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S&W magazines falling out. Just got four mag used for my M41.
Three of them fall out when shooting. My older ones work good.
Think I need a new mag catch. Looked at the catch it is shiny
on the top. Like it's worn. Best place to buy a catch and how hard is it to replace? They are newer ones without the pin hole. I took one apart
and drilled a hole to let the pin show. Hard part is holding the spring
up. I used a stiff wire with a hook on it to hold the spring and pin
up then slid the base plate off. Base plate has a hole in the top of it.
Use the hole as a guide to drill the other hole. Thanks Bob

Bob,

Are you talking about the magazine catch, which is part of the pistol's frame? Or, are you taking about the magazine follower, which is part of the magazine?

If you mags are falling out this sounds like the magazine catch is not locking them in properly. The slot in the mag is where the catch holds the magazine in place.

R,
Bullseye

Bullseye.
I have four magazines that stay locked in the gun good. And three of the
newer ones that the magazine falls out after the first round is fired.
That's why I thought the Mag catch is bad. Looking at the Mag's that
fall out and can't tell any difference in them. If I hold the grip with
Upward pressure on the mag it works but no pressure the mag hits the floor.
Thanks Bob

Measure the distance from the bottom of the magazine to the mag body's latch slot. Do this on the good mags and the suspected bad ones. I'm betting the slots are a few thousandths off on the loose ones. You may have to take a needle file and open up the top edge of the slots a little one the loose mags.

R,
Bullseye

That didn't work. Looked at the magazine catch and it looks worn.
No screw on it to take it out. Mag clicks like it's locked but let
the slide go forward and the mag drops out. Think the new ones
are thinner than the older ones. Could be just a bad batch of Magazines.

Have you measured the two types of magazines to check the thickness of the mag bodies for comparison? Can you post a picture here, with the two styles side-by-side, show the magazine locking slot upward in the photo? Perhaps I can spot a difference in your new magazines.

I'm still not convinced that this is a magazine latch problem. If your pistol's mag latch was weak then you would be experiencing problems with the older mags too.

R,
Bullseye

Checked the thickness of the newer and old ones. Newer ones are 10ths
Smaller. I'll try them in another M41 when I go to the range. Took some pictures but They didn't turn out good enough to tell anything. I think the 10 ths is my problem. Newer ones has the slot cut longer around the front.
Think that that's so they will fit other S&W 22 pistols.

Maybe, let me know how they compare in another M-41.

R,
Bullseye

Checked the magazines in another S&W M41 today.Acted just like
mine they click liked they are locked but push up on the base
and they fall out. Sent S&W a e-mail. But don't expect much.

You might be surprised they have pretty good customer service.

R,
Bullseye

I bought a 1977ish 41 a few years back. The first shot I fired from it went bang-thunk. The mag fell out. I though I must not have clicked it all the way in. Push it back and fired again. Bang-thunk. ???????-@$#%^#$ I said to myself.

Later, on examination, I found I could increase/decrease the mag catch engagement with the screw in the mag catch. I set it for the one mag that allowed all others to work too. No problems since.