Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Portuguese Model 70 Magazine Spring

Okay, returning to this while waiting for a new spring (which I now believe I don't need).

I can get the cartridges to go in just fine with the rifle held in a horizontal position as long as I don't push them all the way to the rear while seating. If I let them drop in normally they don't go all the way back by themselves; that is something I came up with while trying to get the cartridges to load smoothly and consistently, but it is wrong I guess.

If I push them all the way back, then the rear of the cartridges are catching on the lower rail where it turns back in toward the center line of the rifle. This catching causes the front of the cartridge to nosedive. I think they also must move slightly forward when that happens. Then, when I am trying to recover from the forward nose dive, I overcompensate and the cartridge dives down at the back and THAT will usually catch the follower against the side of the magazine box and I have a situation which requires me to open the floor-plate, dump the cartridges and start over.

If the cartridges *are* supposed to be pushed all the way back when loading then I have some sort of a mismatch between the curving inward of the lower rail and the face of the lower bolt rest.