Replacement Magazine Spring

[Kingfish Dave, SASS # 53158]

Howdy all,

 

If I'm going to shoot tomorrow, I need to put a new magazine spring in my 20" 1866. I have a replacement spring from Pioneer Gun Works that measures 26 inches. Do I cut the new spring to match the length of the old factory spring or does the new spring need to be a different length?

 

Thanks, Kingfish Dave

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

I assume you are replacing your old spring because it's not working real well. So, using the old one for a trimming guide is not the wisest thing to do.

 

But, here's a rule-of-thumb guide that usually works well. Cut your new spring so that the end of the spring hangs out of the mag tube by about 4-5 inches when it is uncompressed. That should give you enough compression to feed all the rounds even uphill and with a somewhat dirty mag tube. Practically speaking, you can probably use the spring that Pioneer sent you just about as it is. If you find that you can't get, say, 12 rounds into the tube where you used to be able to, then you can think about lopping off a little of the length of the new spring.

 

But it sounds like the Pioneer replacement is just about right length as it is now.

 

Good luck, GJ

 

PS - oh, clean and lube your mag tube, too, while you have it open. A 20 gauge shotgun brush / cleaning rod followed by a patch with light amount of oil would be good for your tube.. EEZOX or Boeshield T-9 if you have one of those, because they dry to a film rather than staying oily and catching dust and dirt. And some never-seize lube on your mag tube cap would be good too.

[Kingfish Dave, SASS # 53158]

Thanks for the reply Joe. I have had the '66 for 13 years and haven't been paying enough attention. I don't think that switching to APP has helped. I have some Boeshield T-9 and I think I have the magazine cleaned out.

 

Kingfish Dave