Hello Folks, Spent the night changing mag catch spring to a stiffer one in my 9c. Sorry if someone already addressed this, but I couldn't find anything similar in the forums.
I used .063 music wire from Ace hardware. It is WAY stiffer and should eliminate any kind of "accidental" mag release from bumping that cursed button.
1) Dissasemble pistol down to frame, remove slide, mag catch, tool and grip insert.
2) From top of frame, punch out mag catch wire spring. Do this by setting butt down on a old chunk of leather or old Guns & Ammo. I used an issue of Hog Tales.
3) The wire should protrude below butt now and you can yank it out with some pliers. Notice how there is a flat on old spring. I put new and old by each other for comparison. I also used the cutting portion of pliers to raise some material on butt end of spring. This will give a little bite to the new spring.
4) Cut a section of new wire to lenght of old spring and chamfer the top of new spring so it can slide into spring hole. Also put the bite marks in at this time.
5) Drill out spring hole with a 1/16 drill bit, ensuring it is dead straight in old hole. It should follow effortlessly, but don't rush it and don't dilly dally with the drill in the hole. Drill through and get out. You don't want to woller out the hole and make it oversized!
6) Put new spring in hole and taking your time, carefully seat spring in hole with punch, flush with butt end of gun.
7) Radius bottom edge of mag catch with stones, sandpaper whatever you have. I did this because new spring and mag catch stiffness is a hell of a lot more and it will bite into the magazine. This helps eliminate some of the scraping of the magazine when it is slid in.
8) Put a mag in frame and see if you need to smooth up the catch some more. When you get it where you like it, put pistol back together.
I included a couple pics of a chunk of steel on mag button with a mag in. The button did not pop unlike the stock set up.
I hope this helps out. I posted using RTV to stiffen spring if you don't feel comfy modifying this way, but this is way better.
I used .063 music wire from Ace hardware. It is WAY stiffer and should eliminate any kind of "accidental" mag release from bumping that cursed button.
1) Dissasemble pistol down to frame, remove slide, mag catch, tool and grip insert.
2) From top of frame, punch out mag catch wire spring. Do this by setting butt down on a old chunk of leather or old Guns & Ammo. I used an issue of Hog Tales.
3) The wire should protrude below butt now and you can yank it out with some pliers. Notice how there is a flat on old spring. I put new and old by each other for comparison. I also used the cutting portion of pliers to raise some material on butt end of spring. This will give a little bite to the new spring.
4) Cut a section of new wire to lenght of old spring and chamfer the top of new spring so it can slide into spring hole. Also put the bite marks in at this time.
5) Drill out spring hole with a 1/16 drill bit, ensuring it is dead straight in old hole. It should follow effortlessly, but don't rush it and don't dilly dally with the drill in the hole. Drill through and get out. You don't want to woller out the hole and make it oversized!
6) Put new spring in hole and taking your time, carefully seat spring in hole with punch, flush with butt end of gun.
7) Radius bottom edge of mag catch with stones, sandpaper whatever you have. I did this because new spring and mag catch stiffness is a hell of a lot more and it will bite into the magazine. This helps eliminate some of the scraping of the magazine when it is slid in.
8) Put a mag in frame and see if you need to smooth up the catch some more. When you get it where you like it, put pistol back together.
I included a couple pics of a chunk of steel on mag button with a mag in. The button did not pop unlike the stock set up.
I hope this helps out. I posted using RTV to stiffen spring if you don't feel comfy modifying this way, but this is way better.