Waters Rifleman Tikka Magazine On-Going Review/Installation Instructions

mxgsfmdpx

WKR
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Location
Outside
I recently purchased 6 magazines from Waters Rifleman for my gang of Tikkas. I have been on the lookout for larger capacity, high quality magazines for the Tikka platform. After trying a few other brands with mixed results, I figured I'd follow the advice from a few other Roksliders and give these a shot.

I ordered 3 of the Gen 7 .223 6 round mags (part number 0010) and 3 of the Gen 7 .308 family 6 round mags (part number 0016). These were purchased and received within 1 week of ordering which was surprising considering they shipped from Australia to Arizona via FedEx. Very fast shipping.

Upon taking them apart I can tell that the quality of materials used on these is step above anything I've tried so far. These are a true hard black anodized aluminum and not just decorative anodized or coated black unit. The springs are true tempered stainless steel. The followers are a high grade injection molded piece and don't have that cheap hollow plastic feel that most use. The followers have a deeper side wall than any I've ever seen which the OEM claims leads to greater feeding reliability.

These ship as individual pieces (kits) and must be assembled. Each mag comes with 1 left and right main body, 1 spring, and 1 follower, plus quantity four 2mm allen screws per unit.

IMG_0185.jpg

The screws come lightly oiled from WR, I degreased mine with brake clean and rag.

IMG_0186.jpg



The easiest way to install is to lay the "left side (side with the female threads) down on a table facing up. You'll need to ensure to install the spring in the proper direction (looped end facing back, cut end facing forward). The follower faces with the tapered end forward as shown...

IMG_0191.jpg



Insert the spring into the follower until it bottoms out and then slide into magazine. You'll need to line it up and keep some pinch pressure on the spring as to not launch the follower...

IMG_0188.jpg


You'll want to have dabbed just a slight touch of paint pen into the threads of your screws, DO NOT use too much as you don't want anything seeping into the magazine body. A little goes a long way here. Grab the "right" side (through hole side) of the magazine body and line it up with the thread holes. While keeping pressure, slide it into place and get two screws snugged up diagonally from each other.

IMG_0189.jpg


DO NOT overtighten these screws. There is no OEM torque spec for these other than tighten to "pinch pressure". Using the long end and tightening until the wrench start to bend is more than plenty. Tighten all 4 screws and then ensure the spring functions to full travel. I use the allen wrench on the follower and run it up and down to full spring travel about 20 times. If you have issues with the spring not fully depressing, or not quickly springing back up, you can make small adjustments to the spring as needed. PM me for details on how to adjust this.


Weight for the .223 6 round magazine...

Empty:

IMG_0198.jpg

With 6 rounds of Black Hills 77 TMK factory 5.56 ammo:


IMG_0201 (1).jpg


Weight for the .308 family 6 round magazine...

Empty:

IMG_0199.jpg


Loaded with 6 rounds of .260 rem 129 SST factory ammo:



IMG_0200.jpg


Field reports and heavy use to come in following posts...
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0190.jpg
    IMG_0190.jpg
    419.7 KB · Views: 7
Thanks for the walkthrough! I was a bit surprised they came disassembled without instructions, but this helped a lot (they may have instructions on the website, I didn’t look).

I just purchased six of these:
2x #0012 (2.6” 6rd .223)
2x #0018 (3.070” 5rd 300 WSM)
2x #0022m (3.38” 5rd Magnum)

I had a great purchasing experience. A little back and forth on how to pay, and David had great communication throughout. His conversion to USD was a bit less favorable than the going rate, so I had him bill me in AUD and saved a good chunk of change using a NavFed credit card with no conversion rate fee through PayPal. Like you, my mags shipped quick and arrived about a week later (I often buy car parts from Australia, a month in transit is not unheard of. A week is spectacular).

Assembly was straightforward. One note, make sure you clean out the machined threads. I used brake cleaner. There was enough gunk in a few of them to prevent clean threading, but once some brake clean was shot in each they were great. Screws were also degreased and hit with a paint pen prior to install.

Thoughts on Torque:
I used 4in-lbs, which is a good number for #3-56 into aluminum. You need a good low range torque wrench for this if you’re going to try to hit a value that low. Don’t just keep dialing below 10 on a common wrench that only goes that down that far, they aren’t accurate at lower ranges of their value, and especially not below.

Initial thoughts on feeding:
0012: I’ve read of issues with diving in the 2.6” 223 mags. I ran a bunch of SAAMI COAL 69gr Norma through them and didn’t experience any issues. I wanted the longer mags to open up options for seating ELDMs long for hand loading. Will update if I run into issues, I plan on testing these out down there with @mxgsfmdpx in a few weeks.

0018: 3.060” 25-300 WSMs feed really well from the 3.070” mag. It fits five down no problem, which is an accomplishment with WSM cases. I’m sure it will feed 270s, 300s, 325s, and other wildcats just fine as well.

0022m: They feed my 3.060” 25-300s great, which makes them a good option for long 300 or 7mm WSM loads (or 338 WSM wildcats). These fit a SAAMI length Nosler case quite well, and fit five down with no binding or other weirdness. I’m going to be trying them for a 9.3-33 Nosler wildcat I’m working on that stays a bit under 3.4” COAL. I’m a little worried about the presentation height into the chamber with the longer Nosler case. The feed lips have the nose a little low, which could cause it to spike up on the feed ramp and jam when loading. I finally got my 9.3-300 dies to start stuffing the .366 bullets in a 33 Nos case. I’ll update when I’ve tried feeding into the chamber with those. I don’t have any factory 26/27/28/30/33 Nosler loads to try.

Final thoughts:
These are really high quality. The fit and machining is great, the followers are exceptionally high quality, the springs look great, everything functions super smoothly, and the lock into the receivers perfectly. I’m very glad I decided to take the plunge on these.
 
Great magazines, very well made. I sold mine and bought these:


Waaaay cheaper, lighter, and just as reliable. Gotta rob the spring out of another magazine, though.

No dog in the fight.




P
 

Latest posts

Featured Video

Stats

Threads
364,364
Messages
3,858,160
Members
82,659
Latest member
Bmoran20
Back
Top