GSP .32 magazine follower woes
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:14 pm
I've searched here at TT and elsewhere for posts related to my problem but not found any.
First, a quick intro:
I've been shooting a used Walther GSP .22/.32 for a few months. My previous shooting experience has been with .22, .38., .44., .45acp pistols and revolvers, as well as a bunch of c.f. rifle calibres. I do all my own reloading, except for .22lr ;), and have done a bit of my own gunsmithing as well, with pretty good results. My competitive shooting experience is pretty modest, mostly in my local club, but in future I hope to compete more at the provincial level. I also shoot air pistol, recently acquired a used Steyr LP10, which is a joy to shoot.
Recently, my GSP in .32 SWL has been misfeeding in a way that is very predictable. I load 5 rounds, shoot 4 and the last one does not feed but stays jammed in the magazine. Removing the magazine, I can see that the rim of the last round is snagging the back edge of the hinged follower. It is possible to re-adjust the last round so that it then can feed, but clearly this is not a desirable feature during duello competition!
Note that both of my magazines behave in the same manner.
I've uploaded a couple photos of my magazine followers, as well as the parts diagram from Walther: http://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i433/nilsek/GSP
It appears to me that the tab on the back of my followers is bent in. I'm normally pretty aware of the state of my guns, but I'm not sure just how this happened. It's possible that the "ears" at the front of the magazine got spread apart just a bit too much, allowing the follower to pop up too far after the last round ejected. What has happened is that the bolt, instead of sliding over the follower, slammed into it and bent the tab.
It would seem that if this tab were angled correctly, as in the Walther parts diagram, the problem of the cartridge rim snagging would be solved.
Unfortunately, if I were to bend the tab back to correctly angle it, it would almost certainly break right off, because the metal is already cracking.
Question: Has anyone else had this problem? If so, is there any remedy aside from buying a new magazine and/or follower? If that's the case, perhaps I may as well try to repair at least one of the followers myself. It does seem like a rather weak part.
First, a quick intro:
I've been shooting a used Walther GSP .22/.32 for a few months. My previous shooting experience has been with .22, .38., .44., .45acp pistols and revolvers, as well as a bunch of c.f. rifle calibres. I do all my own reloading, except for .22lr ;), and have done a bit of my own gunsmithing as well, with pretty good results. My competitive shooting experience is pretty modest, mostly in my local club, but in future I hope to compete more at the provincial level. I also shoot air pistol, recently acquired a used Steyr LP10, which is a joy to shoot.
Recently, my GSP in .32 SWL has been misfeeding in a way that is very predictable. I load 5 rounds, shoot 4 and the last one does not feed but stays jammed in the magazine. Removing the magazine, I can see that the rim of the last round is snagging the back edge of the hinged follower. It is possible to re-adjust the last round so that it then can feed, but clearly this is not a desirable feature during duello competition!
Note that both of my magazines behave in the same manner.
I've uploaded a couple photos of my magazine followers, as well as the parts diagram from Walther: http://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i433/nilsek/GSP
It appears to me that the tab on the back of my followers is bent in. I'm normally pretty aware of the state of my guns, but I'm not sure just how this happened. It's possible that the "ears" at the front of the magazine got spread apart just a bit too much, allowing the follower to pop up too far after the last round ejected. What has happened is that the bolt, instead of sliding over the follower, slammed into it and bent the tab.
It would seem that if this tab were angled correctly, as in the Walther parts diagram, the problem of the cartridge rim snagging would be solved.
Unfortunately, if I were to bend the tab back to correctly angle it, it would almost certainly break right off, because the metal is already cracking.
Question: Has anyone else had this problem? If so, is there any remedy aside from buying a new magazine and/or follower? If that's the case, perhaps I may as well try to repair at least one of the followers myself. It does seem like a rather weak part.