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Thread: How hard is it to make a magazine?

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master 303Guy's Avatar
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    How hard is it to make a magazine?

    More specifically, for a 22.

    I have three 22's missing their magazines. One I have a sample magazine for. Even the ones I have five round magazines for need ten round mags. But let's start with a Voere magazine. I have no sample. This rifle is my main possum and rabbit rifle due to it's shortness and suppressor. I would very much like to build a ten shot mag for it. Ten being the maximum legal limit.
    Rest In Peace My Son (01/06/1986 - 14/01/2014)

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  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    Hmmm..... Ask the hill tribesmen around the Khyber pass. They used to do it all the time with just sheet metal, hammers and anvils.

    Seriously - some of the more serious model railroaders do stuff like that. Usually using hard brass sheet. Easier to solder. Here's a USA source for tools. https://www.micromark.com/
    .
    Cognitive Dissident

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    Is your Voere a semi-auto .22 like this?
    https://www.gunstar.co.uk/voere-self.../rifles/876162

    If so I also have one but no spare magazine unfortunately. I can take photos and measurements if that would help

    Just found this also - it seems it might be the same magazine as the Mauser 105 and 106.
    https://riflemags.co.uk/voere-8-roun...semi-auto-fit/

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    Depends on what material, equipment and or skill you have.

    With lots of equipment, you don’t need much skill, just move pieces of metal to various locations and push buttons. With a hammer, file and anvil, your going to need lots of skill to have a functional part.

    I would start by looking everywhere for a replacement. If I managed to exhaust all resources for used parts and came up empty, I would then begin a search for a “donor” magazine from another .22 rifle.

    Finding one that’s close enough to be easily modified, to work, is going to be a much easier task than reinventing the wheel, so to speak.

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy
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    Have you thought about 3d printing? My Sako Finnfire magazine original magazine is plastic and I also have a 3d printed copy that works well. Or possibly a 3d printed body and sheet brass top and lips.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    I built a speedloader for my krag by bending sheet metal around a form very similar to the photo. I made it a hair too short and while my reloads are ok a buds reloads were too long to fit. A .22 magazine would be doable but for the tempering of the feed lips. A .22 magazines feed lips are critical to the operation of your rifle or pistol. Id do some research to find the closest thing available and mod it. Give GPC a look as they have a huge inventory of old out of print junk too. Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #7
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    "I Make the part.............................that makes the parts"

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  8. #8
    Boolit Master



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    Old school me says you need to make dies to stamp reinforced metal plates to clamp and or weld together.

    New school me says, If I were going to do one today, or tomorrow, I'd spend some time with my rudimentary CAD program and knock a few prototypes out.

    MBTcustom had a thread about stamping some mags several years ago, and he is still somewhat active here.

    There have been a few teaser threads about printing mags, but I can't recall any very successful ones.

    Some 3DP websites may have more threads on this. It's certainly do-able, and if I had something with a decent sized cartridge that I needed mags for, I'd try it.

    Either way, if you decide to dive into a mag-making project I will follow and assist as able, as it interests me as well.

    Bulldogger

  9. #9
    Boolit Master



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    As jmorris notes, sometimes one can find a "close enough" magazine and adapt it. I have some old Czech VZ-70's in .32 ACP that when I bought them there were zero spare mags and they came with no mags (and were priced accordingly). 6-8 months later following revived interest as a bunch of us had bought these old surplus pistols and were asking, someone offered mags, but at $35-40 each. That price was close to a fourth of the price of the pistols, so I wonder how many they sold.

    My solution was to buy cheap aftermarket Walther PP magazines (the parent design of the VZ) and modify them by extending the bottom of the mags by 1/8" using a bit of tack welded steel, so they would fit properly into the mag well of the VZ and trip the magazine catch. This was not optimum as it weakened the feed spring by lengthening it (I didn't make a plug) and my welding was terrible too. BUT they worked for the range. As a carry gun, I bought a few factory mags that I could trust.

    There are solutions!

    BDGR

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
    one-eyed fat man's Avatar
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    Learn new skills! Calculate bend allowances, temper sheet steel, spot welding. Someplace there is an old timey blacksmith knows just what you need.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master


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    If you have 5 round magazines or are available I would try to cut the 5 rounders and reweld them into a 10 round. Wolff has a generic 22 magazine spring that you could cut to length.
    Another option would be 3D scan, a 5 round, extend it to 10 rounds and 3D print. I have heard that sheet meral magazines are hard to 3D print but it may be n option.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    3D printing might be a good way to make forms around which to bend the sheet metal to make the mag.
    Cognitive Dissident

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master uscra112's Avatar
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    A glimmer of a memory is coming back to me. I once met an artist type who practiced an art of making small sheet metal objects by laying the raw sheet on a bed of wax, then, using small hammers and such, beating the form into the metal. He said it was a very old technique used by makers of armor in the middle ages.
    Cognitive Dissident

  14. #14
    Boolit Master elmacgyver0's Avatar
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    I would do an internet search.
    Making magazines sounds simple but in reality is not so easy.
    I would only try to make a magazine as a last resort.
    It can be done though but remember, the feed lips need to be rigid to maintain their shape.
    Good luck!

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master 303Guy's Avatar
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    Thanks for the responses, folks.

    RRR, the exact magazine is tight there in your links. About double the price of the rifle! But at least now I know what it looks like. I did once make a drawing of what would fit in the magazine well.

    Ok, this is going to be quite a challenge which is what I was expecting. I don't have a TIG setup which is rather limiting but using brass sheet could be the answer. I've been known to solder steel but it is quite a mission. I no longer have access to a milling machine but I do have a lathe, not that it helps. Anyway, I particularly want to tackle fabricating a magazine but if I can find one to adapt, that would be much easier. Trouble is, magazines get lost hence my having rifles without magazines.
    Rest In Peace My Son (01/06/1986 - 14/01/2014)

    ''Assume everything that moves is a human before identifying as otherwise''

  16. #16
    Boolit Master BigEyeBob's Avatar
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    Get onto these two Aussie online sites , usedguns and oz gunsales ,always magazines and parts available .Rebel Gunworks has a fairly comprehensive list of parts as well ,some new some used.Google search will find them.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master


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    I’m
    All for jumping in and making modifying what I can’t find/get/buy but my weak google-Fu turned up lots of Voere 22 mags for sale all over US and Europe. Even some for sale
    On eBay. Is it a problem of finding them or a problem of getting them to your location?

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy
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    I believe that weaponsguid.com often has some magazine making information.

    You will need a login to access it though.

    The is forum dedicated to magazines in there.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master jmorris's Avatar
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    Trouble is, magazines get lost hence my having rifles without magazines.
    If you actually get one to work made from brass or soldered steel, made with a hammer and file, you’ll sleep with it under your pillow, if you don’t have a safe to lock it up in.

  20. #20
    Boolit Buddy
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    You may best to buy a cheap steel magazine for a common 22 ,and modify it to work for your rifle..I did that to an old Ithica X15 Lightning ,and if I remember right it was as simple as brazing a little nub on it to allow the mag to lock into the rifle at the proper depth.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check