Adding a plus one magazine extension
Covered in this article:
• What is a magazine extension?
• Overview of the procedure
• Drilling vs peening
• Step by step
• Next up
What is a magazine extension?
A magazine extension adds the ability to store additional shotgun shells in the magazine already on your pump or semi-automatic shotgun. You can choose, one, two or more rounds of additional capacity. For the Remington Tac-14, I chose a one round extension because it ends up even with the muzzle.
Overview of the procedure
Always make sure any firearm you are working on is unloaded. Then check again. Keep any ammunition out of reach. If you are not comfortable working on firearms, then don’t. Seek qualified help. Any modifications you perform are at your own risk.
This is a simple procedure. You remove the barrel, get rid of the detent in the factory magazine tube and then screw on the magazine extension. Done.
Drilling vs peening
There are two ways to remove the detent in the factory magazine tube. Drilling it out produces metal shavings, must be done with a reasonable amount of accuracy and permanently leaves two holes in your magazine. Peening can be reversed if desired, doesn’t leave any holes and if performed with a minimum amount of skill only takes two minutes. I prefer peening; you may not.
Step by step
1. Always make sure any firearm you are working on is unloaded. Then check again. Keep any ammunition out of reach. If you are not comfortable working on firearms, then don’t. Seek qualified help. Any modifications you perform are at your own risk. If you screw up and scratch or break something, it’s not my fault. If you follow my instructions and it doesn’t work out for you, it’s still your fault. We’ll be working with springs so wear safety glasses…eyeballs are expensive to repair.
2. Unscrew the barrel retaining nut. Set it aside.
3. Rack the action about halfway open.
4. Look at the black plastic cap protruding from the magazine tube. If you push it in slightly and rotate it 90 degrees it will come out. Keep ahold of it so it doesn’t wander off under spring pressure. Set it aside and remove the spring.
5. Now we need to remove the magazine follower. It’s bright orange plastic. I find it easiest to use the the spring and push it out. So grab that spring, push the loading gate up and out of the way and then push the follower out of the magazine tube with the spring. The follower may or may not push out. You may have to rotate it so that it can pass the detents in the magazine tube. Remove the spring and set both parts aside.
6. Now you’re ready to remove the dimples on the magazine tube. You will need a hammer (I prefer a dead blow mallet), a suitably-sized socket (it should just barely slide into the end of the tube), a small punch with a flat end, a larger flat-nosed punch (about 1/4″ would work) and grease.
7. Lightly grease the thick end of the socket and the inside of the magazine tube by the dimples.
8. Insert the socket into the magazine tube. Secure the Tac-14 in a vice if you need to (use a towel so it doesn’t get scratched) or hold it with your other hand.
9. Hammer the socket in until it passes the dimples. It will most likely get stuck there…this is normal and expected. The next step will free it.
10. Take the small punch and, with the action carefully secured, hammer each dimple in several areas to flatten it against the socket. Once you have successfully done this on each side, the socket will slide free. Keeping the socket behind the dimples, go over each area again with the larger punch, this will smooth out the dimples even more. Verify that you are happy with the inside clearances and that a shotgun shell (use an empty one) will freely move past where the dimples were.
11. Set your tools aside. You can cold blue the marks on the magazine tube if you want.
12. You’ll need to use the new follower and spring that most likely comes with your extension kit. I used a kit by Scattergun Technologies (SGET-V-1).
13. Insert the follower, thick end first.
14. Install the barrel then put the wave washer on.
15. The new spring goes next. Below is an image of the new longer spring compared to the factory length one.
16. Screw on the new magazine tube retaining cap. Verify that you are happy with how the plus one extension functions.
You’re done.
Sources:
Scattergun Technologies
shopwilsoncombat.com
About this review: This accessory was personally acquired.
Next up…where to store extra ammo.
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