Magazine Disconnects - Bad %$# News

[TMan]

Time for TMan to eat some crow. Having had an incredible attack of stupidity, I once dropped the magazine on a Ruger MKII, and was stuffing the gun into a gun sock when I hit the trigger and the gun went off shooting a round through the end of the sock and downrange. That wouldn't have happened with a MK III. Conclusion: magazine disconnect = good.

Today I had the FN 5.7 at the range and was cursing the creepy trigger. Everything was in the center circle, but not a tight group in the center. Another member came up and was looking at it. I stuffed a magazine in and handed it to him. He used the stop lever to release it, I cringed, but didn't say anything. He then said: "it isn't firing". "Pull harder". "It doesn't work". So I tried it, and sure enough, it was acting like it wasn't in battery. I racked the slide. Still no good. Dropped the magazine, reinserted it, racked the slide and pulled the trigger. Bang. He then shot the rest of the magazine.

He then left, and I proceeded to shoot the rest of the box of ammo, when suddenly I had the failure again. This time I did a little more diagnostics, and low and behold: the magazine wasn't inserted all the way.

Of course on real guns, I slam the magazine into the gun. However, this FN is the ultimate in Tupperware and looks fragile. (I don't consider Glocks to look fragile). I'm quite gentle with it.

Now, suppose this was my carry gun? Not good!!! If I ever carry a pistol that has a magazine disconnect, it will have to have the European type of magazine catch, which is what I consider to be a better system, even though it requires the use of two hands.

My conclusion: magazine disconnect on defensive firearm = bad news.

[MLB]

I suppose a magazine disconnect in a purely range gun has some merit, but it's effect (on trigger pull) is most noticeable in that arena as well.

A little bit of added resistance on a defensive handgun isn't terrible as you only need "combat accuracy" in that situation. Clean crisp triggers are most beneficial when aiming for little black dots.

[TMan]

MLB, a magazine disconnect, if designed properly like on the Ruger MKIII, should have no effect on the trigger. The way it was done on the Browning Hi-Power is not the way it should be done, and certainly has an effect on the trigger feel.

I think design in general is the problem. Even if you don't have a magazine disconnect, if you don't insert the magazine all the way in a pistol, it may fail. In the case of the FN, it was inserted far enough that it stripped off the round and inserted it into the chamber, but the magazine wasn't inserted far enough to deactivate the magazine disconnect. Not a great design.

Thinking about it: ideally, if you don't insert a magazine all the way, it should fall out immediately in a defensive gun. If it is inserted far enough to strip a round and put it into the chamber, the gun should fire.

With the FN, when the magazine is properly loaded, when you press the magazine release, the magazine comes flying out. However, you can insert the magazine far enough so it is being held in place, allows a round to be stripped from the magazine, but the gun will not fire. I have it here in my hand as I write this and the failure is easily repeatable. Not good!!!

Edited to add the following: it took me awhile to figure out how the magazine disconnect worked on the FN, and it isn't good. What happens is when the magazine is inserted all the way, it pushes up on the trigger bar, so the trigger bar rubs on the magazine. (I have the slide removed [it has a hammer, not a striker]). To its credit, I can't feel any difference in the trigger pull with the magazine in or out. The real creep in the trigger is because the engagement of the hammer and sear are quite positive and have a lot of engaging surfaces.

I can just imagine what a tack driver this gun would be if it had a good trigger. The gun itself is very precise, but my accuracy suffers from lack of good trigger control. I'm going to give this gun a good cleaning, and I'll be shooting it a lot more because nobody is hoarding the ammo.

[MLB]

If I recall correctly, that ammo wasn't cheap to begin with!

Ammo hasn't been my problem lately. Just time. I've had that P5C for over a week and still haven't fired the darn thing. Between baseball practices, birthdays, softball games, car/truck maintenance, and a rotted out bearing on a pool pump, there's been no time for paper punching.

[TMan]

If I recall correctly, that ammo wasn't cheap to begin with!

Well, the last time I bought it, it was $20/50 rounds. I saw it at a gun store the other day for $22. The last time I saw 9mm ammo, it was $20/50 rounds. Same-o-same-o.

[5ontarget]

May 14, 2009 16:10:58 GMT -5 TMan said:

If I recall correctly, that ammo wasn't cheap to begin with!

Well, the last time I bought it, it was $20/50 rounds. I saw it at a gun store the other day for $22. The last time I saw 9mm ammo, it was $20/50 rounds. Same-o-same-o.

hmmm, may consider a new caliber and gun w prices like that

[TMan]

5OT, as long as you don't plan on having it for defensive purposes. ;D

Bad news is that pistol is now going to cost you $1k. (I don't think it is worth it, but I spent less than $400 for my because of winning the drawing for the FNP9, and immediately trading it in for the Five-Seven).

["DoubleAction"]

I found out that the bottom magazine catches works a lot better on loose after market magazines, than they do with the American catch releases.