mag followers

ARlife4me

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Joined
Apr 18, 2018
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Location
Texas
anyone know who can make a follower that's best suited for the cartridge? with ar10 mags mostly using the 308win as a base for all other cartridges to hopefully feed reliably they don't work to well when using short mag cartridges. getting past the mag swelling is 1 thing and lets say a 20 round mag that can only hold 14-16 short mag rounds capacity wise the problem is after 5 or 6 the cartridges don't sit correctly after 4 or 5. i've tried 10 round mags and it's the same issue. could 1 file the follower flat then somehow attach an insert/dummy round to the follower to get rid of the 308win cant? or is the mag shape the issue? some members on here do have short mag ar's i guess that have successful feeding from standard 308win mags?
 
Take an existing follower and grind the raised part to match the fatter cartridges dimensions. I do this on 375 followers from CZ 550 Safari Magnums to suit 416, 404,450 Rigby and 470 cal. The 505 Gibbs and 500 Jeffrey will suit most Nitro cases too.
I have also found that Ruger followers from the M77 MK II/Hawkeye fit several other rifles like a universal part with only minor fitting.

Cheers.
 
Take an existing follower and grind the raised part to match the fatter cartridges dimensions. I do this on 375 followers from CZ 550 Safari Magnums to suit 416, 404,450 Rigby and 470 cal. The 505 Gibbs and 500 Jeffrey will suit most Nitro cases too.
I have also found that Ruger followers from the M77 MK II/Hawkeye fit several other rifles like a universal part with only minor fitting.

Cheers.
Could you post pics with cartridges you've done?
 
@ARlife4me
Here are the followers I ground to suit 450 Rigby, starting with the standard magnum size (300 thru 458) and the one I ground from it, this was a spare. One on the left with faded permanent marker is the Rigby size and magnum size on the right.

Cheers.
 

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do you grind/reshape the follower to fit the case like it would be making contact (flat against) with the feedlips? this way the body to shoulder stays flat unlike when adding more keeping it from losing contact with the forward section?
 
btw, my town has had 2 Australians live here in the past 10 years. the 1st was a foreign exchange student that got to take home a football state championship ring (he actually played in the championship game (at&t stadium in '14) and the current 1 is out cross-country coach (he's married to a girl who graduated from here) and his FIL has been a coach locally for12 years or so. not sure where/which part of the country they were from? the current Aussie is easy to understand than the student was. both are good people ad this coach has 2 of my kids for cross-country. it's his 1st year being a coach. i'll find out where he's from?
 
do you grind/reshape the follower to fit the case like it would be making contact (flat against) with the feedlips? this way the body to shoulder stays flat unlike when adding more keeping it from losing contact with the forward section?
I know it's hard to tell from the photo, but the Rigby is tapered more from the rear to accommodate the case shape. I trace the cartridge onto the top of the follower, then make a cardboard template that matches the follower allowing me to mark how much to grind.
These followers are ground flat, but the spring tips the follower nose up, the rear is weighted to do so.
These are tricky to get correct with the weight, but CZ offered 3 springs with different tension, the Rigby uses the lightest tension of all 3 and a different mag box with ridges to stop the rounds moving forward during recoil. They hold 4 down.

Cheers.

Here's a photo.
 

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