Question for those with 9mm GLOCKs

[Turo]

Hey everybody, I'm thinking about a small project and I need a little help.

For any of you that have a 9mm GLOCK, or at least a 9mm GLOCK magazine, could you load it up with 40S&W ammo and let me know if it's even possible for one, and if it is, then could you comment on the ease or difficulty of doing such a thing.

For those of you who happen to have both 9mm and 40S&W GLOCKs, could you possibly try to load and fire (only where it's safe to do so, of course) 40S&W out of your 40S&W GLOCK but using 9mm magazines?

If you're wondering, my project is to try and rebuild my crappy 31 round KCI magazine in 40S&W with 9mm magazine parts to use in my G27.

I know that 9mm will load fairly easily and reliably in all my 40S&W magazines, but I am wondering if the opposite is true and if 40S&W will load halfway reliably in my 27 using 9mm magazines.

Thanks guys!

[barrym66]

No and no. The feed lips are different widths.

I found out the hard way when I accidentally mixed up the mags in my range bag while prepping for a match (I planned to shoot two classes, one with G35 and the other with G34). I never had issues before with either gun but had FTF's and a double feed. This before I learned to label/number my mags.

At home I figured it out. You can jam .40 cartridges in a 9mm mag, but they won't feed reliably. Alternatively you can put 9mm in a .40 mag, but once loaded past 6-8 rounds they will pop out of the mag. I just tried this (again) and nothing has changed (using my G22/35 and G17/34 mags). You might get away with this occasionally, but not reliably.

I guess you could try bending the lips, but they are usually spring steel and won't stay bent for long (or will bend too far!). IMHO.

[Baconator]

what he said. the lips are to small to take that big round.

[Turo]

Thanks for the info! I've scoured the internet for someone who has done it, but my searches had so far turned up nil.

I guess I'll have to try to fix what I've got, I've already gone through 3 springs and different followers and baseplates, but nothing makes this mag work. My last resort is running a wire wheel through it as soon as I can find one with a rod on it longer than 5 inches or so. Basically the inside of the mag is filled with injection molding bumps and it binds the follower every few rounds and doesn't let the next round come to the feed lips fast enough for the slide to grab it while it cycles.

Thanks again for the help guys!

[Corbin Dallas]

Kci mags are junk. I've found factory mags are worth the extra money.

[Turo]

Kci mags are junk. I've found factory mags are worth the extra money.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, but they don't make 31 round mags in 40S&W at the GLOCK factory, .

Oh, and just for the LOL factor, here's my baby 27 with said ridiculously long and unreliable magazine:
(ETA: I've since taken off those grip extensions as I shoot the pistol way better the way it was designed.)

[barrym66]

Kci mags are junk. I've found factory mags are worth the extra money.

This!!! KCI mags are known to be crap.

You can try what I did to slick up an old mag that had a similar issue. I fabricated a 'sanding stick' using some 1/4 square dowel and a 1"x3/4"x1/8" thick ply plate, that I glued 240, 400, and 800 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper to. I used this (wet) to clean up the rough/worn interior plastic surface of the mag, followed with some red rouge and a 3/4" polishing wheel on an extended shaft (3/32" music wire and a piece of brass tubing JB-welded to a Dremel polishing wheel), used wet at low speed (fast will burn/melt the plastic).

Lots of fiddly hassle but in the end it worked, if I could have bought new mags (this was a pre-ban high cap mag body!), that's what I would have done....good luck!

[Quiet]

The only reliable magazines KCI makes are the M-1 Carbine magazine.
KCI has been making the M-1 Carbine magazines for the ROK military since the 1980s.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, but they don't make 31 round mags in 40S&W at the GLOCK factory, .

But, there are factory 22 round .40S&W Glock magazines.

[Turo]

An update on this, I took what you said Barry, and made my own little sanding thing out of a 12ga brass brush and some 400 grit sandpaper and went to town on the inside of that mag body. I haven't been able to fire it yet, but the rounds load in there butter smooth now, and pop up instantly after the top one comes out. That is as opposed to before, when sometimes the next round would hit the feed lips, and sometimes it wouldn't.
Anyway, the sanded down insides coupled with a wolff +5% spring got my 31round craptastic mag and turned her into a smooth loading reliable beast (okay, so I'll prove the reliability later, but it looks pretty good to me now!)

Thanks for the idea Barry!

[barrym66]

An update on this....

Thanks for the idea Barry!

Awesome! Glad to help, and hear it worked out. You might try a little paste wax on the interior of the mag if the follower hangs up on the sanding scratches.

let us know if it works - good luck!