Stripping Mags

giggitygiggity said:

I am curious if anyone on here has ever encountered a situation in which they have had to strip a mag

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I have 1 Magpul 12 round Glock 26 magazine that gets hung up on me periodically. It's relegated to range use but I keep it be cause it's good practice.

giggitygiggity said:

and found such cuts to be beneficial.

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No cuts



Not my gun.

Those little divots on the baseplate serve the same function but I don't notice them when I'm stripping a magazine.

giggitygiggity said:

How about you? Have you encountered scenarios in which you had to forcefully strip a mag? If so, please share. Thanks!

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Yup. Both Beretta GI mags and GI aluminum mags in M16 type rifles...probably GI mags in 1911A1s too. It happens.

I have never had an issue with Glocks regarding stuck factory mags.
Years ago I had a couple of 1911 mags that would stick. I cannot remember the manufacturer. They were not Colt factory mags. They only stuck once then became targets themselves.
Other than those 2 mags I have never had stuck mags in any of my guns.

giggitygiggity said:

I hear people talk of how there are features in some pistols that support the user’s ability to strip a mag in the case of a malfunction. This usually involves some sort of a cut out at the bottom of the mag well so that the user can grab the mag and forcefully pull it out.

When Glock released their Gen5 models a number of years ago, one of the popular criticisms was that the cuts for stripping a mag were not on the sides of the grip, but on the front, which results in a user having to more delicately pinch and pull the mag.

Regardless, I am curious if anyone on here has ever encountered a situation in which they have had to strip a mag and found such cuts to be beneficial. I’ve been shooting pistols for decades, in the military, in competition, and recreationally. While I’ve encountered malfunctions of various sorts, none have required me to forcefully strip a magazine.

How about you? Have you encountered scenarios in which you had to forcefully strip a mag? If so, please share. Thanks!

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It is clear from your statement that you have never been exposed to any of the myriad of models of pistols with heel magazine releases that were previously the standard on European guns.

Pushing a heel magazine release usually involves having your hand in a position under a magazine that effectively blocks the 'drop free' release of a magazine. The typical procedure on such a pistol is to use your index finger to pull down on the extended front part of the base plate while pushing the heel magazine release to the rear with your thumb. One advantage of this procedure is you don't have to separately practice stripping the magazine out of the gun because you always do so.

I’ve had to do it several times - mostly in relation to double feeds, both intentionally induced in training and unexpectedly experienced in practice/matches.

In my experience the mag will be held up enough that gravity won’t let it fall out. It may not require a lot of force to remove (though sometimes it does), but in order to get it out you need to be able to grab the magazine somehow to pull it out.

gc70 said:

It is clear from your statement that you have never been exposed to any of the myriad of models of pistols with heel magazine releases that were previously the standard on European guns.

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I clean forgot about my Ruger Mk II--heel release, with divots at base of grips, for 'stripping'!

It has happened to me, I just don't remember very clearly what it was. It wasn't in a fight for my life, just at the range. It didn't have the cuts on it but it wasn't ever stuc so badly that I had a super hard time removing it. Some kind of misfeed I think.
Maybe it isn't needed much with modern designs, but people who have heard of these considerations may still demand them in such a way that makers then have to put it on there just to appease the consumer. I've been trying to picture what would cause this. If a case ruptures from a bad +p load or something, that could leave odd shapes of brass blocking thins up or binding the mag in the well. It could be the result of a LOT of fouling, like never two fcks given about the gun kinda fouling.

I’ve had to strip handgun mags a couple times over the years. Bad malfunctions/double feeds or a bad mag that lets the round up partially up through the feed lips can jam things up good and you have to strip the mag forcefully.

Yes, usually as a result of a double feed.

I guess I'm not sure about the cuts in the mag well that the OP talking about. In some the examples the OP has mentioned, I do not see any special relief cuts in the mag well of the same model pistol that I own.

That said, of most of the pistols that I have, including a Glock 17, I'm able to get some purchase on the magazine to aide in its removal, but short of the magazine not dropping free of the magwell, I've not experienced any jams for removing the magazine due to some other "jam".

Most of my pistols/magazines have extensions that extend pass the bottom of the pistol or the pistol base is large enough to aide in removing the magazine in case of a problem.

As others have said, I occasionally get a magazine that does not feed reliably, those magazines get culled from service.

For the Sig P365XL grip modules they molded a half round recess into the 12 rd magazine floorplate with the same radius as a nickel. A dime, penny, nickel, quarter, thumbnail, or screwdriver will fit into the recess and allow you to pry out the magazine.





With the P365 you can just grab the magazine at the sides of the floorplate and pull it out.


I haven't had any problems yet, but I haven't used my P365 of P3565XL long enough to really know whether or not there will be any problems with the magazines sticking inside the grip modules.

But as this is appears to be possibility it will be one more thing on my checklist to look out for.

gc70 said:

It is clear from your statement that you have never been exposed to any of the myriad of models of pistols with heel magazine releases that were previously the standard on European guns.

Pushing a heel magazine release usually involves having your hand in a position under a magazine that effectively blocks the 'drop free' release of a magazine. The typical procedure on such a pistol is to use your index finger to pull down on the extended front part of the base plate while pushing the heel magazine release to the rear with your thumb. One advantage of this procedure is you don't have to separately practice stripping the magazine out of the gun because you always do so.

View attachment 1156344

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Heel releases are a joke. One thing in firearms history that was relegated to the past decades ago, and for good reason.

giggitygiggity said:

When Glock released their Gen5 models a number of years ago, one of the popular criticisms was that the cuts for stripping a mag were not on the sides of the grip, but on the front, which results in a user having to more delicately pinch and pull the mag.

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cfullgraf said:

I guess I'm not sure about the cuts in the mag well that the OP talking about. In some the examples the OP has mentioned, I do not see any special relief cuts in the mag well of the same model pistol that I own.

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See the relief cut at the bottom of the front strap on the early Gen 5 gun

https://www.guns.com/news/review/glock-17-gen-5

JTQ said:

See the relief cut at the bottom of the front strap on the early Gen 5 gun

https://www.guns.com/news/review/glock-17-gen-5

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OK, Thanks.

My H&K P30Sk has them, my Colt Mustang, Kimber Micros and 1911's do not. I've never needed the the relief cuts to help me remove the magazine.

JCooperfan1911 said:

Heel releases are a joke. One thing in firearms history that was relegated to the past decades ago, and for good reason.

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I've always thought that about Jeff Cooper!

giggitygiggity said:

I have multiple heel-release pistols, one of which is a P38. As I understand it, those pistols were designed with the retention of magazines in mind.

My question was geared towards the need to strip magazines from pistols as a result of a malfunction versus stripping magazines as part of the manual of arms for firearms that were not of a drop-free design.

Nonetheless, thanks for your input.

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While magazines may not have to be manually removed very often, it helps a lot to have a way to quickly remove a magazine when one fails to drop free.

Designers have believed it necessary to provide a way to forcefully remove magazines from nearly all pistols. The most common removal aid was an extended front lip on the base plate (i.e. 1911s). The next most common removal aid was probably a thicker base plate that extended from the grips and could be grasped from the front and back or both sides. Glock expanded on the ability to grasp the base plate with cuts in the front or back of the grips. Other makers increased the ability to grasp the base plate with cuts on the sides of the grips or on the magazine base plate.

One firearm, a Rock Island / Armscor 1911. The slide lock was a little short over the magazine follower. Wilson Combat 47C magazines alleviated the problem.
Slide lock has since been replaced with a Colt part from Midway but haven't run enough rounds and magazines through to be confident of the fix yet.

Clint Smith demonstrating a double feed in this "Pistol Malfunction Clearance" video, where he'll show stripping the mag out of the gun for a double feed, beginning at about the 2:55 mark.

I've stripped magazines from my G19 Gen 3s many times during training and practice to clear stoppages (particularly doublefeed stoppages), as well as clearing stoppages with one hand by snagging the magazine baseplate against my belt buckle to strip it out.

I've never encountered any problems except when I first learned to clear stoppages with one hand - I couldn't depress the magazine release fully because of the way I shifted the pistol in my hand. A finger on the other side of the pistol’s grip prevented the magazine release from moving.

I always lock the slide open before I strip the magazine. Yes, I know it can be usually stripped by just pulling out the magazine but that doesn’t work well with one-handed clearing, therefore to keep my method consistent, I lock open the slide regardless if I have both hands available or only one hand. I subscribe to the philosophy of using one method that solves multiple problems because it reduces decision-making under stress and increases my chance of completing the task successfully.

My magazines are all stock OEM, except G42 and G43, which both have Pearce finger grip extensions (no added capacity).

@Shawn Dodson please elaborate on your process for locking the slide back with one hand. Thanks

1KPerDay said:

@Shawn Dodson please elaborate on your process for locking the slide back with one hand. Thanks

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Snag the rear sight on your belt, the edge of the sole of your shoe, or the corner of a nearby object.

(When you snag the rear sight on your belt, be sure to angle the muzzle away from your body.)

Snag the rear sight, push smartly forward on the pistol grip to retract the slide, and engage the slide lock with your thumb or index finger.

(I perform a one-handed tap-rack, first, in attempt to get the gun running. To perform a one-handed tap-rack, while keeping the muzzle pointed away from you, smartly tap the baseplate of the magazine into your thigh to seat the magazine, then snag the rear sight and rack the slide. If this immediate action fails to get the gun running, then lock open the slide, strip the magazine, snag and rack 3 times (to clear the action), then perform a Combat Reload by putting the pistol in the holster (put the gun in the holster backwards for a weak hand Combat Reload), acquire and seat the fresh magazine, then tap-rack, and drive-on.

ETA - make sure your finger is off the trigger and out of the trigger guard when manipulating the gun.

Edited again to add - When "racking" the slide one handed by snagging the rear sight on your belt, push down until the slide is fully retracted then pull the pistol directly away from your body to allow the recoil spring to propel the slide into battery. Maintain awareness of where the muzzle is pointing

The original mags in Glocks were not drop free, no steel liner, so every time you had to manually pull them from the gun.

I never had any problems doing that with the stock mags.

Those old mags are pricy, desirable in certain states where older higher capacity mags are grandfathered in.

Only once have I had a train wreck of a stuck magazine, it was an issued 5906 S&W 9mm that didn’t extract a fired case on the third shot of my final 6-round pass/fail academy qualification.

On “go!”, I ran to the first set of three turning targets at 25 yds. I fired 2x on the threat target which turned indicating threat over. I then ran to the middle of the range and got behind a mailbox. The next three turned at 15 yds, and I fired one at the threat when it failed to extract that fired case.

It naturally tried to feed another round. The fresh cartridge was stuck in the mag at a slight angle, with the nose wedged on the feed ramp just under the head of the fired case that was still in the chamber. This succeeded in preventing the slide to move forward enough for the extractor to catch the rim of the fired case when racking the slide. It also prevented the mag from dropping out of the grip when I mashed the release and tried pulling out the mag.

I ended up smacking the gun against the mailbox I was using as concealment hard enough to pop the live round loose from the magazine lips that were holding it fast. I racked it again, which got the fired case out and loaded the next round. That Target turned, so I ran to the third and I finished the course with 5 out of 6 with a 100% score.

I got the 100% even with the dropped round because the hard-ass rangemasters liked the way I solved the problem, being told in the comments, “You didn’t panic or quit. You solved the problem, got back in the fight and accurately fired, stopping the threat” or something to that effect.

I kept my yap shut. In all honesty I thought I was going to fail and have to do the academy all over again. I was in a total panic and was trying to smash the gun against the steel mailbox so I would never have to shoot it again.

Other than this one over 32 years ago, I can’t recall any others that were not planned/training stoppages requiring a mag strip.

Stay safe.