Magazine Cleaning Question

Hi All

I'm a new Savage Mk II owner, and new to bolt action platforms in general, though I've been a competitive bullseye shooter for several years and have several aemi-auto rifles.

As such, I'm used to cleaning my magazines periodically, and when newly purchased, by disassembling them. I've three questions for the board.

First, is periodic cleaning necessary for Mk II mags since there's no "blow back" with a bolt action?

Second, is it even possible to disassemble a Mk II magazine (without damaging it)? It looks like the baseplate ought to be able to slide off, but I can't see any release and I don't want to destroy one by forcing it!

And third, if the mags can't be disassembled, how do you folks go about cleaning them? Even without blowback, they're not immune to blowing grit!

Sorry if this has been covered, but my site searches and "google-fu" attempts have come up empty! Anyhoo, thanks in advance for any advice you folks have for me!

I have a 30 year old mag I've never cleaned and one I did because I dropped it in the mud. I used running water to wash off/out the mud. A very tedious task. Then used brake clean with a red straw pushed past the mag follower to remove the last of the mud and water followed by a good compressed air blowout to finish it up. Once clean and dry a liberal dousing with spray silicone lube and its good as new.

Lol good luck

They aren't really made to be taken apart, and doing so typically requires epoxy to reassemble. There are threads over on RFCs Savage/Stevens section on magazine fixes (reshaping follower to fix feeding problems and where side plates come loose or need re-peening). Wipe the outside and q-tip the follower top and insides, if they are particularly sooty.

I use a giant q-tip thing to swab the follower, feed lips and inside of the mag after a long shoot, it is mainly to wipe off the soot and if there's wax/lube that builds up from the ammo. They stay pretty clean, really. I use the same thing (link below as an example) to clean around the mag well, breech face, extractor slots and vent holes, etc.

(http://www.amazon.com/SE-Swab-Cotton...9R63GJ8VQZ24PF)

I just realized you may not have gotten the answer that you've been looking for.

Some folks only clean their magazines when the pages start sticking together. :rolleyes:

Ba-da-bing!

^ Teeheehee ;)

Thanks, all! I'm used to semi-automatics, where the blowback gasses get things dirty in a hurry. I'm noticing that the bolt action rifles I've gotten into lately stay a whole lot cleaner. Looks like a quick swabbing once in a while, as mentioned above, will do just fine!

Next step is replacing the plastic stock with a Boyd's "Rimfire Hunter" composite stock, which is due in tomorrow. Never done anything like that before, so wish me luck! Hopefully, I won't mess up the sub-MOA groupings I've been getting.

They won't get dirty very fast at all. I've put 500 rounds through one 5 round magazine and it isn't dirty. Do that to a 22 pistol and it is dirty.
Joe

Thanks for the info, all. Quick update on the stock replacement; got it installed, perfect fit, easier job than i'd anitcipated! I'm very pleased with both the rifle and the new stock. Shoots consistant MOA groups, or a bit better, at 100 yds off a Caldwell front rest and rear bag using a Bushnell 4-12x40 scope and CCI SV ammo. Best result so far at 100 yds was a 99 5X on a standard 100 yd rimfire target. I've tried a few types of higher velocity ammo, and the gun did not like them, not even a little bit!

So, on to the next challenge. The guys at my club shoot 200 yd rimfire benchrest matches, and the Bushnell doesn't have enough built-in zero adjustment. So, I'm waiting for an EGW 20 MOA rail; once that's installed I'll be mounting Mueller 8-32x44 scope on it and seeing what I can do!