Magazine Maintenance

Instructions for properly maintaining the magazines for your 2011 pistol.

Magazine Maintenance

While weapon maintenance is heralded as a fundamental of good gun ownership, magazine maintenance is discussed far less often. At the end of the day, magazines should always be treated as a consumable product. Regardless of the make or model of your firearm, magazines suffer wear-and-tear just like any other mechanical part. Springs lose tension, feed lips warp or widen, followers get chipped or damaged. One of the ways to stay ahead of these problems is to perform routine magazine maintenance. The included video discusses how to properly inspect and maintain your 2011 magazines.

V2 Magazines: Staccato P, C2, XC, XL, all legacy models

1. Using a punch or other small tool, depress the star in the middle of the magazine basepad.
2. Slide the basepad forward, off the magazine body. NOTE: The floorplate underneath the magazine will be under spring tension. Keep downward pressure on it the entire time.
3. Slowly ease pressure off the floorplate, removing it from the magazine body along with the spring and follower.
4. Use a brush, rag, or paper towel to wipe clean the inside of the magazine body, and the spring. Do not use oils or harsh cleaning chemicals inside the magazine body.
5. Visually inspect the follower for carbon build-up, damage, or deformation.
6. Reinsert follower, spring, and floorplate into the magazine body. Make sure the follower is oriented correctly in relation to the magazine feed lips.
7. Using the floorplate, depress the magazine spring down into the body.
8. Maintaining downward pressure on the floorplate, slide the basepad back over the magazine body, until the star logo clicks into place in the center of the basepad.

V3 Magazines: Staccato C and CS

                  The primary difference between the two magazines is that, in the V3 mag, the follower, spring, and floorplate are all a single captured assembly. You will still apply downward pressure on the center button and maintain it while sliding the basepad off the front of the magazine. Now you can remove all three internal components at once as a single unit. Aside from this change, the procedure above can still be applied exactly as written.

Helpful Hints:

• The two most critical points on any magazine are the spring and feed lips. Inspect these carefully whenever you perform magazine maintenance.
• The two most common magazine-related failures in the 2011 are failure to lock back on an empty magazine and failure to properly feed a round, particularly in strings of rapid fire. The former is sometimes related to follower damage. The latter can often be attributed to worn springs. But as long as your magazine body and feed lips are good, you can replace the spring and still salvage the magazine.
• Some shooters choose to number their magazines with a paint pen, permanent marker, or other method. If you shoot competitively or take a lot of training classes that involve multiple reloads, numbering can help you quickly identify a specific magazine that may be causing problems and require maintenance.

You can always order spare mags directly from us through the Staccato web store and contact our Customer Experience Team with any questions.