Alpha mag help

[Flyingbullseye]

I recently bought 2 alpha mag type 1 for my 700 .308. The first time I took them to the range neither mag would feed more than the first round and the first round would feed only occasionally. Once the first round was fired and ejected the bolt would just ride over the next round and never feed. The magazine is inserted fully, the bolt was pulled back completely and the rounds are not too long and catching on the mag or action. A friend tried them in his rifle and the same thing happened to him. I emailed alpha industries about this and have yet to hear from them but in the meantime I figured I would ask here if anyone else has had a similar issue and how to resolve it. Any ideas or fixes?

Flyingbullseye

 

[LawnMM]

Re: Alpha mag help

You might need to tweak the feed lips open slightly, and I mean just a smidgen, to get them working right as not every rifle is the same.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Re: Alpha mag help

I've had the same issue with an Alpha Mag Type 1 that I received at Christmas time, I mean the exact same issues. The first 9 rounds would feed perfectly but on the 10th the bolt would just ride over it. I had two other Alphas that worked perfectly so I adjusted the feed lips so that the distance between the front and back matched the other mags. At the rear the distance was about .425" between the feed lips and about .405" at the front. This took care of the last round not feeding, however it created another issue where every couple of rounds the bullet would slip under the feed ramp. So I dabbled with the feed lips back and forth and figured that the issue must've been in the magazine spring. So I disassembled the magazine, took the spring out and stretched the shit out of it. I loaded 10 rounds and cycled it through the gun and it worked pretty good.

Now I did attempt to contact Alpha Industries first via email and phone calls however after two weeks of nothing I decided to try to fix the issue myself. I eventually did get ahold of Chris to discuss the issue and he relayed to me that it could be the magazine spring causing the issue. He took my info and shipping address and told me that he'd ship me out a new magazine as soon as the newest shipment came in. Granted that was a while ago and still no magazine has arrived so we'll see what comes up, I might trying calling him next week to check on the status.

Anyway, you can try to adjust the feed lips and magazine spring and see how that works.

 

[Hasgun Willtravel]

Re: Alpha mag help

I have one that doesn't feed out of my Gap or Pierce actions, though the AICS work perfect.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

Re: Alpha mag help

Thanks guys will give above advice a try.

Flyingbullseye

 

[vereceleritas]

Re: Alpha mag help

I've been having a similar issue with some Type 1 mags that I got a couple of weeks ago. One of them feeds 100% of the time, two of them only feed when there's more than 3 or 4 rounds loaded and one won't feed reliably at all. I've been experiencing two types of stoppages. One like you described where the bolt just rides right over the round and doesn't feed. Another where the bolt will catch the round but once the round passes the shoulder of the round underneath it in the magazine, the rear of the cartridge dips into the magazine causing the tip of the bullet to catch and jam at the top of the chamber. Pulling back on the bolt slightly will allow the rest of the round to pop out of the magazine and i can feed it from there but i still consider it a stoppage since the rifle isn't functioning like it should.
The fact that some of my Alpha mags only work when fully loaded leads me to believe its a spring tension issue. I was thinking about giving up and returning them but I think I'll try trigger monkey's advice about stretching out the springs first.

 

[beretta989]

Re: Alpha mag help

I Had problems with mine as well. Sometimes it ran fine then other days not so well. The AICS ran great every time.

 

[GrantB]

Re: Alpha mag help

Glad I read this because I am fixing to use mine for the first time.

 

[Katahdin]

Re: Alpha mag help

I own four Alpha Type 1 .308 magazines and mine all run fine in my Remington 700/Manners T5A mini chassis. I bought mine over a year ago at the same time. Hopefully there is a way to solve the problem as I love the size of my Alpha compared to a ten round AICS.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

Re: Alpha mag help

Trigger monkey any advice how you disassembled the mag?

I did open up the feed lips a little and it seemed to help at least fix the issued of the bolt running over the brass. Similar to Katahdin I like the size of the alpha mags over the AICS but if I can't get them fixed I may just go with the AICS.

One thing I did notice comparing the two types of mags is the AICS mag has a straight floorplate for the brass to sit on (I can't think of the actual term) while the alpha mags is angled down. Not sure if that could also be part of the problem.

Flyingbullseye

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Re: Alpha mag help

The mag disassembles much like an AR-15 magazine but it can be a little tough to do though, the floor plate is in there pretty good. I used a rod to get the floor plate to slide out a little and then took a flat tip screwdriver and inserted it into the gap that I created and twisted the screwdriver. This seemed to break it free to the point I could push it the rest of the way out with the screwdriver. To get it to go back in I pressed it against my work bench.

Doing all of that and tweeking the feed lips got it the point where it was about 90% functional. It works but I pretty much only use it for training purposes, I wouldn't trust it during a competition to not screw me over. Good luck.

 

[vereceleritas]

Re: Alpha mag help

Well for the price they charge I expect them to work 100%. If I can't fix them, I'm going to try and return them. I think most of us bought the Alpha type 1 because its shorter than the AI 10 rounders but that little bit of convenience isn't worth the cost of reliability that I've had so far.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

Re: Alpha mag help

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: vereceleritas</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well for the price they charge I expect them to work 100%. If I can't fix them, I'm going to try and return them. I think most of us bought the Alpha type 1 because its shorter than the AI 10 rounders but that little bit of convenience isn't worth the cost of reliability that I've had so far. </div></div>

That pretty much sums up my feelings. I'll give a fix a try and report back anything I find that may work but if its still a no go these things are getting returned. I just can't sell them and feel right about it.

Flyingbullseye

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Re: Alpha mag help

I feel the exact same way, I wouldn't feel right selling it knowing that it's f-ed up because that would just reflect poorly on me. In fact I'm still waiting on my replacement magazine from Alpha Industries and Chris from Alpha said I could just keep this one to do whatever with. So in the mean time I thought I'd fool with it to try to make it workable. What's vexing is that the first two I received back in 2010 work great but it seems the latest iteration isn't doing so well.

 

[JB02]

Re: Alpha mag help

Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention. My wife runs a type 2 alpha on her 5R. No problems yet (mag was received in Nov 2011). Got the AICS as a backup.