Review of installing Magloc's extended magazine release

[2upFZ1]

First off, I apologize for not taking any pictures of this ordeal. But as far as installing, the pictures provided on Magloc’s site are good enough.

I ordered two of Magloc’s extended magazine release buttons, one for my XDm, one for my Wife’s XDm. It only took a couple of days for them to get to Las Vegas from Canada. Much shorter than expected. And I even tried to confuse them by first adding their Extended Slide Releases, then emailed them the next day to have them removed from the order (I hadn’t decided yet which ones I wanted). I also added $2 for their pre-marked Magazine catch pin drift tool. It was a piece of hex-stock, but did the job wonderfully.

The Magazine releases are made of Stainless Steel, but I do have to complain, the finish isn’t very, um, finished. There were still machining marks on the body of the release, and the groove that they milled into the side in which the Magazine Catch slides in was rather rough. I was rather surprised because that surface is what releases the magazine and needs to be smooth so you don’t have to exert too much pressure on the button.

So before doing anything else, I grabbed a piece of 1200 grit sandpaper and took about an hour to smooth the surface of both releases down to a semi-polished finish.

Then came the actual process of replacing the buttons. I figured I would start on my gun because if anything was to go wrong I wanted it to happen with my gun and not the wife’s. Using the excellent instructions on Magloc’s site (http://www.smartlock.com/XDMagRelease-r.htm)

I took their pin tool and tapped on the left side of the pin (you could drift out either side) and once I got to the desired mark on the tool (0.39”) and pulled out the tool. I then reached a finger in and depressed the top of the magazine catch, removing the pressure from the stock button, and pushed on the button to push it out as instructed. I took a plastic Bic pen to push the stock button all the way out, and once I made sure I was installing the extended button the correct direction, I pushed the new button in. The whole while I was depressing the top of the magazine catch. I then made sure that I was pushing the magazine catch to align the holes and then took my hammer and tapped the pin back into the frame.

The whole process took no kidding, 5 minutes. I was so surprised that I had done it right because it went so easily.


So after putting the slide back on and buttoning everything back up on my gun making sure that the new release worked superbly, I decided to do the same on my wife’s gun.

Everything went the same except for one thing. In the instruction when Magloc says not to push the Magazine catch pin all the way out because it’s a major pain in the @$$ to reassemble, they aren’t kidding. I didn’t have everything aligned perfectly when reinstalling my wife’s gun, so I took a pair of pliers to pull out the catch pin a bit, and BOING out it comes the whole way, sending the Magazine catch and spring flying into the far reaches of my garage.

After sending a Recon team of cockroaches in to find the spring hiding as far as possible away from my standing position at my bench, I realized that I somehow needed to put everything back together, alas under tension. My XXL hands/fingers weren’t going to be of any help when my index finger barely fits into the magazine well knowing I needed to have one hand to hold the catch, another to hold the spring in between the catch and frame, oh and another hand to tap the pin back in from the side.

But surprisingly, it only took a couple of minutes to get everything back together so I could finish the job. I found that barely pushing the pin into the catch then taking a small pair of needlenose vice-grips to hold the long end of the spring allowed enough of my finger in to hold the catch in place while I tapped the pin in far enough to capture the spring.

After making sure that all was aligned perfectly this time, I tapped the pin back into place, and awaited the initial test of the button, hoping that it would work correctly, or start thinking of a good excuse to get out of the house and find a “near-new” Bitone XDm-9 in the 3.8” variant to replace my wife’s baby if I found out that it was broken. I put the slide back on, rammed a magazine into the gullet and crossed my fingers while depressing the release button. Thunk, the magazine slid out like it was shot out.

Whew. Apology to spousal unit averted.

All in all, I say that it’s an excellent modification, if only Magloc would just spend the hour polishing the releases before sending it to the customer.

[2upFZ1]

I have a problem that I am encountering with the new magazine release. Every time I release the slide, or fire the weapon the magazine drops out. With an empty magazine and the slide removed, I can push on the front of the magazine and it pops free of the catch. It looks like the little catch isn't engaging the magazine fully. Anyone else having this problem? I am going to contact Smartlock to see what the problem is.

[2upFZ1]

I found a solution to the problem with the magazine. I just took a 1/8" punch and stuck it in the hole where the mag catches it, and wedged it a bit making the flat edge stick up 0.014". That took up the extra space in the well, and keeps the magazine from falling out when releasing the slide.