Ruger MK1 mag question

[Malone LaVeigh]

I bought a spare "M-9" magazine for an old MK1 I have, which ought to be correct, according to the package. Unfortunately, the magazine does not extract very well. After pushing the catch, it will come out about 1/4 inch, but then sticks and won't budge unless I depress the catch further using something harder like my thumbnail. There's a note inside the package that was partially lost when I removed the mag that seems to say that if the grip frame doesn't have "A-100" stamped on the left side under the (something) panel, the mag follower button must be moved to the opposite side. Is this saying I need to remove the grip panel to check for the stamp? The mag that I have for the pistol has the button on the same side as the new one. Though there are some differences, such as the new one has a coil spring in the front as opposed to the older style, the two mags seem to be very much the same dimensions. The old mag goes in and out just fine.

I inherited this pistol from my brother who passed away last year, and it wasn't kept very clean. There was gunk built up in the chamber, external rust, etc. Could this need a more thorough cleaning in the mag well? It doesn't seem too dirty in there.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts or experience anyone has with these mags.

 

[Run&Shoot]

same boat, no ideas

I am in the same boat as you. I have my dad's Ruger Mark I and the only reliable mag is the original. I tried third party mags and they are JUNK. So then I bought two new Mark I mags from Ruger. I have the exact same experience as you plus some failures to feed. I donlt shoot it much anymore because it is not a great gun to begin with, and with only one ancient mag that works it does not seem to have much of a future.

Why is it so darn hard for people to make decent mags? Not just this Ruger, but 1911s, and so many other the third party ones especially seem so unreliable. How hard can it be to make a simple mechanism to specs?

 

[Malone LaVeigh]

I know what you mean. Interestingly, I took it out to the range today. The new mag fed just fine, even though it still got stuck in the mag well every time I used it. Now the old mag is having problems. After I feed about 4-5 rounds in the mag, it sticks and the rounds won't drop down to accept more. I effectively have a 5-round mag.

I disagree about the gun, though. It was my brother's favorite, and now I can see why. I was shooting free hand, pretty rapidly, working on my eye dominance problem, and the day was cold. Still, I was able to hit a bowling pin from about 25 yards about 3 out of 5 shots. That's good for me.

All in all, this could be a very fun plinker.

 

[Tigerseye]

Some older Mark-I magazines have bases that are a tad smaller than the body of the magazine, causing the magazine catch to hang up on the body of the magazine. Just file down the magazine body a little, and the magazine will slip right out.

I've not had any problem with the newer magazines with the gray plastic bottoms.

 

[Malone LaVeigh]

Tigerseye, when you say file down the mag body, do you mean the front-to-back depth? I'm having a hard time picturing it, but in the rear it does seem that the edge of the mag body might protrude slightly over the base. In the front, it seems like the base protrudes past the body.

This is a new one with the gray plastic base with the Ruger logo in silver on red. The follower also appears to be plastic.

 

[palerider1]

I would contact Ruger to see what they say,,,,,you can get alot of info frome the manufacturer.