Cut a Howa Mini .223 magazine down to 5 round

[Te Hopo]

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:

 

[Te Hopo]

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:

 

[Te Hopo]

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:

 

[Te Hopo]

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

 

[Te Hopo]

Finally, how does it function?
[video=youtube_share;j1ztPnJiXks]https://youtu.be/j1ztPnJiXks[/video]

 

[Newtosavage]

LOL I literally JUST did this exact same thing to my 7.62x39 Howa Mini. I really liked that gun before but I love it now.

Nice post and pictures!

 

[weekender7]

PURDY WORK, thanks for sharing the how to.

 

[bnsafe]

awesome work, im not that handy, but man that looks good

 

[BigWoods]

Much appreciate the tutorial! To save a little trial and error, here's a measurement of my final baseplate thickness.


Also of note, with the redesigned mag release, the front of the baseplate needs to have material removed as seen in the picture.

 

[passinggas33]

Of note, if you do this with the 6ARC magazine, it limits your capacity to 2. Or at least it did for me.

 

[Te Hopo]

Great info thanks guys, its been a fair while since I did this and there's been all sorts of improvements and options since then

 

[BigWoods]

Great info thanks guys, its been a fair while since I did this and there's been all sorts of improvements and options since then

Yeah I'd really like to get the JO bottom metal at some point for better carrying. In the mean, time the magazines will be nice for teaching the kiddos.

 

[Te Hopo]

Yeah I'd really like to get the JO bottom metal at some point for better carrying. In the mean, time the magazines will be nice for teaching the kiddos.

That's what I've gone to.
Besides handy carrying, the Jefferson Outdoors bottom metal allows a much longer COL for the likes of 75ELDMs.