Its always disappointing when you buy something and it doesn’t work correctly…such it was with the 10 round magazine I bought for my Savage .17HMR. Originally it just came with one 5 round magazine, which is okay, but one is none so I had purchased a second 5 round magazine for it always. I was aware that they made 10 round magazines but truly saw no need to get one until after Sandyhook occurred and there was a lot of talk of limiting ‘high capacity’ magazines…so off I went to the local corner outdoors store and picked up a 10 round magazine…yeah, first off, I learned real fast that Savage makes a couple of different .17’s a Mach 2 and then the HMR…so wrong magazine. I finally found the correct one for my .17HMR on eBay, ordered it after going into sticker shock and never really have had a chance to use it until today (the rifle was sighted in using my 5 round magazines as I didn’t yet have the 10 round one). But today, I took my kids up to learn how to use the rifle and get some practice in myself and lo and behold…the 10 round magazine, manufactured by Savage went in HARD and getting it out…hahaha dynamite was being thought of but it finally came out with a lot of tugging and pulling. CRAP!!! Magazine NO GOOD…so off to the internet I go and what I found out was zilch regarding the way the magazine came and went into the rifle, I found a lot of information regarding .17HMR magazine not feeding correctly, but nothing about the magazine itself going in hard and not wanting to come out.

HMM…after watching people on YouTube ‘fix’ feeding issues (ding ding ding a light went off, I had one 5 round magazine that was hard to feed but did and I fixed that issue pronto) I got the bright idea that if you can fix the feeding issue then surely using similar techniques you can fix the magazine slide rails the same way…sanding!!! Taking a little off at time. Now everybody had a metal file or a sanding block or some sort of other ‘sanding tape’ to smooth out the burrs and sharp edges that caused feeding issues on the magazines but I have NONE of these and was impatient to make this work…surviving shtf mom light bulb time…emery board!!!

Yeah, that low tech thing that every woman used to have for her nails. Just a piece of cardboard with fine grit sandpaper on either side…ha! Got that…never really use them myself (fingers nails are not really conducive to gardening nor using a firearm) but I have them for a ‘trade/barter’ item along with some of the metal fingernail files and the boards used to shape fake nails too (these work wonders on split nails btw). So out came the good old emery board and remember the rule that less is more when working with a firearm (can’t replace what you take away but you can always take away more if need be) I went to work on the magazines.
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First up, the 5 round magazine that fed hard…Super easy on the ‘lip’ of the magazine where it was sharp and rough (burrs) over which the bullet goes into the chamber…file going down one way only and then back and forth and within in minutes everything was smooth to the touch…blew out the dust and put 5 rounds in, kept the safety on and then cycled the 5 bullets through…PERFECT and SMOOTH for the first time!!

Having gained confidence with this success (remember, all I used was that low tech old fashion finger nail file) I went to work on the 10 round magazine, specifically the rails. Working slowly I did the inside edges on both rails, then went under the rails and finally sanded down the top of the rails. Tried it, still tight…back to more work…did this several times until it still went in a bit tight but came out more easily…still need to spend more time working on it but the magazine now ‘works’ correctly…still too tight for my taste, but at least it goes in smoothly now and comes out without much effort.

I just wanted to share my experience with you just in case you have personally run into these problems with the Savage .17HMR of the bullets not feeding correctly and/or the bolt working hard (look for the burrs and sharp edge where the bullet comes up, out and over into the chamber on the magazine) or having a hard time with getting the magazine in and out. This is an easy fix for these issues and costs next to nothing, dollar stores, drug stores, almost everywhere sells emery boards…typically $1 for twelve of them.

Just remember, easy does it, a little at a time and you can always take off more but can’t put it back…