M1 / M14 mags.

[poulsen]

Well Hello everyone.
I am very new to WW2 airsoft, however here's the deal:

I'm going to buy a M14, for converting it into a M1.
And already here comes the first questions: which M14, is best for the convertion?

And since i don't want those ugly M14 mags sticking out, when i've done the convertion, where do i get / How do i make, the M1 Magazines?

Now - Start giving me some answers . UPDATE:

This thread started in 2008 and as you shall see if you follow it through the several pages that follow lots and lots of very effective a creative solutions are provided. This in my opinion is what this WW2 Airsoft Forum is all about. Cudos to all the contributors.

[2nd Bat]

In my opinion (having done far more of these conversions then anyone) I feel from a functionality and value perspective the best base guns are as follows (in order) The Cyma 032, the AGM model MP008 and finally the Marui. The Marui is the most precise and probably least problematic although it is $200 or more in base trim and would require at least an additional $100.00 to match the FPS of the CYMA.

Hopefully someone will come up with an affordable and effective shortened mag that fits flush, holds a reasonable number of rounds and is reliable. If so, there is a great market for such a thing. Mine still stick out a bit and are too labor intense to be sold affordably. I've seen several efforts that looked real promising only to hear nothing further about them.

[burke]

Can someone post a pic of a short mag? I have an idea that may work but im not even sure how the current ones look. It would be nice to see the mag by its self, and in the gun.

[biged]

2nd Bat is the Father of the M1 Garand AEG conversion.

I continue to use regular M14 mags... I was working on two magazine "cages" that will hold a marui 30 rd shotgun shell. The cage would be inserted into the gun. Then marui shotgun shells would be inserted into the cage. The shotgun shell would be able to feed about 20 rounds before pulling the shell and inserting another one.
One design was a blend of a parts from a marui shotgun, M14 mag, and a piece of maple. The other was a cut from a piece of lexan cut on a table saw and a router. I have not tested either one because both still need finishing.
If I come up with something I would post it so anyone could build or copy it.

Lately I have been too busy building a M1a1 bazooka, Panzershrek, another mortar and a Howitzer.

///ed///

[YankeeDiv26]

biged said:

If I come up with something I would post it so anyone could build or copy it.

Lately I have been too busy building a M1a1 bazooka, Panzershrek, another mortar and a Howitzer.

///ed///

There is a god. Thanks for the update on the shotgun shell magazine idea.

bazooka, shrek, another mortar, a howitzer. THATS ALL? ;D

The real question is...how many "karts of destruction" is it gonna take to carry all of that. want to adopt me? ;D

[burke]

so nobody has a picture of a shortened mag?

[CharleyNovember]

This is from a PM I got from John awhile back. I hope it is ok to repost this info here. I am pretty sure John will not mind.

It's my least favorite part of the conversion.


You can use virtually any low or mid cap magazine. I have had good luck with the Deepfire and King Arms magazines which can be bought for under $8.00 a piece! I use an enblock clip with each clip to provide additional strength, weight and to enhance the look of each clip. They fit nicely in the Garand pouches. The low caps hold 12-14 rounds and consistently shoot around 9 or 10 rounds. The midcaps are a little trickier to get fully functioning (double stacker channels) but they hold 24 to 26 rounds wich is nice.



John R

[2nd Bat]

These are not ideal by any stretch they protrude somewhat below the gun (Obviously not as bad as the M-14 mags they are based on) and they are labor intense to build. I generally make 10 at a time and they take the better part of 2 days to complete (3 by the time you let things dry and do a final assembly)

The shotgun shell idea is absolutely worth pursuing. One of my cutsomers in the UK sent great pictures of a modified shell that worked beautifully It was assembled from two halves and was molded to turn the corner and load up into the mag well. It sat flush and held 24 rounds. (probably fed 18 or so) He had discussed professionally having them mold set and produced I assured him that I would start off by buying 100 as a minimum and never heard from him again.

My shortened mags look decent and function well. (I've had a few rejects) I like the weight of them and the way they snugly fit in the pouches. The Garand enblock clip is strictly for looks and weight althgough they also protect them quite well.

[2nd Bat]

Shelshoct came up with the idea of using the mags normally used in the cheap 870 springer shotgun which mount flush and work well with fairly minor tweaks. That's ideal as my new stock is fuller and extend forward of the current upward sloped angle before tapering up to the ferrule. The clip is completely hidden.

Figure out how to make a couple hundred fairly inexpensively and you're in business! Great job.

[biged]

That is really nice. Great work!
(Go figure I have 4 of those UTG mags sitting in box in a closet.)

///ed///

[shellshokt]

Don't know if it's of any interest but I recently got tipped off about chinese shotgun mags by Warren over at Shoot & Scoot. Very simple, buy chineses shotgun mag. Remove feed 'lips' so that upper part of mag is completely flat. Dremel a recess at the back to accomodate the M14 mag release. Took about ten minutes to do all 6 that I recently ordered, all worked perfectly at todays skirmish.
The modified mag, the little 'knob' you can see sticking out the top is the mag tube follower.

How it looks in my 'M1'




Protudes only very slightly and does not ruin the classic M1 silhouette. Two of them fit in the standard M1 garand ammo belt.

'shokt

[click]

Shokt, I like! Have a cookie!

Click

[shellshokt]

Thanks Click.
You can also sand off the lip at the bottom of the mag which will further enhance the looks. That'll be my next job

'shokt

[YankeeDiv26]

click said:

Shokt, I like! Have a cookie!

Click

Two cookies AND a slice of cake. What magazine is it speficically or what gun is it for? How many BB's does it hold and how many does it feed into the gun? I wanna buy a few.

[ukkolziasd]

God Damn! Aaargh! Well OK, this certainly is excellent news, but we have made a total of ~40 converted M14 mags with our asses on fire in a relatively short time and now you present THIS! What about you, 2ndbat? :D

OK, enough ranting. That obviously looks way better than the converted M14 mags, but how many BB's it holds? Now don't tell me that they also drop out of the gun easily when changing mags.

I think these are the mags in question:
www.rsov.com/product_info.php?currency=EUR&manufacturers_id=106&products_id=957

Oaaah, I'm going to cry myself to sleep now.

[shellshokt]

Sorry, didn't mean to upset anybody...

Yes, they are the acm mags from rsov.
Mine hold 15 bb's, there is usually a couple of bb's that drop out of the rifle when you remove the mag so say 13 usable shots.
They come out quite easily when you need to change mags, there is just enough sticking out the magwell to get hold of.

I am playing around with fitting a cut down en bloc to them as well, just for fun. At the mo it makes them just a little too big for the M14 magwell. Dremel time.

'shokt

[mischief]

Could you show a pic of the top of that mag please?

[2nd Bat]

Wow! That's awesome! Guess what I'm buying a bunch of!!!!!! Affordable and functional. The added weight of the enblock clips would be great but certainly not a big deal. Do they hold the BBs in okay? Some of the inexpensive mags unfortunately pop out their BBs with even the slightest nudge and of course that makes them less functional.

[2nd Bat]

I just ordered 80 of them which is probably more then they have in stock but at roughly $5.00 a piece it's just too good of a deal to pass up. I've been spending two to three full days to crank out 10 of my old style and these look like they will work and fit way better. If the get 10 to 12 viable shots per mag it'll be perfect for my purposes. It really answers a crying need I've had for several years now. Thanks for the tip and hopefully they'll work as well as you suggest. I can't thank you enough. I hope to hell I ordered the right ones. Now that I look they have several similarly shaped mags labelled as ACM mags. Isn't one of the ACM shotguns 8mm? I hope that's not the one I ordered?

[ukkolzi]

shellshokt:
Naah, I'm not upset, this just came in a very...appropriate time. Too bad we just bought a pile of M14 mags and converted them, just before you showed this. ;D

Well, it seems that one store in Finland has the shotgun mags in stock, so I'll order as many as possible. Hopefully they are 6mm and make it here before weekend's WW2 event.

This will make many Garand owners' life much easier, thanks!

[2nd Bat]

I believe the ones you want are the ACM Model 003 or 003A which are 6mm. I'm trying to track down as many sources as possible since RSOV is now sold out.

[shellshokt]

Picture of the top of the mag:


With the lip on the bottom of the mag removed:


With a cut down (crudely I know ) en bloc:

How it looks in the rifle:


I may play around a bit more with the en bloc but I find it makes removing the mag from the rifle a bit fidly due to the 'snug' fit.

'shokt

[ukkolziasd]

2ndbat,
They confirmed the mags are 6mm, so alles klar.

shellshokt,
Looks awesome with the lip removed. Could you get a close-up picture of the notch cut in the back of the mag?

[YankeeDiv26]

If anyone finds a source for these other than those mentioned previously, I'd appreciate if you could post it for me (and others).

[burke]

what shotgun are these for? I dont want to get the wrong mags....

[toboggan]

I was think ing of getting a couple m14 mags, cutting them down, and welding, or somthing else, the bottom medal part that covers the internals, to the bottom of the mag, and then having that be the mag place holder thinggy

[shellshokt]

ukkolziasd,


Before you all go crazy on these remember I think they are great, you may not. Previously I had followed 2nd Bats instructions and manufactured his style of cut down mags for my 'M1'with an en bloc for show. They worked fine, aroused a lot of interest but I found them really fiddly to make and quite labour intensive. These acm mags are dirt cheap, and they are quick & easy to adapt to the M14 magwell. They do not fit as exactly as the proper M14 mags nor do they release as cleanly. That said, they worked flawlessly for me at the open day I attended on Sunday. The only downside I can think off is that due to the lightweight of the acm mags they do not 'drop out' when the mag release is operated they have to be pulled out. But after a few mag changes 'in the field' it became 2nd nature to hold the release and pull the mag out.

Oh, and the real biggy for me is that the rifle looks more like an M1 with the almost 'invisible' acm mags ;D
'shokt

[2nd Bat]

This is a huge improvement from my alterred mags and I can't wait to get them in so I can start into converting them. I'm going to experiment with attaching a small spring above the magazine so when you hit the mag release they will hopefully pop out. I like what you did with the cut down enblock clip as I like having a little weight and strength for the clips and that seems like a cool touch. Besides I have a ton of enblock clips in stock! Hopefully they can be attached in a way that doesn't cause the magazines to snag in the mag well. Shokt you have absolutely made my week. This is a truly great discovery. Pass on my sincere thanks to Shoot n scoot!

[ukkolzi]

Thanks for the picture.

You could always experiment a bit, try to make them "loose" enough to drop out when the release lever is operated. The spring release system also sounds pretty cool. The spring should be securely attached and made in a way it won't interfere when trying to put the mags to Garand belt's pouches. By Thursday, me and Valtteri should have a bunch of them, I'll start to work on them immediately. Hopefully a crazy and innovative friend will be there too. We'll see how this comes along.

Hm, Logging on from an another computer seems to work fine. Just don't tell Valtteri I'm writing from work and there's still a while to go until next break.

[2nd Bat]

I wasn't planning on attaching the spring to each magazine but rather at the top of the mag well. This by the way may not be feasible but it's something I'll dink around with.