AMP magazine disassembly

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   Thank for help in my previous post.  I did get my 357 back together.  Turns out a Wolff extra power Ruger base pin latch spring makes a perfect replacement for a trigger bar spring. has worked without fail over a few dozen rounds anyway.  Actually more than that because I also shot it with a 44 barrel.  
new question - how do i disassemble the magazine?  the follower button is all chewed up and overrides (well, under-rides) the hold open assembly resulting in a) bolt doesn't hold open and b) magazine gets stuck in the gun.  I can't get the pin out.   

Thanks,
Roger

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willmckee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List 180 Auto Mag Joined: 21 Jan 2024 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 26	Post Options Post Reply Quote willmckee Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: AMP magazine disassembly Posted: 24 Mar 2025 at 2:58am
	Thank for help in my previous post. I did get my 357 back together. Turns out a Wolff extra power Ruger base pin latch spring makes a perfect replacement for a trigger bar spring. has worked without fail over a few dozen rounds anyway. Actually more than that because I also shot it with a 44 barrel. new question - how do i disassemble the magazine? the follower button is all chewed up and overrides (well, under-rides) the hold open assembly resulting in a) bolt doesn't hold open and b) magazine gets stuck in the gun. I can't get the pin out. Thanks, Roger

Dances with AutoMags Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Callahan's Auto Mag Joined: 13 Oct 2011 Location: Valley Glen Status: Offline Points: 613	Post Options Post Reply Quote Dances with AutoMags Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 24 Mar 2025 at 3:47am
	Magazine Disassembly This writing is more about how to avoid breaking the seam weld down the back of the magazine. Anyone can take a punch and hammer out the hold open pin, or follower pin out of the follower. I have seen this method used with catastrophic results. If the magazine shell is stressed just right, the seam weld will break. A simple tool can be made to safely remove the follower pin. A .25 inch (or thicker) piece of aluminum, slightly larger than the magazine will be needed. With the magazine laying on its left side, trace the profile of the magazine on the aluminum and drill out a hole to receive the follower pin. Lay the magazine on its left side flat on the tool within the profile lines traced on the tool. The magazine follower pin should be in the relief hole. Locate a .5 inch long steel pin just smaller than the follower pin to be used to press the follower pin out of the follower. Maybe a piece of drill-rod. Place the tool, magazine and the steel pin in a vice. Press the follower pin out of the follower and into the relief hole in the tool. This eliminates most of the stress on the magazine seam weld on the magazine shell. Some people use a rat-tail file to put a slight radius on the top of the weld as a stress relief. The resulting half-moon notch should be de-burred and sanded smooth. Be sure to heat treat the magazine shell if you decide to weld up a damaged magazine. The repair welding will ruin the factory heat treating Cheers.......Bruce Stark
	An armed society is a polite society.

willmckee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List 180 Auto Mag Joined: 21 Jan 2024 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 26	Post Options Post Reply Quote willmckee Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 24 Mar 2025 at 11:50pm
	thanks. simply tapping seemed to accomplish nothing and i don't subscribe to the method my dad used, i.e. "...get a bigger hammer...". so no collar, no locking mechanism, etc. It's just tight. actually, if it were just displaced to the left .02" or so, it'd work and there's plenty of room in the mag well for several times that. Roger

Luvz2Shoot Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Callahan's Auto Mag Joined: 16 Apr 2011 Location: Washington Status: Offline Points: 660	Post Options Post Reply Quote Luvz2Shoot Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 12:43am
	This may be a silly question, but can you post a picture of your magazine? Both sides. Unless it's glued or welded, the pin should tap out easily, or come out easy as Bruce described (above). The only thing that I can think of, why it's not coming out easily, is that is it a Triple-k magazine? Those "pins" are actually a hex screw that is screwed into the follower. If the head is tore up, it may be a screw and not a pin. Just a thought.
	If you were happy and you knew it, would you clap your hands?

Dances with AutoMags Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Callahan's Auto Mag Joined: 13 Oct 2011 Location: Valley Glen Status: Offline Points: 613	Post Options Post Reply Quote Dances with AutoMags Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 2:13am
	You may want to remove the left grip while troubleshooting. Especially if you are using after-market or wooden grips. The follower pin may be dragging on the inside of the grips. Also, the lip on the bottom of the hold-open must clear the grips to allow the hold-open to rise up far enough to engage the bolt-face. I fixed this problem for a guy at the gun-show once. Someone had added two .5" pieces of recoil-rod spring to each recoil-rod tube. This prevented the bolt from coming back far enough to allow the hold-open to engage the bolt-face. Bruce With an empty magazine installed, the hold-open should engage, holding the bolt back. This scenario must be successfully addressed before, the hold-open not working under fire, can be resolved. If pulling the bolt back with an empty magazine installed doesn't activate the hold-open, it is probably the case that the hold-open doesn't work while firing the last round either. I have a Jurras Backpacker that didn't have a working hold-open. Lee had the hold-open gold plated. The minimum wage worker on the polishing wheel, polished off the 90-degree angle of the hold-open where it engages the bolt-face. The bolt-face just funnels the hold-open down out of its way as it slams into battery. Too much metal was removed to be able to file the hold-open back into compliance. I have seen dozens of Auto Mags with a troubled hold-open due to bad grips. The hold-open, or follower-pin rubs on the bad grips. Sometimes the pin moves out too far and rubs on good grips or catches on the frame. The pin can also move too far into the follower and not reliably engage the hold-open. It is best, while trouble-shooting a hold-open problem, to have the left grip off of the gun. The factory hold-open pin has a serrated shaft and a mushroom shaped head. Here is the balancing-act part of curing a hold-open problem. The follower pin has the magazine spring pressing it upward. The hold-open assembly #34 is pushed downward by hold-open-spring #35. When the follower pin of an empty magazine engages with the hold-open, the follower pin pressure must over-ride the hold-open springs pressure. The magazine spring should easily over-come the hold-open spring. If the hold-open-spring is too long, it fully compresses and won't allow the hold-open to rise enough to hold the bolt back. Even if it is possible to manipulate the hold-open to rise to its fully up position, it may be the case that in this position the spring is fully compressed. This may look ok to you but the last bit of compression of the hold-open-spring may be enough pressure for the hold-open spring to win the pressure battle with the magazine spring, thus preventing the hold-open from rising enough to engage the bolt. In this scenario the magazine spring is at its weakest pressure and the hold-open-spring is at its highest pressure.
	An armed society is a polite society.

willmckee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List 180 Auto Mag Joined: 21 Jan 2024 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 26	Post Options Post Reply Quote willmckee Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 3:10am
	I've had the gun completely apart to replace the trigger bar spring. there's nothing in it that isn't supposed to be. and the follower pin can't drag on the grips. it rides in a channel in the grip frame and has about 1/16" of steel between it and the grip. and it's not a triple K mag. and i've seen what it's doing with the grips off which is how i know the pin is going past the hold-open assy and getting above it. i'm way, way past all of that. just wanted to know if there was some trick to getting the pin out.

willmckee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List 180 Auto Mag Joined: 21 Jan 2024 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 26	Post Options Post Reply Quote willmckee Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 3:11am
	And per the first response, the trick is support the magazine body to prevent damage and push the pin out.

willmckee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List 180 Auto Mag Joined: 21 Jan 2024 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 26	Post Options Post Reply Quote willmckee Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 3:13am
	It actually cycled fine with 357's. It short-stroked with 44's but i like to sneak up on a load that will cycle completely.

willmckee Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List 180 Auto Mag Joined: 21 Jan 2024 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 26	Post Options Post Reply Quote willmckee Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 Mar 2025 at 4:10am
	The problem is what I originally stated - the follower button gets past the hold open assembly because the button isn't tall enough. The first replier understood and answered the question. No triple-K, no extra parts, not even possible to drag on the grip panel.

jw4570 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Callahan's Auto Mag Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Location: FL Status: Offline Points: 1334	Post Options Post Reply Quote jw4570 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 26 Mar 2025 at 1:54am
	It is possible to tap the point in too far where it’s too short to engage the Hold open. Maybe drive it back out a little.