| If you take a magazine* apart you will see that it is a | | | | spring and follower. Now clean the parts and the inside |
| real simple item. You can see the parts are few. Inside | | | | of the magazine with a brush and gun solvent to |
| the tube of either metal or plastic, you have a follower | | | | remove dirt, dust and fouling from magazine. |
| at the top resting on a spring. The job of the follower | | | | Reassemble the magazine by reversing the procedure |
| is to follow the ammunition up the tube to ensure that it | | | | used to take it apart. If you feel you must use lube, use |
| lies at the proper angle to feed into the firearm when | | | | a dry lube. |
| its turn comes. Below the spring you have a floor plate | | | | I try to rotate my magazines after cleaning to let the |
| and a keeper that closes the magazine at the bottom. | | | | springs rest. Metal springs take a set over time if they |
| The floor plate gives the spring a flat, secure footing | | | | are exposed to load stress. I rotate the magazines on |
| so that it does not wallow in the magazine tube. The | | | | a specific schedule to relieve this stress. |
| keeper keeps all the parts of the magazine in the tube. | | | | I keep three magazines for range use. These |
| If you live and practice in a dusty or high humidity area, | | | | magazines are dropped, reloaded, slammed into the |
| you should disassemble the magazines periodically to | | | | gun and changed often during drills. I load these prior to |
| get the gunk out. Remember the dirt at the range you | | | | the range with ammunition for the range. |
| wiped off the outside of the magazine when you | | | | I usually carry two spare magazines and I have one in |
| dropped it while practicing a tactical reload? How much | | | | my firearm. These are the cleanest, freshest |
| of it got inside? | | | | magazines that I own. I load them with specific |
| How do you disassemble and clean the magazine? | | | | ammunition suited to the hunt or for personal |
| This is usually accomplished by slowly removing the | | | | protection. |
| floor plate from the bottom. Be careful because the | | | | My rotation is not my invention. I got it from a friend |
| spring is under a little tension. Remove the floor plate, | | | | and from books on tactics. |