Cleaning mags

Guy Miner

Master Loader
Apr 6, 2006
17,453
4,514
Not long ago I had an experienced cop, who has been carrying a 1911 on duty for 20 years, turn in several magazines to me, telling me that they didn't work anymore after he dropped them doing magazine changes during training. He didn't know that they could or should be disassembled and cleaned. Former Army infantry, what can I say? :grin:

I took them apart, cleaned them, lightly lubed the insides and test fired them. Perfect.

Over this past weekend a few of us were doing some "cover and movement" drills. This included running through the snow & sand to a position of cover, then firing rapidly at several targets while our buddy moved forward in his lane. Great stuff! The magazines though were getting ejected right into the sand, mud and snow. At the range I was simply knocking the snow out of them, stuffing them with more 230 gr hardball (was using Remington factory ammo, very nice stuff) and running through the course again. Did my mags get gritty? You bet they did! They kept working though.

Back home a few hours later, I watched my Seahawks do an impressive job on the field, then disassembled the Chip McCormick mags and cleaned them.

I have No Hesitation about putting those gritty mags under hot, running water. It helps flush out all that "yuck" very quickly. Then dry them and wipe the springs down with a very light coat of Break Free/CLP. My mags are good to go. The followers slide up and down inside the magazine without a hiccup.

IF you shoot a semi-auto pistol, the magazine is an important part of that pistol, and requires maintenance too. In fact, if a pistol malfunctions there are three potential causes I look at right away:

1. Shooter induced malfunctions - yup - it's pretty easy for the shooter to induce malfunctions.
2. Bad magazines. Might be cheap junk. Maybe just worn out. Or maybe gritty & nasty and in need of a clean & lube.
3. Bad ammo. Many times its reloaded ammo that hasn't had enough attention paid to getting the cases clean, slick, completely re-sized and appropriately taper-crimped. Sometimes it's the result of trying to run a bullet that is too blunt nosed to work through the pistol.

The mags are often the cause of the problem - and can easily be fixed. Just a reminder!

Guy
 
Good points Guy. If you want to shoot more than one round you'd best take care of your mags.

I carry IWB for the most part and have found incredible amounts of lint/fuzz/dead skin(yuck) in my mags. They come apart easily and like you've pointed out, take very little work to get them back in service.

Glad to hear your force practices movement/cover drills so regularly. Our locals shoot at our range and a few of them are very focused while others not so much. They have a "I need to qualify and then I'm finished with this crap." attitude. Very disconcerting to me to watch them struggle with the basic manual of arms for their service weapon. The ones who are into it work hard developing their skills and knowing their equipment. Quite the dichotomy. Makes me wonder why you'd get into law enforcement if you have an aversion for small arms and the employment of same.
 
It is the little things that cause the greatest trouble. Good points, Guy, and I don't carry here in Canada.
 
Good Post Guy....+1

Tis usually the little things that get us in trouble.... and are the most important to remember.
 
Guy,

Good information. Thanks for posting the heads up.

JD338
 
Guy, good job on the mags. When I was shooting matches, I would always run a mag brush through each mag after each stage and then break them down at the end of the day for cleaning. A couple of the ranges were very sandy and would get into your mags and cause issues if you did not clean them.
At work, we had over 70 training mags to use, but the guys had to use their mags at least once during quals for functioning. We also had to have someone at the cleaning table to ensure they were put back together properly. I won't get into that.
 
Great thread Guy. Same goes for the AR mags.. They get alot of crap in them and a quick wipe down and very light lube on them keeps them operational.
 
Good post Guy!
I hope you guys don't mind me adding this, but as long as it was mentioned. ( I had used the BF CLP for a number of years prior btw)
But I took this sanded bar, then cleaned/lubed with BreakFree CLP on the left, Hoppes #9 in the middle, and Eezox in the right, and about a 1/4" of untreated surface between. But some creeping on the right.
100_4371.jpg


Then placed it in a saltwater bath with approximately the salinity of sea water.
Day one,,, notice how either the Eezox or Hoppes crepted to meet the other,,,however, seeing that the Hoppes didn't creep on the other side,,,well, you folks can make your own conclusion's
100_4376.jpg


This pic was just after 7 days,,,,
100_4387.jpg


After wiping off the surface rust at 7 days.
100_4398.jpg


I replace the wiped down bar back in as is, and then left it for 90 days, with only the left side getting more pitting and migration into the Hoppes.
But after seen the 7 days alone, I'm sold n the Eezox for all metal cleaning and rust preventative! Supposed to be an excellent dry lube as well. But I haven't had the time or situations to actually test that part. Scotty might have a bit more input to that aspect, as me and BK sent him some to try in the conditions he was under.
 
Yup, I can vouch for Dave's Eezox. Great stuff, I ran it on our HK's and alot of AK47's this past trip. Worked awesome, wipe it on wet, let it dry, then wipe off excess. It is good stuff, I don't have any real numbers or statistics, but it is much cleaner and much slicker than CLP. I use it on all of my stuff now due to the corrosion resistance.
 
Thanks for that Scotty. I'll have to see if I can find it again. Serves my memory I did see results from a gravity slide test with it. Seemed pretty good in that respect, iirc.
While I handle the Eezox, I can't do much cheaper than the one Dist.. I just wanted to share my results and thoughts of an excellent product for gun cleaning and protection.
Here's that link also to that Dist..
http://www.eezox.com/
 
This isn't the dry lube test I was looking for, but is what is stated on the site.

"Synthetic EEZOX® Premium Gun Care with only 0.42 - 0.45 mil film thickness achieved a Peak Load "pass" of 4,500 lbs. This load factor far exceeds pressures found in any firearm, including full automatic machine guns. Falex tested by ASTM D-3233 procedures (Mil Spec requires only 1,000 lbs.)"
 
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