Found: Spare magazine springs for hi-cap magazines. - XDTalk Forums - Your HS2000/SA-XD Information Source!

mcb · 08-03-2006, 08:40 PM

So I had been playing with making magazine extensions for my XD magazines to try to make a Limited gun out of my XD-40. Well when I realized that due the magazine width the project would never really work I decided to just shoot Limited-10 and the project... well... died. That was early last winter.

Well I have just started to get into shooting 3-gun and the pistol stages are done using Limited or Open rules so my 12rd magazines were going to really hurt me. I don't have the money to get a true limited gun since the first gun I really need is an AR. So I dug out my prototype magazine extensions to see what I could do with them again.

The big problem I had when I made them was the factory magazine springs were not long enough and the last two or three rounds out of the magazine did not feed reliably. Both then and in the last week or so I have looked high and low for a sutable magazine spring and I think I finally found one.

One must only look to the dark side of handguns, Glock! Aftermarket magazine spring from ISMI Gunsprings for of all things a Glock seem to work pretty good. I bought two from Shooter's Connection for a 170mm Glock magazines (GL2). I ended up having to trim about two and half coils off the big end to make it work with my 140mm magazines. It would probably need to trim another coil or so off to make them work with factory magazines. You could probably start with the 140mm magazine version (GL3).

The spring are very very similar to the XD magazine springs. They have the narrow coils at the top that fits nicely into the follower and the bottom coils are very close to the same size. They seemed to work good in my extended versions and I now have two 15 round magazine that are loadable with the slide close. Still not 18+ but 15+1 is better than 12+1 to start a stage. I would not be surprised if this was the spring Novak will be shipping with their soon to be release magazine extensions.

Rambling
mcb

**agalindo** · 08-03-2006, 08:53 PM

cool!

**Old School** · 08-03-2006, 09:04 PM

In talking with Tom, he has another source for springs however I will forward the information along about the ISMI springs.

Good info, thanks.

Scott

mcb · 08-03-2006, 09:11 PM

Pictures as requested.

The left red arrow point to a small bend I added to help keep the nose of the follow up similar to the factory spring. The right red arrow point to the last half coil that I close up so it would nest inside the next coil up. This gave me the little extra room I needed to make the 15 round magazine loadable on a closed slide.

mcb

**Old School** · 08-03-2006, 09:13 PM

Damn, they are close. Makes sense, really. Why recreate the wheel. Nice pics!

Battler · 08-12-2006, 05:06 PM

I was under the understanding that XD mags were basically Beretta mags with a different mag catch cut. - and there are >15 round beretta mags. . . . Is there a Beretta spring that would be a better fit?

mcb · 08-12-2006, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Battler

I was under the understanding that XD mags were basically Beretta mags with a different mag catch cut. - and there are >15 round beretta mags. . . . Is there a Beretta spring that would be a better fit?

From what I have seen of Beretta 96 Magazines (40S&W 11rd), the springs and followers they are more like the 10 round XD-40 Magazine parts not the 12 round Magazine. I believe this is true for the 9mm magazine but I am not sure.

The ISMI spring worked flawsless for me this weekend when I shot my first Limited USPSA pistol stages (I normally shoot L-10) using the two fifteen round XD-40 Magazine magazines as part of a 3-gun match.

mcb

08-03-2006, 08:40 PM	#1
mcb XDTalk 2K Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: North East Ohio Posts: 2,093	Found: Spare magazine springs for hi-cap magazines. So I had been playing with making magazine extensions for my XD magazines to try to make a Limited gun out of my XD-40. Well when I realized that due the magazine width the project would never really work I decided to just shoot Limited-10 and the project... well... died. That was early last winter. Well I have just started to get into shooting 3-gun and the pistol stages are done using Limited or Open rules so my 12rd magazines were going to really hurt me. I don't have the money to get a true limited gun since the first gun I really need is an AR. So I dug out my prototype magazine extensions to see what I could do with them again. The big problem I had when I made them was the factory magazine springs were not long enough and the last two or three rounds out of the magazine did not feed reliably. Both then and in the last week or so I have looked high and low for a sutable magazine spring and I think I finally found one. One must only look to the dark side of handguns, Glock! Aftermarket magazine spring from ISMI Gunsprings for of all things a Glock seem to work pretty good. I bought two from Shooter's Connection for a 170mm Glock magazines (GL2). I ended up having to trim about two and half coils off the big end to make it work with my 140mm magazines. It would probably need to trim another coil or so off to make them work with factory magazines. You could probably start with the 140mm magazine version (GL3). The spring are very very similar to the XD magazine springs. They have the narrow coils at the top that fits nicely into the follower and the bottom coils are very close to the same size. They seemed to work good in my extended versions and I now have two 15 round magazine that are loadable with the slide close. Still not 18+ but 15+1 is better than 12+1 to start a stage. I would not be surprised if this was the spring Novak will be shipping with their soon to be release magazine extensions. Rambling mcb __________________ If at first you don't succeed; RELOAD _ _ _ _ My web site

08-03-2006, 09:04 PM	#3
Old School XDTalk 5K Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Illinois Posts: 7,776	In talking with Tom, he has another source for springs however I will forward the information along about the ISMI springs. Good info, thanks. Scott __________________ Visit www.pistolgear.com for all of your XD needs!

08-03-2006, 09:11 PM	#4
mcb XDTalk 2K Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: North East Ohio Posts: 2,093	Pictures as requested. The left red arrow point to a small bend I added to help keep the nose of the follow up similar to the factory spring. The right red arrow point to the last half coil that I close up so it would nest inside the next coil up. This gave me the little extra room I needed to make the 15 round magazine loadable on a closed slide. mcb __________________ If at first you don't succeed; RELOAD _ _ _ _ My web site Last edited by mcb; 12-11-2006 at 12:28 PM.

08-03-2006, 09:13 PM	#5
Old School XDTalk 5K Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Illinois Posts: 7,776	Damn, they are close. Makes sense, really. Why recreate the wheel. Nice pics! __________________ Visit www.pistolgear.com for all of your XD needs!

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08-12-2006, 05:06 PM	#6
Battler XDTalk Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 5	I was under the understanding that XD mags were basically Beretta mags with a different mag catch cut. - and there are >15 round beretta mags. . . . Is there a Beretta spring that would be a better fit?