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October 12, 2001
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First time posting, will do my best but ask you indulgence.
I purchased a lower end 1873 .22 specifically to tinker with and convert to .22 Long Rifle. Conversion was a success and everything is working fine with one exception. It came to me with an aftermarket internal magazine tube that looks close to original and works fine except the internal compression spring is far too strong. It crushes the soft lead noses of the rounds. This makes them slightly short for the action to be smooth, and those crushed noses do nothing for accuracy. I purchased a new Wolff spring, their “Tubular XP mag spring .22/.32 Rimfire” and it is exactly the same spring. I contacted Wolff and that is all they have in that diameter.
Spring outside diameter is 0.285″. To work inside the tube the max OD has to be 0.295″ or less, and for the pin to move up through the inside of the spring requires and inside diameter of at least 0.215″. This required ID nixes any 0.250″ OD springs I found on the internet and something with that small of an OD would probably bind up anyway in this large of a tube.
Based on my internet research (for what it is worth!) I need about a 0.285 OD spring at least 30″ long that has more coils per inch and wire with a smaller diameter than what I have. Can anyone suggest a source for such springs? I’d probably buy a few so I could experiment with cutting to length but I don’t need a minimum quantity of 100, or more, custom springs.
All thoughts and advice appreciated.
John
September 28, 2016
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If the spring is too strong simply shorten it…. All it is required to do is push the last cartridge out of the magazine onto the lifter. You have two, experiment with the first one and if pooch it you still have a back up. If you think it is a must to get a different coil diameter or wire thickness contact Brownells tech support and I would be willing to bet they can hook you up with what you need. Hope you get it sorted out.
Erin
October 12, 2001
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Thanks, Erin. Once I had two springs to play with I tried shortening one of them but when the tube is anywhere close to full, it’s still too strong.
I’ve looked at Brownells website at length with no luck. This spring is larger than the standard .22 cal mag tube spring, but so much smaller than anything else I saw. I’ll try calling Brownells Monday.
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