Kimber 82B (Triple K) mag fix

Cowpokey

MSgt, USAF Ret
Full Member
Minuteman
  • May 1, 2020
    4,917
    26,819
    Bel Air, MD
    Finding factory Kimber of Oregon model 82 mags is near impossible, and when you do find them, they cost half an arm and three toes. So I bought some Triple-K mags; a couple 5-round and four 10-round. The fit-n-finish of those leave a lot to be desired, and the feeding of them is horrendous. At a minimum, the last round will be pointed up and ram into the breech face nearly every mag...there were a couple (no bullshit, maybe 2) times those mags fed without jamming.

    This morning I (finally) decided to see if I could do something to modify the Triple-K mags and get them to feed properly. I have good news; I took a hacksaw and file to one of the followers and after a few iterations figured it out. Then did it to the other five followers, now all six of my Triple-K mags are feeding as they should. Not a single feeding problem with them now; I loaded (full) each mag several times and ran them through my Kimber Classic.

    For reference, the one factory Kimber mag that came with my rifle:
    Kimber.jpg


    What the Triple-K followers start as:
    followers.jpg


    The modifying:
    step0.jpg


    step1.jpg


    First iteration; I thought it would be as simple as trimming off the tip...just the tip I told her.
    step2.jpg


    That quickly proved to be useless, so more work with the file (stacked modified Triple-K on top of untouched Triple-K):
    step3.jpg


    Two modified ones so you can see both sides:
    followers1.jpg


    Factory Kimber, modified Triple-K, unmolested Triple-K:
    magz.jpg


    Finished product(s) with the ammo* I ran through them...the projectiles got a little beat up after loading them in the mags and through the rifle several dozen times through the process:
    magz-all.jpg


    *Ammo used for testing was CCI-SV that had been run through my Neal Waltz die to hollow point them, and Eley Team.