I fixed a promag!! And can prove it!

[Paulyski 2,227]

I finally made a ProMag work! It's cycling 3" .00 buck well.

 

This mag had been problematic due to to narrow of an interior diameter. It was a replacement of a warranty return (same issues) that I waited 3 months for ProMag to get back to me, with weekly calls on my part. I wasn't gonna send it back again.

 

The problem was fixed by inserting a small hammers handle into the magazine body, twisting the handle, so as to spread the mag a touch & boiling it for approximately 10 seconds.

I let it cool with the hammer handle still inserted, so it would not collapse back while cooling.

 

I also had to spread the spring steel reinforcement / guide at the rear of the mag, to reduce pressure & prevent the guide from re-collapsing the mag body over time.

 

ProMag must improve the rigidity of their product in order for them to be dependable in my opinion.

 

I would never bet my life on it, but it can at least pull duty as a range mag.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We7d-XiOduY

 

P.S.

I had just put 300 #6 shot & 60 of .00 buck through the gun with my AKM buttstock before recording....

So don't give me shit about not leaning into it... My shoulder was a little sore by then.

 

But still... After I felt comfortable with it's ability to raise & feed 3" magnum, I was like

Edited January 9, 2010 by Paulyski

[chevyman097 2,579]

bravo! I keep hearing all this bad stuff about promags though and I have never had any issues with them in my x39. Maybe its just the shotgun mags that have issues i dunno. But I sure hope I dont have any issues, I do worry though because of all the bad reviews ive heard.

 

 

[presto_z 125]

i fixed my 10rd too

 

it now functions flawlessly as a 5rd mag

 

 

i like the lrbho comment at the end lol

[sunnybean 939]

Yep, they take work but can be made to run...kinda. I've found a 7/8" dowel or also deep sockets work well for boiling the mag bodies with.

[thehopping1 105]

Damn, that's a purdy shotgun. I don't think I could ever trust ProMag, but like you said it will make a good beater range mag.

[sudaevpps43 31]

P.S.

I had just put 300 #6 shot & 60 of .00 buck through the gun with my AKM buttstock before recording....

So don't give me shit about not leaning into it... My shoulder was a little sore by then.

 

Get a russian military AK pattern recoil pad (like the ones the russian army puts on AKs that have grenade launchers installed). After I finished converting my Saiga 12 using a K-Var polymer AKM pattern buttstock, I too had the same problem with my shoulder getting sore during firing. After I put one of those recoil pads onto the stock though, it made it comfortable to fire anything, even the 3" magnum shells.

Edited January 9, 2010 by Frogfoot

[roytomkins 1]

Nice, I had the same experience with mine, but how did you get the follower to go up higher? Do I just need more spreading? I jammed a 7/8 bar of 304ss in it and hit it with the heat gun. LRBHO may be a nice feature!!!

[Paulyski 2,227]

P.S.

I had just put 300 #6 shot & 60 of .00 buck through the gun with my AKM buttstock before recording....

So don't give me shit about not leaning into it... My shoulder was a little sore by then.

 

Get a russian military AK pattern recoil pad (like the ones the russian army puts on AKs that have grenade launchers installed). After I finished converting my Saiga 12 using a K-Var polymer AKM pattern buttstock, I too had the same problem with my shoulder getting sore during firing. After I put one of those recoil pads onto the stock though, it made it comfortable to fire anything, even the 3" magnum shells.

Funny, I was just thinking about that on another thread. They are cheap enough, maybe I'll give them a try. Mr. N. was just elaborating on those. I have heard about vastly differing thicknesses now.

How thick is yours? As in, how much does it increase the length?

 

Nice, I had the same experience with mine, but how did you get the follower to go up higher? Do I just need more spreading? I jammed a 7/8 bar of 304ss in it and hit it with the heat gun. LRBHO may be a nice feature!!!

That was sarcasm.

The LRBHO crap makes it undependable. if the steel guide clip pops off, the mag spring flys out.

I spread it to be the exact I.D as as the Russian 5 to reduce friction on the shells, but I need to do the same to the follower now, to make IT fit. I need to lengthen it both for thickness, to make the followers tabs ride in the body's rails & length, so it doesn't tilt.

 

The Mag was poorly designed all around.

It "looks" cool though.

Edited January 9, 2010 by Paulyski

[Jpanzer 1,265]

Dude.... you're a little late to the Promag fix it yourself party...Promag Fix

 

But glad you made it!

Edited January 9, 2010 by Jpanzer

[dannyfantasy2000 68]

I tried the cork in the follower trick a while back. It kept it from riding up too high, but then the increased width of the follower interfered with the already too small ID of the mag body and wouldn't feed for anything. I filed the hell out of the inside of the mag and got FTF's down to about 60%. Might have to try Paulyski's method. Thanks for posting this. In any case, I'll never buy another Promag.

[sudaevpps43 31]

P.S.

I had just put 300 #6 shot & 60 of .00 buck through the gun with my AKM buttstock before recording....

So don't give me shit about not leaning into it... My shoulder was a little sore by then.

 

Get a russian military AK pattern recoil pad (like the ones the russian army puts on AKs that have grenade launchers installed). After I finished converting my Saiga 12 using a K-Var polymer AKM pattern buttstock, I too had the same problem with my shoulder getting sore during firing. After I put one of those recoil pads onto the stock though, it made it comfortable to fire anything, even the 3" magnum shells.

Funny, I was just thinking about that on another thread. They are cheap enough, maybe I'll give them a try. Mr. N. was just elaborating on those. I have heard about vastly differing thicknesses now.

How thick is yours? As in, how much does it increase the length?

 

I have the recoil pad off my Saiga 12 and am measuring it with a ruler right now. When measured from front to back this recoil pad has a thickness of about an inch and a half, but the pocket of this recoil pad (which the stock goes into when the pad is slipped on) is about seven-eighths of an inch deep, so this recoil pad actually only adds about five-eighths of an inch to the length.

 

FWIW the polymer K-var stock I have on my Saiga 12 is the longer NATO version, not the Warsaw Pact version (which is about an inch and a quarter shorter than the NATO version), and to me at least the length increase was so minor that it didn't feel like the length of pull of the stock had really changed at all after I put this recoil pad on it. I see from the video and pictures that on your Saiga 12 you have a wooden AKM buttstock, which is almost certainly a Warsaw Pact length buttstock, and so shorter to begin with than the NATO length buttstock I have on my Saiga 12. So I am pretty sure if you put one of these recoil pads on your Saiga 12 it definitely won't make the stock too long for you.

 

By the way, if you want to order one of these recoil pads, Carolina Shooters Supply (a forum business member) has them.

 

http://store.carolinashooterssupply.com/servlet/-strse-363/AK47-Saiga-Orignal-Recoil/Detail

Edited January 10, 2010 by Frogfoot

[22_Shooter 1,560]

Glad to see you got it working.

 

 

 

 

But Pauly..............bro..........a Red Sox hat? Really? Come on now. Really? I mean, really really? Say it ain't so, brosef. Say it ain't so.

[schultze13 354]

I bought 4 of them to try 2 work great and 2 I had to sand down on the inside, I also had a problem with one of four that I bought for my AK74, and I bought a 8rd for my 1911 it was JUNK I had FTF's and it would not lock the slide open but I bought a promag 40rd drum for my 1911 and have 400rds through it and not a single problem out of all of them I would think that would have been the one to give me problems so it sits on my nightstand for HD I use all the others for training at least it was not a total lose of money.

[Paulyski 2,227]

Dude.... you're a little late to the Promag fix it yourself party...Promag Fix

 

But glad you made it!

Oh, I know I'm not the first... But after all the frusteration, & a flippin magazine spending spree to find working mags, I'm beyond stoked.

I did the boil on 2 surefires at the same time too. They didn't need nearly as much adjustment, but now I have all of the big 3 working. Of course, I still wouldn't trust the lives of my loved ones on it, but at least I don't feel like I wasted $50.00 on the thing.... Yes. I paid $50.00 for a pro mag. I got it from a brick & mortar shop in town here. All the 10 rounders are ProMag in the shops that sell them here.

 

Glad to see you got it working.

 

 

 

 

But Pauly..............bro..........a Red Sox hat? Really? Come on now. Really? I mean, really really? Say it ain't so, brosef. Say it ain't so.

I'm not big on baseball.

I have family in Southie.

Hence the green.

1/2 Polish, 1/2 Irish.

Edited January 10, 2010 by Paulyski

[Jpanzer 1,265]

Glad you got them working! I have several myself, and used the heat trick with a wooden form in the mag body and some selected filing to get mine to work correctly. Seemed to me that the body of the mag was just a tad to narrow - exactly as you discovered.

 

I used the oven to heat mine up, and quickly cooled them in water after extracting them from the oven. Gotta watch 'em close though - I overcooked one and made it good only for spare mag parts!

Edited January 10, 2010 by Jpanzer

[Paulyski 2,227]

I only dunked it for 10 seconds at a time. Then let air-cool.

I used to work in injection molding, I found there is a fine line between when plastic becomes malleable & when it contracts due to heat. Not that fine, but it happens fast when it gets to hot.

[theMarkattack 0]

Yep, they take work but can be made to run...kinda. I've found a 7/8" dowel or also deep sockets work well for boiling the mag bodies with.

 

This worked great for me!! I used 16mm Deep Socket and boiled it for 7min and then placed it in cold water and now it feeds great. The socket idea worked great, everyone has them and you have a wide variety of diameters.

[HOWARD COSELL 155]

"I fixed a promag!! And can prove it! Tomorrow, I will attempt to walk on water"

 

 

 

The title of your thread cracked me up!

 

Just wanted to come in here and give you a +1.