Brazing magazines together???

[jodier7]

I heard a good friend of mine mention something about brazing magazines together to increase the capacity. Especially for pistols that don't have after-market mags available.

My thought are

Take two mags, remove base plates, springs, and followers.

Lightly sandblast both mags

Trim one mag 90' across the top

Trim a hair off the bottom of the other mag

Now, using 1000 grit sand paper, clean up the inside and outside edges

Line up both mags flush, lock them gently in a vice, and braze the mags on one side. Doing this on all 4 side.

Clean up the sides, and Duracoat.

Now using some spring stock cut a new spring and re-install the follower, spring, and baseplate.

Thoughts? Would it work? Is it feasible?

[Prepping]

like a formula to take two perfectly good magazines and wind up with a ruined thing.

[nk14zp]

I have thought about TIG welding some g3 mags together.

[blade]

A little bit easier way is just to practice quick mag changes. If mags are hard to get, don't screw up the ones you have.

[jodier7]

Yeah, I guess that's what it is. I was thinking, like if you had a couple of cheap surplus mags, instead of spending a bunch on a new "High Capacity" mags.

[fido0311]

Forget the negative comments, they have no clue anyways, its possible I have seen it done. Actually in a way just as you described. Maybe practice on some cheep very available mags?

[coolhandluke]

I also had the same thoughts about welding two or more mags together, was always curious, I figured it should work. don't see why it wouldn't

[blade]

No clue? OK, Butt welded joint(or brazed) are the weakest type of joint.Only the weld material is holding the parts together. You can't apply too much excess on the outside (mag clearance is usually tight) Butt welded joints also can have weld material seep through to the inside of the joint.Going to be hard to remove inside the mag. Brazing uses brass filler,brass it an extremely brittle material,how is it going to stand up to recoil?(remember extended also means unsupported) Also have you ever tried to make a progressive coil spring by hand? Good luck.
It can be done, but is it worth the time for a few more rounds?

[6556]

One of the worse things for magnets is heat.

[Uncle Bob]

tig weld them, brazing will deform them from heat.

[SCPigpen]

I think you should practive mag changes instead. I feel you would end up with an unreliable magazine if you did this. I know others have done this but I'm sure they destroyed a few along the way.

I think the only time this might be a good idea is if the mags for your gun only came in 3 or so round capacity. I know some of those bolt guns are like that and I could see some benefit in doing so.

You also have to keep in mind that the mag catch was made to withstand so much weight and over loading it could leave to a failure.

[kevinlee]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

tig weld them, brazing will deform them from heat.

yup what he said less heat=less warp

[SnakeRanch]

^ Or, how I got higher capacity magazines for the old Remington 740 30-06. YMMV. Nice to have a friend with a machine shop, btw...

[jodier7]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I don't think I'm gonna risk it.

[mcreynoldsair]

I do it all the time

[Tackleberry41]

There were some AK mags made that way before as I remember.

One problem I see would be the springs, most of them tend to be pretty long when they start out winding them. None of the spring stock I have bought was long enough to make that sort of spring. And spring stock usually sold is not going to be like the stock that say Wolff uses. And it really isn't very easy to wind a spring by hand like they use in a mag.

I bought some US made 30 rnd G3 mags. Never made from the proper metric sheet metal to work reliably anyways. But they never even bothered to wind a longer spring, but used 20rd mag springs. I tried cutting one to get sort of a spring and a half, worked better but gave 28rds instead of 30.

[SnakeRanch]

Heed well the part about the machinist/ precision welder friend. I adapted springs out of other mags. Added a stock mag well to a busted 700 BDL and made some double length mags for it too. Before you start, be aware it took quite a few tries and generated a bit of scrap before I got one to fly, have lotsa parts, you're gonna need em. Unless you have a big junk box like we do it won't be an economical proposition...