K_pem
WKR
I know this topic has been discussed over and over. I still cant believe that no one has come up with a lighter weigh option for those of us with Tikkas dropped in the Element chassis; aside from Kinport cutting down factory 5round AICS mags to 3 rounders to save a couple ounces.
SO... I took it upon myself to attempt to trim down a Magpul AICS LA Magnum PMag to work. I was able to mic it out and successfully remove the nose plate then cut out enough mag body material (4mm i think?) via a Dremel and cutting wheel to get the mag to fit in the gun. I then trimmed the follower and bases accordingly, referencing measurements from my MDT 5 rounder. Followed by ABS glue to carefully re-adhere the nose piece back onto the mag and sand the rough edges down to mate up smoothly. Lastly I wrapped the outside of the mag with grip tape and hit it with the hair dryer to tighten everything into place.
On my dry run I had problems at first with the rounds not sitting up far enough to hit the feed ramp (which i anticipated with the Tikka action); i was able to sand the feed lips down to allow enough room for the rounds to sit high enough to chamber, and cycle the bolt through the full 5 round mag capacity. It seemed like i had a winner to work off of, however at the range i ran in to some problems. I could chamber the first round no problem, but after firing it seemed to jar the round in the mag and attempting to cycle the bolt for round 2 wasn't possible. It was as if the follower was getting hung up and the round would take a nose dive in the magazine like it lost tension or was binding somehow. I could slap the bottom of the mag and get the round to re-orient itself only about 50% of the time...
Seems like next steps will be cutting the mag apart again and doing some light filing on the follower and/or follower guides, BUT it think its close.
Ill get pics up as soon as I get it kind of figured; I should have done a better job documenting my first run at it, but if it works ill do it again all in one process.
If i'm successful i should have a functional mag at about 4oz less... we shall see
SO... I took it upon myself to attempt to trim down a Magpul AICS LA Magnum PMag to work. I was able to mic it out and successfully remove the nose plate then cut out enough mag body material (4mm i think?) via a Dremel and cutting wheel to get the mag to fit in the gun. I then trimmed the follower and bases accordingly, referencing measurements from my MDT 5 rounder. Followed by ABS glue to carefully re-adhere the nose piece back onto the mag and sand the rough edges down to mate up smoothly. Lastly I wrapped the outside of the mag with grip tape and hit it with the hair dryer to tighten everything into place.
On my dry run I had problems at first with the rounds not sitting up far enough to hit the feed ramp (which i anticipated with the Tikka action); i was able to sand the feed lips down to allow enough room for the rounds to sit high enough to chamber, and cycle the bolt through the full 5 round mag capacity. It seemed like i had a winner to work off of, however at the range i ran in to some problems. I could chamber the first round no problem, but after firing it seemed to jar the round in the mag and attempting to cycle the bolt for round 2 wasn't possible. It was as if the follower was getting hung up and the round would take a nose dive in the magazine like it lost tension or was binding somehow. I could slap the bottom of the mag and get the round to re-orient itself only about 50% of the time...
Seems like next steps will be cutting the mag apart again and doing some light filing on the follower and/or follower guides, BUT it think its close.
Ill get pics up as soon as I get it kind of figured; I should have done a better job documenting my first run at it, but if it works ill do it again all in one process.
If i'm successful i should have a functional mag at about 4oz less... we shall see
This is the answer. 
