Repairing broken Glock mags

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massaiga

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I first came to this forum about a year ago seeking help with Glock 17 mags that were broken. At the time I said:

massaiga said:
Back in the early 90s (I could check the original sales receipt thats in the safe for the exact date) I bought a Glock 17. It is a first gen frame and came with a pair of first gen NFML mags. This has been my daily carry piece for many years and I have always been happy with it. Recently however I have run into serious trouble with my mags.

Both of the mags have developed a very significant crack down the front of the mag body. When they are loaded with more than 12-13 rounds the spring pressure causes the crack to gape open in a very disturbing manner. I am afraid to load them any further for fear that the mags will fail catastrophically. I feel that I can no longer depend on these mags and trust my life to them.
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The good news is that a year latter I have managed to acquire a sufficient supply of pre-ban g17 mags. The bad news is that Glock customer service stated that there was nothing they could do to help me out. They would not even swap them out for ten round mags. The exact words were "We warranty the guns, not the mags." Oh Well.

So now i find myself with these two cracked NFML g17 mags that are just taking up space in the safe because I cannot bring myself to throw them away.

I have decided to attempt to repair them. I figure the worst case scenario is that I destroy them and then throw them away, but I am hoping to end up with a pair of "range mags" that function reliably at the range but are not trusted for CCW/home defense.

Before I jump into this I figured I would see if there is any advice out there. Currently I am looking to repair the cracks with glue and then smooth out any bumps with sanding/filing.

Does anyone recommend a method OTHER than glue?
Does anyone know what type of plastic the older NFML g17 mags are made of?
Has anyone ever attempted to use glue on Glock mags with any degree of success or failure?
If so what type of glue was used?

Right now I am debating between using a solvent based glue like Superglue and using an additive based glue like a two-part epoxy.

-MS
 
I haven't tried this, but if I was going to, I would do so with a two-part metal filled epoxy of the highest strength I could find (I believe there is a common 5-ton epoxy formula) Epoxy will be the strongest when it doesn't have to fill a gap, so disassemble the mag, mix the expoy, open the gap as wide as you can, apply the epoxy and then close the mag. Place it lightly in a vice.

I would recommend looking for a machinable / sandable epoxy as well so that you can lightly sand it down so that it matches the original contour.
 
just checked, the glock magazine body is the same nylon-based polymer as the frame and epoxies are generally not recommended for bonding nylon, so epoxy might not be the ideal choice.

Check out these guys - http://www.gluguru.com/Epoxies.htm

They have some products that claim to work well woth nylon. Could always drop them an e-mail and ask
 
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I'd just toss them. Save the floorplates and whatever you can salvage. No matter how you fix it, they will never be the same. You got 20 yrs out of them. That's alot of mileage.
 
Since you say that you've aquired enough pre-ban mags, I'd strip them for parts and toss them. Keep the parts so you can fix the other mags as they wear out. If you have plenty of working mags, it's probably not worth the cost/time to fix damage like this.
 
Funny you should mention this. I epoxied an old G-21 mag that had developed a crack just last week. It is a FML mag but the polymer had split down the rear, from the top about 3/4 of an inch. I used a 2-part epoxy and then wrapped it with friction tape until cured. It seems to be holding pretty well so far. Only range time will tell.

Good luck.

Michael.
 
pj150 said:
I'd just toss them. Save the floorplates and whatever you can salvage. No matter how you fix it, they will never be the same. You got 20 yrs out of them. That's alot of mileage.
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My thinking is that this may be good practice for the future. They are not making any more pre-ban mags. The Glock rep I spoke to said that this type of failure (cracks down the font side where there is no metal lining) was one of the big reasons they moved to FML mags. he was not surprised at all by my issue, infact he said that they get lots of reports of the NFML mags giving up the ghost at around the 15 year mark.

I may have gotten 20 years out of these two... but all of my "new" mags are just as old. Today (this past year) it took me almost a year to acquire a supply of pre-ban mags. What about 20 years from now? I don't plan on selling my g17 anytime soon and I do not see MA repealing its AWB anytime soon and there is always the possibility of another federal ban. I have things in the safe that are 90+ years old and function just fine... I see no reason why my g17 won't still be with me when I am old and gray... I hope to pass it along to my children when i go in fact. I'm playing this game for the long haul. I think having experience fixing this type of problem will be good experience to have.

-MS
 
As long as the repair does not damage the gun, there's no down-side to the repair.

If the repair works, you have a few extra range magazines to reduce the wear and tear on your carry magazines.

If the repair doesn't wor, you have a few pieces of junk that you can toss (what you'd have if you didn't repair them)

Again, no down-side as long as you don't risk damage to the firearm.

You could try picking up a thin piece of metal strap and epoxy it into the interior of the mag (make sure it doesn't interfear with the follower or spring) so that it's reinforced like a full metal linear. select a high strength, thin stainless steel then use a medium grit sand paper to roughen the nylon interface surface. Apply the epoxy to the seam and metal strip. If you do a good job, you may end up with a magazine that's better than the original. At the worse case, you end up with what you have now.
 
You could use a 3D pen with a nylon filament. There’s even a nylon/carbon fiber filament that might be an even stronger fix.
 
ShadeWPI said:
I haven't tried this, but if I was going to, I would do so with a two-part metal filled epoxy of the highest strength I could find (I believe there is a common 5-ton epoxy formula) Epoxy will be the strongest when it doesn't have to fill a gap, so disassemble the mag, mix the expoy, open the gap as wide as you can, apply the epoxy and then close the mag. Place it lightly in a vice.

I would recommend looking for a machinable / sandable epoxy as well so that you can lightly sand it down so that it matches the original contour.
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Don't bother with the metal filled epoxy; Get a 2 part epoxy that's specifically made to adhere to the type of plastic the magazine is made of. Adhesion is the real challenge with plastic repairs.
 
I wonder WHAT the mASS laws say about repair/replace. I know right before the ban ended, there were companies that were selling mag repair kits WITH the mag body. The ATF shut them down, but they were using the "look, we're replacing bad mags" theory.

I sure could use some new Glock mags. I wonder if I could replace .40 mags with 9mm mags. LOL
 
Acetone solvent welding would be the strongest solution, but it is very tricky to get right. You're essentially chemically melting both sides of the crack and allowing them to cure solid back together. But that leaves the door open for things like dissolving too much or repositioning of material. I would suggest finding some similar material and running a few tests before attempting if you go that route.

But that aside, I see no reason why 2 part epoxy can't be used. The hardener can react to some forms of nylon making them brittle, but I feel that this is more an issue for things like nylon rope or any other nylon that sees a lot of material movement. Used sparingly for crack fixing should be fine.

And yes, I realize this thread is old as dirt, but I hate when I look up information and see a question that hasn't been fully answered for future viewers.
 
I did a writeup on this a few years ago:

www.northeastshooters.com

Glock pre-ban magazine repair

For us suckers that live in ban states, having a pre-ban magazine break can be a sad experience. A replacement pre-ban magazine can cost up to $100, or more, depending on type, and some of the worst ones are the old Glock U-notch magazines. I recently had two of my U-notch mags start to crack...
www.northeastshooters.com www.northeastshooters.com
 
those u notch old ones, meh, i do not know what is the point to even bother. square notch are the ones to have, really, but, where to get one is the question... people do price gouge them mercilessly...
 
paulatkin73 said:
those u notch old ones, meh, i do not know what is the point to even bother. square notch are the ones to have, really, but, where to get one is the question... people do price gouge them mercilessly...
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The U notches are indeed kind of junk, but that's why you can find them for like $60-80 as opposed to the ridiculous $250-300 for a square people have been asking recently. Question is: Is it worth running a subpar mag to get those 5-7 extra rounds in the "affordable" preban mag? I'm starting to think "no" on that one myself.

I find that they are often too short for some guns and don't allow them to seat properly. And any of those mags that saw any real use are pretty much at their failure point now, so cracking doesn't surprise me. One of mine burst in my safe a couple months ago, so I wouldn't trust carrying the other (came in a set from the same prior owner). Just a range mag now.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
The U notches are indeed kind of junk, but that's why you can find them for like $60-80 as opposed to the ridiculous $250-300 for a square people have been asking recently. Question is: Is it worth running a subpar mag to get those 5-7 extra rounds in the "affordable" preban mag? I'm starting to think "no" on that one myself.

I find that they are often too short for some guns and don't allow them to seat properly. And any of those mags that saw any real use are pretty much at their failure point now, so cracking doesn't surprise me. One of mine burst in my safe a couple months ago, so I wouldn't trust carrying the other (came in a set from the same prior owner). Just a range mag now.
Click to expand...

Just like you said. have a few older G33 U notch mags that are too short to sit in my gen4. Also they don’t drop free. Since they do cycle reliably what I use them for is a backup mag in my G23/G33.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
The U notches are indeed kind of junk, but that's why you can find them for like $60-80 as opposed to the ridiculous $250-300 for a square people have been asking recently. Question is: Is it worth running a subpar mag to get those 5-7 extra rounds in the "affordable" preban mag? I'm starting to think "no" on that one myself.

I find that they are often too short for some guns and don't allow them to seat properly. And any of those mags that saw any real use are pretty much at their failure point now, so cracking doesn't surprise me. One of mine burst in my safe a couple months ago, so I wouldn't trust carrying the other (came in a set from the same prior owner). Just a range mag now.
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my answer would be NO. the oldest ones with no metal sleeve inside tend to do what they do so well - crack along the holes and then it is stuck in the gun and does not feed neither.
i was able to get a last square notch for $175, have 2 of them now, would love to get more, but, it is a question of pure luck. for $250 they can shove it up their arses, of course.
but, sometimes gunbroker shows up with multiple concurrent auctions, it depends. right now there is an auction there for 2 mags at $399 starting - no takers yet.

and, of repairing - unless you`ll manage to put a sleeve in, somehow, i would toss that cracked plastic. it will crack again, worst case - while in the gun.
 
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paulatkin73 said:
my answer would be NO. the oldest ones with no metal sleeve inside tend to do what they do so well - crack along the holes and then it is stuck in the gun and does not feed neither.
i was able to get a last square notch for $175, have 2 of them now, would love to get more, but, it is a question of pure luck. for $250 they can shove it up their arses, of course.
but, sometimes gunbroker shows up with multiple concurrent auctions, it depends. right now there is an auction there for 2 mags at $399 starting - no takers yet.

and, of repairing - unless you`ll manage to put a sleeve in, somehow, i would toss that cracked plastic. it will crack again, worst case - while in the gun.
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The two and only squares I have were bought back when you could find them for $150, and even then I thought I was getting ripped off. But I'm a fool with my money and paid up. I guess I'm glad in retrospect, but man, the MA tax we all have to pay for this nonsense of the age of a mag making is magically OK is just flat out dumb.

If someone where to chemically bond the crack perfectly (which would be very tricky), the crack would be repaired like new, but as you mentioned, the rest of the mag is just as brittle as before. So while you might repair one crack, who's to say another random one won't appear? You could try an acetone vapor bath to re-cure the entire mag tube, but you might end up with an out of spec mag after if you don't do that right.
 
realistically one does not need more than 2 pre-bans - as you would need them to carry, where you actually need that capacity. at the range i am more than OK to use 10rd ones.
 
People need to stop paying these insane prices for mags and just be more patient and look longer. Maybe it's different under COVID and Biden but in the last few years I've bought a bunch of different pre-bans and the most I've paid was $55 (yes, even for FML square notch ones). Screw anyone who charges $100+, that's kind of scummy imho.
 
kalash said:
People need to stop paying these insane prices for mags and just be more patient and look longer. Maybe it's different under COVID and Biden but in the last few years I've bought a bunch of different pre-bans and the most I've paid was $55 (yes, even for FML square notch ones). Screw anyone who charges $100+, that's kind of scummy imho.
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wanna sell me one for a whole $99? :)

there is nowhere to look, prices are where they are, really.
 
ipscdrl said:
Funny you should mention this. I epoxied an old G-21 mag that had developed a crack just last week. It is a FML mag but the polymer had split down the rear, from the top about 3/4 of an inch. I used a 2-part epoxy and then wrapped it with friction tape until cured. It seems to be holding pretty well so far. Only range time will tell.

Good luck.

Michael.
Click to expand...

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

FWIW, I'm still using the magazine I spoke of above. Holding strong ten years on.
 


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