HELP: Glock 21 SF magazine rattle

M

melt

Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
467
I have carried this pistol for nearly a year, and it and its three magazines were brand new (and Glock factory made) when issued to me.

One of the magazines rattles when it is fully loaded with 13 rounds of .45
ACP.

There is no rattle when the magazine is unloaded.

The other two magazines do not rattle.

A co-worker told me one of his magazines (also for a Glock 21 SF) rattles just like mine does, and he has fired a full magazine that had this rattle through his pistol with no problems.

A friend suggested taking the magazine apart and stretching the spring, claiming that since I leave my magazines fully loaded all the time, the springs will get weak.

Should I stop leaving my magazines fully loaded all the time?

Any advice on any of these points would be appreciated.
Thanks.
 
You can now buy hi-cap factory Glock mags for less than $ 20.00. Throw the rattling mag away and forget about repair. Keeping magazines loaded does not hurt them. I have a 1911 magazine that was left fully loaded for over 40 years. I stuck it in my Thunder Ranch, and it fired like a dream. Bill
 
Thanks, Bill. I guess I won't bother unloading my mags.

The notion of just buying a new magazine is starting to appeal to me. I don't need a failure to fire if a new $20.00 magazine will prevent it.

Any advice on the best site or store to buy a new factory Glock 21 SF magazine?

Or any more experiences with this rattling magazine problem?
 
If you leave the mag loaded all the time the spring will get compressed and eventually will cause feed problems. I'd leave one loaded and rotate mags about once a week, maybe twice just to ensure the spring doesn't get compressed too much.
 
NOT true !! A properly made magazine spring will not 'take a set' or soften'. I have never replaced a mag spring. But of course I only buy good guns that have good mag springs !
 
That could be if the spring is made properly. A friend of mine at work who's a former Marine has told about FTF due to mag springs. Now that could be some of the infamous Barretta mags he was talking about, as I have heard and read about many mag problems with some of them.
 
Glockmeister.com has factory mags for $ 25.00, and a ton of other accessories. They're great folks to deal with. Cheaper than dirt also has Glock factory mags at a good price. They also are OK to deal with. Bill
 
And here I thought the spring compression myth had been laid to rest. Modern (withing the past 75 years or so) springs that are properly made will not weaken in a loaded magazine. Rattling magazines are not that unusual in Glocks as well as other steel and polymer magazines. Sometimes replacing the follower will solve it but I would simply replace it and earmark the rattling mag for practice. As a general rule I own at least 10 magazines per gun and some are used for practice only. As a large number of malfunctions in semi-autos can be traced to faulty magazines I use the same criteria for them as I do for the gun, 500 rounds before they are carried on the street.
 
Absintheur said:
Sometimes replacing the follower will solve it.
Click to expand...
True. I believe you can get parts for Glock mags...springs, followers, floorplates.
I honestly don't know if a rattle is indicative of a problem, but would tend to distrust anything out of the ordinary with a piece of equipment my life could depend on.
 
FWIW, I have some G19 mags that rattle when fully loaded. I think it's just something with the way the rounds stack in there. On mine, you can push the top round down a couple of times, everything will seat, and the rattle goes away. In my experience, the rattle doesn't seem to be affecting function at all. I've done quite a few IDPA shoots with rattly mags with no problem, as well.
 
Thanks a lot to all of you folks.
Now I'm not so worried, but I still might think about getting a new magazine.
 
truthseeker said:
...I think it's just something with the way the rounds stack in there. On mine, you can push the top round down a couple of times, everything will seat, and the rattle goes away. In my experience, the rattle doesn't seem to be affecting function at all. I've done quite a few IDPA shoots with rattly mags with no problem, as well.
Click to expand...

+1. Sometimes double-stack mags will rattle, it's just the nature of the beast. Do truthseekers trick and don't worry about it.

Springs don't wear by being compressed, but rather by compression cycles. Loading and unloading mags causes more wear than just leaving them loaded. You can, however, ruin a mag spring by stretching it.

In the seventies I was helping my ex father-in-law clean out his attic. He pulled out the 1911 and 3 LOADED mags that he'd brought home from WWII. The mags had been loaded since 1945. He asked me if I thought the ammo was still good and I said, "Lets shoot it up and I'll replace it with new ammo." We went out and the gun, mags and ammo worked perfectly. The mags had been loaded for 32 years.
 
IIRC one of my 23 mags rattles, feeds fine though, if it works ok i wouldnt worry about it.

IIRC glockmeister has the best price on mags, IIRC $18.95 ea.
 
they could be $25 now it was last summer when i got mine from them, but i bet if ya look around ya can find them for around that price, i see them at gunshows for about that price, i just stocked up a few yrs ago and dont need any now lol.

and heck $25 isnt so bad when ya think about back in the '90's i paid $75 for a hi-cap 23 mag, that made having 5 hi-caps for each glock, well, expensive.
 
Just as a heads up CDNN Sports has trade in LE mags for $11.99 and factory new for $19.99.
 
melt said:
I have carried this pistol for nearly a year, and it and its three magazines were brand new (and Glock factory made) when issued to me.

One of the magazines rattles when it is fully loaded with 13 rounds of .45
ACP.

There is no rattle when the magazine is unloaded.

The other two magazines do not rattle.

A co-worker told me one of his magazines (also for a Glock 21 SF) rattles just like mine does, and he has fired a full magazine that had this rattle through his pistol with no problems.

A friend suggested taking the magazine apart and stretching the spring, claiming that since I leave my magazines fully loaded all the time, the springs will get weak.

Should I stop leaving my magazines fully loaded all the time?

Any advice on any of these points would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

The magazines for my Glock 20 aren't completely tight, but they seem to work just fine.

As for the spring being compressed -- shouldn't be a problem. Springs are designed so that under compression the metal is flexed only into the elastic zone, so they won't stretch.

After keeping my magazines fully loaded with 15 rounds for nearly 4 years, they're just as hard to load the last round into as when they were new.
 
XD45 said:
If you leave the mag loaded all the time the spring will get compressed and eventually will cause feed problems. I'd leave one loaded and rotate mags about once a week, maybe twice just to ensure the spring doesn't get compressed too much.
Click to expand...

Is this based on experience? The springs in a magazine are compressed somewhat without a single round being loaded, so leaving the magazine fully loaded is only compressing it more. As long as the spring isn't compressed past it's yield point, it should make no difference whether it's left loaded or not.
 
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