Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing A Howa Mini .223 flush magazine, success

So yeah, every body seems to want a shorter magazine and there seems to be a few who have tried to make flush bottom metal but I've only found one reference to cutting a magazine down and that was on the 6.5Grendal forum, which I seem to no longer be a member of or able to join again.

So I decided to make a go of it and started with one of the factory 10 round .223 magazines:


First I disassembled the magazine which is particularly easy on these magazines:

Right I'm committed now!
I needed something for the floor plate to slot over and it just so happens there's this handy ridge right where it's needed, I measured down 3mm and made a cut all around it with a coping saw:


I then used a file with a smooth side to remove the remnants of the vertical ridges and also a small portion of the front of the magazine locking ridge:

This allowed me to slide on the floor plate, so then I tried it in the rifle and found I couldn't quite lock it into the rifle as the floor plate was a fraction too thick.
By sanding down the face and trying it a few times, I found that by taking off about 1mm it allowed the magazine to lock in easily:


I assembled it as it was and found that it would hold 4 rounds and feed perfectly but of course I wanted more (for less).
The follower proved to be the culprit, it was too long at the front to allow the 5th round to fit in and the back was again about 2mm too long:

More cutting and sanding:


And that's it, as you can see it fit's much better and with a trimmed down magazine release lever as well, the rifle is actually comfortable to carry in the hands or slung over the shoulder.
And if I'm parked up well I have two spare 10 round magazines I can always use

Finally, how does it function?

That is a good job well done! Those Howa minis would be a fun rifle to have. Is that a stainless steel version? What is the max overall cartridge length you can use in the magazine?

Good job.

Yeah here in New Zealand we get a stainless version with a factory threaded barrel.
The internal length of the magazine is 59mm or 2.32 inches at the maximum.

I hope LSI imports that model to the US someday. That magazine length gives some latitude to play with seating depth if you are handloading.Great country NZ. I got to visit once, mostly work with a little fishing time.