54.18 tight magazine well. Normal?

[MOAhunter]

Greetings,
I've been learning and lurking for some time now. Thanks to the information I've gathered from the very knowledgeable forum members I've settled on a 54.18 MSR with a Leupold EFR for informal silhouette.

About the rifle, it ejects OK but a touch weak, I know this can be fixed. What I do find a little odd is how much effort is required to pull out a standard 5 shot mag. I usually end up having to push it out from the top through open bolt. Is this normal? The magazines on any of my other rifles fall out due gravity once the release is pressed. If anyone has seen this before or knows the fix please chime in.

Thanks

[Trent]

It's definitely not normal. Most Anschutz rifles (all models) will drop the magazines freely. There isn't much in the magwell that can hang up a magazine. I have had one that when screwed into the stock the action rotated slightly and the magazine would drag against the stock and I'd have to do exactly what you are talking about. Try removing the action from the stock and see if the magazines drop free. If they do then you know that the stock is interfering with the magazine. If they don't drop free then look closer at the mechanics and see if you can find where the magazine is getting pinched.

[Jason]

If it's not what Trent mentions, it can also be the magazine well being installed just slightly off center onto the action. If you remove the action from the stock and the magazine still doesn't drop free easily, loosen the screws holding the magazine well to the action just enough to let it wiggle and try inserting and releasing a magazine. Sometimes the inletting/bedding of stock is slightly crooked and will cause the magazine well to be pushed slightly off center when the action screws are tightened. Either of these two methods will usually fix the problem. If not, it's possible that a well-used magazine can develop a little burr of metal where it gets pushed up against the magazine well, and that burr can stick out just enough to drag during magazine release. This is much more common in the Savage replacement magazines than in factory Anschutz magazines, but can occasionally happen even with the factory magazines.

[High Speed]

If none of the above work. Try a bigger hammer. That will generally take of most issues, one way or another.

[MOAhunter]

I should have mentioned that I removed the stock, inserting the magazine and got the same result- still tight. This would confirm it's not a binding or alignment issue with the stock. I like the idea of removing the stock and loosening magazine well mounting screws to see if there's a better position for the magazine well. I'll try that later today.
Thanks for the ideas,

[Jerry G]

I had the same problem with the last 1712 I aquired. The fix was simple. I took a very wide screwdriver and made the well just a little wider. Worked like a charm. Somehow the well got pinched shut just a little and made the magazine very hard to pull out.

[MOAhunter]

Some good ideas all around, here's what I learned: the flap or guide to the rear of magazine is not fixed to the magazine well. This piece is intentionally overbored to be adjustable, so when the magazine well is unscrewed this piece is no longer attached. I should have known something wasn't quite right when I saw the marred screw heads - some idiot (previous owner) took it apart and reassembled not realizing the fore or aft position of the guide determines tension/friction on magazine removal and insertion.


When I removed the guide I also gave it a little bend (tweak) to ensure a generous clearance, after reassembly the magazine drops out flawlessly under it's own weight!
Thanks for the help.

[Trent]

Nice! It's funny how the simplest things can ruin our shooting experience. Glad you tracked down a source of irritation! Cheers