WECSOG*: Converting 15 round M&P9 Magazines to 17 rounders
Whenever I buy magazines, I look for bulk deals. For instance, every once in a while, Brownells will have a deal on a 10 pack of PMags (not now but they do regularly enough). And sometimes you can get them for just north of $10 each.
Anyway, I found a deal on another site for some M&P9 magazines. So, I snatched some up. When they got here, I realized they were 15 round magazines:
I was a little bummed. I guess they were made for places outside of America, like New Jersey or Maryland or something. They were the same size as the 17 rounders I’m used to, so I decided to take them apart and see what made them 2 shy of a full load:
Seems they compressed a bunch of extra spring at the end of the spring. I suppose I could just order replacement springs. But I grabbed some wire cutters instead and cut off the unnecessary portion of the spring:
They loaded 17 rounds just fine. I’ll check reliability at the next range trip. I may end up buying those replacement springs anyway.
*Wile E Coyote School of Gunsmithing
January 21st, 2016 at 3:13 pm
I think Colorado is the one with the 15 round limit.
And on a related note, the 10 round magazines for the M&P22 are really just the 12 round magazines with an aluminium peg press-fit onto the plastic floorplate. Takes less than 5 seconds to convert them to standard capacity and no tools required.
January 21st, 2016 at 3:31 pm
this is the trouble that Californians and others go through – how to get reduced capacity mags that are not immediately junk when we move to a free state.
January 21st, 2016 at 3:35 pm
So, do your newly cut springs have the name number of coils as your regular 17 rounder springs or did you just whack off the compressed portion?
January 21st, 2016 at 3:50 pm
When did you change your countertops to presswood? Seems like a downgrade from the fine granite you usually display.
January 21st, 2016 at 4:01 pm
Guy,
I whacked off the compressed portion. I may regret that. We’ll see.
HL,
That’s my workbench.
January 21st, 2016 at 4:34 pm
I still have a 9mm that SHOULD have 15rd magazines, but came with 10rd mags because stupid AWB. I checked, no chance of converting them.
So far, I’ve ordered a couple “standard capacity” mags online, but they were all aftermarket and ran like dookie. So it’s a choice of 10 for sure, or 15 (or 17) probably… or maybe… Or, go to the source and pay out the nose for standard cap mags from the gun manufacturer (which isn’t too attractive for a gun that I don’t really use very often).
January 21st, 2016 at 6:16 pm
It’s just that I have never seen a workbench that doesn’t have the wife’s laundry baskets all over it.
January 21st, 2016 at 6:56 pm
I pray dat rascal Road Runner don’t gitch ‘ya. Does a replacement spring still end up cost effective over all?
January 21st, 2016 at 7:51 pm
I know there are round extending floor plates for Glock mags, anyone make them for M&P mags?
January 21st, 2016 at 8:10 pm
http://taylorfreelance.com/shopping/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4&zenid=qanb2ui462j9p52ilp3bf2knn1
January 21st, 2016 at 8:46 pm
Where was this 15 round deal. 15 round mags are perfect for IDPA and even better for IDPA in NJ.
January 21st, 2016 at 8:51 pm
It was here. Now it’s gone.
January 22nd, 2016 at 5:45 am
“If its stupid and it works. Then it wasn’t stupid”
January 22nd, 2016 at 4:27 pm
Don’t forget to drill witness holes for rounds 16 and 17.
January 24th, 2016 at 1:18 pm
Wait, this solution was simple, cheap, and worked. The Wile E Coyote School of Gunsmithing (sponsored by Acme, Inc.) teaches solutions that are grossly complicated, astronomically expensive, and fail in spectacular ways.
January 25th, 2016 at 9:59 am
Stuart, what pistol? I’ve run across several places with all kinds of mags, maybe they’d have one