring wear in. I’ve only had one malfunction on one new ten round E-Lander mag. The one malfunction was a failure to feed with a hand loaded 85 grain Sierra Varmint bullet. The 85 grain varmint bullet has to be loaded really short but this mag has been 100% reliable from then on.

A new E-Lander mag in a brand new rifle might have an occassional feed issue until the rifle and mag wear in. I have noticed the front rib on some E-Lander mags bow in which might be limiting the cartridge overall length. The bullet could be dragging on the inside of the mag preventing the cartridge from rising quickly enough. You could have gotten a mag body which is out of spec. With the E-Lander being very tight when new I found a small dowl rod would allow me to safely push rounds out of a loaded mag. You might be able to see if the cartridges are binding in the mag body.

[A5BLASTER]

Take this with a grain of salt because I only use 5 and 10 round mags.

I have some asc mags that run perfect got them from PF when I built my grendel. Keep them ready should I need them but here the last three months I have been using a slightly modified 10 round mags aka modified by me they hold 5 rounds and that's all I need really.

They don't scratch the brass in any way what so ever and I ain't got to worried bout stupid welds are bent mag lips.