Being retired, and having plenty of time for myself, decided to make a home made follower I'd read about. Somewhere I'd seen someone write about making one for a .357 from two empty cartridge cases, a .40 and a .44 Mag. I don't own a gun in either caliber, but turned out I had one or two of each as range pickups.
I cut the solid end off the .44, and inserted the .40 into one end. The depth was determined by using the original yellow plastic one as a guide. That is, I lined up where the shoulder began on the yellow one with the shoulder where the two cartridges intersected.
I silver soldered them together, and filed off any extraneous solder from the joint.
The spring fits in the .44 fine, and the home made follower slides easily in the mag tube. I loaded 10 rounds into the 20" barreled gun several times and experienced normal feeding and ejection. Just felt like it's supposed to.
By the way, to cut the head off the .44, I stuck it into a drill press and just pressed a hacksaw blade against it, cut it very cleanly. I would think a regular tubing cutter would work well too, but might be hard to hold the small case.
I was going to buy a stainless follower from The Smith Shop for $17 with postage, but figured I'd give this a try. Invested about 15-20 minutes of my time.
Although I am somewhat of a cheap b*****d, this was more just to see if it would work, and so far, so great.
Let's see, at $17 for say 20 minutes work, that's over $50 an hour. I'm going to be rich if I keep this up.
Home Made Magazine Follower
Re: Home Made Magazine Follower
Sounds like a great idea! I know after buying my first 92 yesterday, my spending "leash" has been shortened for the next little while so this is exactly the kind of stuff I am looking for.
Any pix?
Any pix?
- Missionary
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Re: Home Made Magazine Follower
Greetings
Good idea ! No cost on materials and made at home with the tools we already have invested in ! Best of all worlds.
You are not cheap by the way.. Frugile is the proper term for he ho desires to save his hard earned money for those things he cannot make or find.
Mike in Peru
Good idea ! No cost on materials and made at home with the tools we already have invested in ! Best of all worlds.
You are not cheap by the way.. Frugile is the proper term for he ho desires to save his hard earned money for those things he cannot make or find.
Mike in Peru
Way down south in Arequipa, Peru till June 2020.
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Re: Home Made Magazine Follower
Sorry, but I'm somewhat of a computer functional illiterate, can't post pictures.ryjo wrote: Any pix?
If someone would care to post a couple of photos, PM me with your email address, and I'd be happy to send them to you.
- Jaybm
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Re: Home Made Magazine Follower
Not sure if this will work but here goes ...
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2807
And for what it's worth the homade follower is still working fine.
ha ha , wish I would have thought of the hacksaw blade / drill press
cut off tool !
Jim
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2807
And for what it's worth the homade follower is still working fine.
ha ha , wish I would have thought of the hacksaw blade / drill press
cut off tool !
Jim
Gun Control Means Hitting The Target
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Re: Home Made Magazine Follower
Thanks Jim, it's obvious it was your thread I'd seen. Great idea!Jaybm wrote:Not sure if this will work but here goes ...
http://www.rossi-rifleman.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=2807
And for what it's worth the homade follower is still working fine.
ha ha , wish I would have thought of the hacksaw blade / drill press
cut off tool !
Jim
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Re: Home Made Magazine Follower
As an addendum, I have been using the rifle with the homemade follower, several range sessions, and no blips as of yet. Still working perfectly.