Surly
UZI Talk Life Member
That was in '09 before the influx of semi Suomi rifles were on the market. They fetch about $20 per now.
Filing mags to fit the 76/760
- Thread starter SubGunFan
- Start date
UZI Talk Life Member
That was in '09 before the influx of semi Suomi rifles were on the market. They fetch about $20 per now.
Hello All,
I thought I'd add my experiences to this thread, which was immensely helpful to me with my S and W m76. I actually bought mine, last September and received it about two months ago, only after reading this thread and becoming confident that I'd be able to have a reliable quantity of mags.
I bought 27 mags total, from Cheaper than Dirt and Whatacountry. Price, including shipping (and taxes for Cheaper than Dirt), came to roughly $15.00 apiece when it was all said and done. Cheaper than Dirt shows them for $ 11.99 on their website, currently. While all the mags were perfectly serviceable, and some in very nice condition, they all had varying degrees of protective grease and not protective grit in them, which I cleaned off the old fashioned way, with Hoppes No. 9 and lots of rubbing, inside and out.
That done, I originally tried filing the front pads on a whetstone, doing as SubGunFan recommended, a little at a time, check and continue. Each time I'd file a little, then attempt to insert, but the mags were so snug in the magazine well, not anywhere near seating properly, that I was afraid I was going to mar up the interior magazine well finish of my very pristine m76. And, I started getting impatient....
So out comes the Dremel tool, bought new for this very job. I got best results with the little band of coarse sandpaper that wraps around a rubber drum, worked way better for me than the either of the two grinding stone bits I tried. On the first two mags, since I was grinding away on the front pads but still not getting the mags to seat properly, I also ground away a bit on the rear lug, the one the magazine catch pushes up against to hold the mag in place. That I learned was a no no, or at least I'm convinced it is. Eventually, I figured out that you grind the two front pads pretty much flush down to the surface they protrude from, the mags fit right in and release easily.
So far I've test fired 11 of the 27 mags I modified. The first six, the real guinea pigs, with 25 rounds apiece. The only malfunctions I had, was in mag number two (one of the two on which I filed the REAR lug) of the first batch of six, was two failures to feed, easily cleared. My second test fire batch of five mags, which were some of the nicer ones after I figured I knew what I was doing from the guinea pig batch, I loaded with 32 rounds apiece, and all functioned fine. Ammo was a mix of Winchester White Box, some from my last case of ChinaSports (Norinco) and a little old 1980 FN ball I got from Century.
My conclusions, which may only apply to these mags and my gun but I'm comfortable with, are that:
A. It doesn't seem you can really file too much off the front vertical pads, as long as you don't grind below, or deeper into the magazine, than those two vertical pads on the front. Flush is fine, and
B. Don't grind the rear lug at all. While mag #1, which had the rear lug ground a bit, functioned fine, since the only malfunction I had at all was with a rear ground mag #2, they are being relegated to the parts bin.
Incidentally, I find the Suomi mags easier to load, as they are two position like an Uzi or MP 5 mag, not single position feed like a Sten. My one factory m76 mag is a bugger to load.
Thanks to all who contributed to this thread, the knowledge was invaluable.
I thought I'd add my experiences to this thread, which was immensely helpful to me with my S and W m76. I actually bought mine, last September and received it about two months ago, only after reading this thread and becoming confident that I'd be able to have a reliable quantity of mags.
I bought 27 mags total, from Cheaper than Dirt and Whatacountry. Price, including shipping (and taxes for Cheaper than Dirt), came to roughly $15.00 apiece when it was all said and done. Cheaper than Dirt shows them for $ 11.99 on their website, currently. While all the mags were perfectly serviceable, and some in very nice condition, they all had varying degrees of protective grease and not protective grit in them, which I cleaned off the old fashioned way, with Hoppes No. 9 and lots of rubbing, inside and out.
That done, I originally tried filing the front pads on a whetstone, doing as SubGunFan recommended, a little at a time, check and continue. Each time I'd file a little, then attempt to insert, but the mags were so snug in the magazine well, not anywhere near seating properly, that I was afraid I was going to mar up the interior magazine well finish of my very pristine m76. And, I started getting impatient....
So out comes the Dremel tool, bought new for this very job. I got best results with the little band of coarse sandpaper that wraps around a rubber drum, worked way better for me than the either of the two grinding stone bits I tried. On the first two mags, since I was grinding away on the front pads but still not getting the mags to seat properly, I also ground away a bit on the rear lug, the one the magazine catch pushes up against to hold the mag in place. That I learned was a no no, or at least I'm convinced it is. Eventually, I figured out that you grind the two front pads pretty much flush down to the surface they protrude from, the mags fit right in and release easily.
So far I've test fired 11 of the 27 mags I modified. The first six, the real guinea pigs, with 25 rounds apiece. The only malfunctions I had, was in mag number two (one of the two on which I filed the REAR lug) of the first batch of six, was two failures to feed, easily cleared. My second test fire batch of five mags, which were some of the nicer ones after I figured I knew what I was doing from the guinea pig batch, I loaded with 32 rounds apiece, and all functioned fine. Ammo was a mix of Winchester White Box, some from my last case of ChinaSports (Norinco) and a little old 1980 FN ball I got from Century.
My conclusions, which may only apply to these mags and my gun but I'm comfortable with, are that:
A. It doesn't seem you can really file too much off the front vertical pads, as long as you don't grind below, or deeper into the magazine, than those two vertical pads on the front. Flush is fine, and
B. Don't grind the rear lug at all. While mag #1, which had the rear lug ground a bit, functioned fine, since the only malfunction I had at all was with a rear ground mag #2, they are being relegated to the parts bin.
Incidentally, I find the Suomi mags easier to load, as they are two position like an Uzi or MP 5 mag, not single position feed like a Sten. My one factory m76 mag is a bugger to load.
Thanks to all who contributed to this thread, the knowledge was invaluable.
anm2_man
UZI Talk Supporter
The answer is yes and no. I have about 20 of these and every one needed some modification. It really depends on the gun. I would not make any mods to the mags until you take possession. I tried than when I bought my Smith. I had 2 of them, read all these posts and filed them. When the gun came in, 1 of the mags worked like a charm (I still have it), the other no so much. I saved the spring, follower, base etc. and threw it away, because it had 2 much play and wouldn't feed properly.
So I would wait.
supermario
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2009
- Messages
- 34
Sorry to revive all post. But what does the rear of those mags look like? Did you do any filing to the rear side? Thanks
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