Another Savage 62 magazine problem

[kjhansen]

So I bought one magazine for my Savage (Stevens) Model 62 and it works fine, doesn't jam, etc. So I found another one and bought it. It doesn't jam either, but, BUT, it will only let me load 8 rounds, not 10! What's up with that? There is no way the 9th round is going in there. Not only that, when I try, the 9th round will not only not go in, but the 8th round sticks in the position the attempt to load the 9th round put it in. It has to be carefully pried out with a tiny screwdriver. I guess I'm going to take this magazine apart and see if it's got any burrs or rough edges in there. Any experience with magazines that won't load to capacity?
Thanks, and here's a picture of the rifle with the cheap scope I had laying around and a picture of the target I sighted it in on at 55 yards (working my way back to 100 yds). You can see all the patches I had to use to cover the holes I made working back. Once I got it sighted in at 45 yards I fired 5 rounds from 55 and they all went in a 3/4" group, so it's a good start. I went from 25 yards to 35, to 45 to 55. CCI Mini-Mags and Stingers. Lot of work to do still, but I don't think I'll go beyond 100 yards. Actually I might just do 90 yds, since I have to open a gate to get to 100 and then the horse, donkeys and goats want to get through and eat and get fat (they're already too fat) in my lower pasture where the target is set up... Can't have that.
KJHansen
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd82/kjhansen57/Guns/134f72a4-e966-4b99-a236-e314c14fa974_zpscf7273c9.jpg (http://s223.photobucket.com/user/kjhansen57/media/Guns/134f72a4-e966-4b99-a236-e314c14fa974_zpscf7273c9.jpg.html)
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd82/kjhansen57/Guns/55yards_zps3b27d283.jpg (http://s223.photobucket.com/user/kjhansen57/media/Guns/55yards_zps3b27d283.jpg.html)

[kjhansen]

No reply yet.. Hmmm. Anyway, now, while using the new magazines, I'm getting an occasional failure to feed, with resulting damage to the bullet (smiley face)--usually on the first bullet that I rack in by hand. I rack it pretty hard and fast (pull hard and release), trying to avoid this, but sometimes it does it anyway. I thoroughly cleaned and oiled the weapon, then ran some rounds through manually (safety on of course). Some damage to all the lead, round-nose bullets; less, but still a minor scrape, on the JHP CCIs. Could it be wear in the magazine well? The mags appear to fit a bit loosely, i.e., you can rock them although they appear to be lightly pressed against the body of the mag well. With ammo as hard to find and as expensive as it is (relatively), I sure hate to waste bullets!
kjhansen
p.s., just went out and put about 40 more rounds through it at 90 yards using CCI Mini-Mags. I found out that I can ease that first bullet into the chamber instead of slamming it and avoid the bent nose/smiley face problems. Also found out that there's a big difference between 55 yards and 90 yards! Took a while but I got a decent (not great) group with my last 5 rounds--about 3", but vertical, with one off to the right about an inch or so. Hot and muggy out there...

[JCalhoun]

Maybe the mag is compliant with some of the socialist states?

[kjhansen]

That could be it! Except it isn't :-) I forced 10 rounds into it left it to sit for a few days and now it loads 10 rounds without forcing.

[JustMike]

My new 64 does the exact same thing. I purchased a 2nd mag only to find it does it as well. I found a few videos on Utube about the issue and how to fix it, which involves filing the front of the mag allowing the round to slide up and out of the mag a little better. I haven't tried it out yet but will tomorrow. will let you know...

[kjhansen]

I disassembled my Model 62 and polished the magazine holder feed ramp, carefully filed away a small ridge that had developed in the barrel liner, and filed-and-polished the magazine feed ramps in all my mags. I fired 10 rounds of CCI Mini Mags with no jams. Then I fired 10 rounds of Eley standard velocity. It didn't always feed. Didn't jam, just didn't pick up the round. So I took the two magazines I had polished apart and stretched the springs and reassembled them. I then shot another 40 rounds of Eley without a single failure of any kind using both mags. Problem solved--hopefully it isn't temporary, i.e., hoping the springs don't collapse. I usually don't fire the standard velocity Eley through the rifle--I reserve it for the handguns as it has never had any trouble cycling them. In any case the rifle isn't bending the bullets or printing smiley faces on them any more.

[JustMike]

I modified my mags but it still jammed. I got looking at it a little closer to find it needed to be a little more symmetrical in the magazine feed ramp. I took a chainsaw file (3/16th I believe) and made it more even and gradual. Polished it with a .22cal bore brush then shorted the mag spring by 3/8" and stretched it out and tried it. Seems to be loading fine now and getting 10 rounds in there is much easier! I fired 60 rounds without issue. I will look at the feed ramp on the magazine holder next to polish it as Kjhansen did but so far I'm happy with how it is. I thought it might have been the Remington Ammo so I bought a brick (500 rounds) of Federal ammo but it made no difference but at least now I have more ammo...

[kjhansen]

Further development: So far two of the three magazines have started failing again. Not as often (it was every other round or so), but still once or twice per 10 shots. It seems to be a magazine problem because that third mag is feeding cartridges just fine. The question is, why did the rifle suddenly stop feeding well, and why with only some (including new) magazines?

[kjhansen]

Here I am replying to myself again. Anyway, turns out the problem with failing to load rounds is not the ramps. You can polish them to your heart's content and it won't help, IMHO. It looks to me like the nose of the bullet never touches either feed ramp--not the one in the magazine or the one in the magazine holder. When the bolt goes back after firing the round in the chamber, the next cartridge in the magazine appears to be pushed up high enough by the spring, and at the right angle (determined by spring force, the angle of the follower, the angles of the magazine lips, and friction inside the magazine) for the bolt to catch it and push it into the chamber. The angle of the cartridge is critical as it looks like it hits the barrel below the chamber hole as the bolt shoves it forward. I made a video of this and looked at it carefully. The nose of the bullet looks higher than either feed ramp when cartridges are chambered using one of the good magazines I have--so the bullet doesn't actually touch any feed ramp. But if the angle isn't right, then the bullet hits the barrel below the chamber head-on and is twisted up and partially pulled from the case and won't slide into the chamber--and the bullet is ruined (Well not entirely. If I'm willing to push the bullet back into the case and file the distorted lead off the one side where it bulges out from having the bullet bent up at a 45 degree angle, plus clean any lead cut and sticking out on the tip of the bullet (the infamous smiley face), I can still shoot these through my .22 revolver, but not through a semi-auto as they won't feed... plus they're not very accurate as the bullet is not exactly conical anymore).
In any case, the problem still appears to be a function of the magazine--probably the spring and the follower combined with friction inside the magazine itself affecting the angle of the cartridge as it leaves the magazine. I've probably shot over 300 cartridges, and ruined quite a few of them, trying to figure this out and am getting pretty frustrated. I'm seriously considering trading the rifle in for a different brand (Marlin XT-22?). On the other hand, I do have one good magazine and another that's good most of the time. But given the problems I've been having, I think it's just a matter of time before these ones stop working too.