Model 111 Magazine??

[Lead Balls]

I need some help. I have an old Model 111 that is missing the magazine. I have been doing as much research as I can, but the more I read, the more confusing it gets. It's a .30-06, and has a synthetic stock with a magazine release button on the side. The bolt release is on the top/side. I have a bad feeling from what I have read that it might not be possible to find a replacement, in that case what are the options? New stock, maybe?
Here is what sucks, I found a listing online you know where that showed the picture of what I need in the package, but with the wrong listing. I sent the seller a message, hoping the listing was wrong, and the picture was right, and they took the picture down. Sucks. I just hate it when that happens.....

[J.Baker]

Maybe check with Numrich's, that would be your best bet. Aside from them you're probably going to have to keep a close eye on the gun parts listings on Ebay and GunBroker.

As for alternative options, you're kind of limited there to as you will still need a magazine housing of some type to convert to a blind magazine with a new stock. The only "readily available" option would be to contact Jeff down at CDi Precision and see if he has an AICS bottom metal and mag for a staggered feed .30-06. Only downside is that by the time you buy the bottom metal, magazine and ship your stock to him to have it inletted you'll have as much in the conversion as the rifle's worth.

[Lead Balls]

I've tried all the usual suspects, Numrich's, Brownell's, ect. I intend to keep an eye on the auctions, but I don't even know what this model is, other than 111, there are several variations. Oh what fun.

[J.Baker]

Probably just a Model 111F or 111G from back in the day. Doesn't really matter, you just need a 110-series staggered-feed DBM for 30-06, they're all the same from the 60's through the early 2000's no matter what the model # was.

[J.Baker]

Try this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-110C...temCondition=4

[Lead Balls]

Try this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-110C...temCondition=4

I almost did that one. However, after studying the rifle's workings, I decided to try this one, I don't think that one will work, since it doesn't have the holes in the sides.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-7-MM...72.m2749.l2649

It says it's for 116C and 110C, with side release, in 7mm and 300 magnum. I checked the legth of those, and 30-06 is right in between the two, so I think it will work. I am certain I need the square holes on the sides of the magazine to work with my side release button. Other than that they look identical. I guess we shall see, as they say. Thank you guys for your help, it's not easy replacing parts that you have never actually seen, it requires a lot educated guesswork, and good luck. I have come up against worse, though, I have a MkIII 22/45 I call "Humpty Dumpty" because it came to me as a grocery bag full of loose parts, including everything in the frame. Well, not exactly everything, a couple of bits were missing. But it's a great gun, now. I have faith I can resolve this rifle.
Then it gets the bolt job, the bolt action on this gun is entirely too tight. Thanks to you guys, and some reading on my part, I know what that's all about already.

[J.Baker]

Looking at it closer, I don't think that one I linked to on Ebay is even a Savage magazine - at least not for a 110. The follower in it is completely wrong for a Savage 110.

[Lead Balls]

IT's supposed to be delivered on Tuesday, I'll let you guys know how it works out. I have a Springfield, too, so I have dummy bullets I can try in it to make sure it works right, if it fits in the well. Fingers are crossed.....

[Lead Balls]

I don't suppose anyone can tell me what model this is, all it says is "111", there are more than one of those....

[Lead Balls]

Well look at this:



That looks like it will work as well, it's got the holes on the sides.

Magazine

[Lead Balls]

Or this one (why do I find a cheaper one after I already bought one every time?):


Another Mag

[Robinhood]

Or this one (why do I find a cheaper one after I already bought one every time?):

Impatience.

[Lead Balls]

I got the magazine today, and it fits perfectly! However, it doesn't work at all. It wont load them from the mag most of the time, and when it does, it just jams. Is the a staggered vs center feed issue? Is it possible they made a mag that fits perfect, but doesn't work?

[J.Baker]

Magazines often have to be "tuned" to the specific rifle meaning you may have to tweak the feed lips a little to get it to feed properly. They do this at the factory for the magazine that comes with the rifle, but anytime you purchase an extra or spare chances are it's not going to feed perfectly out of the package.

[Lead Balls]

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do, now. The cartridges aren't coming up high enough to get caught up by the bolt. But boy are the feed lips on this thing hard. And it doesn't seem to have an extractor.

[Lead Balls]

As I work with the magazine, I have come to realize that I don't have an extractor. And those don't seem to be that easy to find.

[Lead Balls]

Boy, there sure are a lot of stories out there about broken extractors on these. But in fairness, thise stories almost always involve surplus, or otherwise just really hot loads.
I have been studying this magazine, since it needs quite a bit of coaxing to get it to work right. It looks like it would be fairly simple to take the floor plate off, and graft it onto something bigger, like a BAR magazine, or an an SMLE magazine. All it looks like it would take is to cut off the top of the big magazine, and just weld them together. Who wouldn't mind a 10rd, or maybe even a 20rd detachable magazine? It looks easily doable.

[Lead Balls]

I think I want to take this magazine, take the floor plate off, and trim the bottom edges, then get something like an SMLE mag, or an M1918 BAR mag, and cut the feed lips off of it, and graft the two together with a spot welder. The joint will go far enough into the mag well that it won't show when it's loaded on the gun. Now I'll have the worlds only savage high capacity detachable magazine. Use the spring from the donor, with the savage follower, and it should work fine. Why not? What got me thinking about that is the non historically accurate, not GI issue in any way 10rd magazine I have on my M1903 Springfield. Those would mate up too nicely not to consider it. The only thing is that one was actually really expensive for what it is, but SMLE mags are a dime a dozen.

[big honkin jeep]

One of my old staggerfeeds was riding low as you describe and the fix was to ever so gently bend the tabs on the side cutouts that lock the magazine in downward just a little. This makes the mag ride just a little higher in the magwell so the bolt can pick up the cartridges. Or you can press upward on the bottom of the mag when cycling the bolt.
If you want a staggerfeed that works every time you might try and find a blind mag and a stock. The staggerfeed blind mag stocks used to be everywhere for about $35 and you can probably still find one for close to that. A blind mag however may require some patience to find at a decent price. It seems like yesterday you couldn't give em away and today they seem to be made of gold. They just pop into the two little slits below the cutout and are held in with tabs. I usually start the front tab and then place a flat screwdriver behind the rear one and bump it to pop it in.

[Lead Balls]

I got the extractor fixed, and got the magazine to feed more or less, it's still riding really low. This is the first time I have seen an extractor like this, all of the b/a rifles I have handled used the Mauser claw type. I am assuming the difference is that this type is easier to load one at a time, whereas the claw type really prefers to pick them up out of the magazine. That's kind of funny considering my '03's magazine cut-off that was intended to force one by one feeding when it was designed. What a worthless idea that was. But I got rid of that in favor of a no drilling scope mount that replaces it.
I have seen some interesting aftermarket upgrades, stocks, mostly, that have larger magazines for Savage rifles, but they all seem to be entirely for the short actions. That's not a huge surprise, I guess, long action DBM's aren't that common. At any rate, it's still a work in progress.

What is a "blind" mag?

[J.Baker]

A blind magazine is one you have to load from the top of the rifle through the action. Only way to empty the magazine is to cycle the rounds through the action. Remington 700 ADL's are all blind mag's for example, as were the majority of the Savage 110's prior to 2005 which is when Savage made the switch to the newer centerfeed magazine system.

[big honkin jeep]

I have seen some interesting aftermarket upgrades, stocks, mostly, that have larger magazines for Savage rifles, but they all seem to be entirely for the short actions. That's not a huge surprise, I guess, long action DBM's aren't that common. At any rate, it's still a work in progress.

Most of the higher capacity mags are indeed for short actions. There are however aftermarket 10 round long action mags available and and I've also seen 6 round "Winmag" magazines as well. I've seen steel HK G3 mags grafted onto factory Savage mags for more capacity and seem to remember some internet videos on "How to". Heck, I've even seen a couple of guys projects a while back where AR magwells were grafted to synthetic stocks with epoxy making the rifles compatible with P mags after a little more adjustment. Be imaginative and set your inner tinker free to create. Those are the kind of projects I love to see.

[Lead Balls]

Most of the higher capacity mags are indeed for short actions. There are however aftermarket 10 round long action mags available and and I've also seen 6 round "Winmag" magazines as well. I've seen steel HK G3 mags grafted onto factory Savage mags for more capacity and seem to remember some internet videos on "How to". Heck, I've even seen a couple of guys projects a while back where AR magwells were grafted to synthetic stocks with epoxy making the rifles compatible with P mags after a little more adjustment. Be imaginative and set your inner tinker free to create. Those are the kind of projects I love to see.

I was thinking the exact same thing, I am probably going to find another magazine to solder together with the Savage mag, and make it high capacity. I found one for a Swiss machinegun of some kind that says it holds either .303 British, or 8mm Mauser. The 30-06 is only about 3mm longer than those, I'm thinking that long action box mags are probably all pretty close to a standard size. I'll start there. And the nice thing about soldering steel together is that it can be just as easily taken back apart, if need be.

But I finally have this gun feeding okay, now, although I have good magazine habits, I slap the mag on something to jar the bullets into to the rear, and smack the magazine into the well with the heel of my hand a couple of times when I put the mag in. This one really likes the extra attention. Those are good habits to form handling any DBM's.

And is it still considered to be a hollow magazine if it has an opening floor plate, like my Springfield, or an SKS? You can unload those that way (if you have to). Or does "hollow" enforce cycling "through the action only" unloading, like as in no floorplate?

[big honkin jeep]

Pretty sure you're referring to a "hinged" floorplate.

[Lead Balls]

Here is the thing, I have a 10 round magazine for my Springfield (that's what they called it, it's more of a pot-belly floor plate) that I know I could make work, easily, but I won't sacrifice it since it was expensive for what it is, and it's for the Springfield, and I just don't have the same kind of feelings for this Savage at all.