Mag leaks

[fuzzywolly]

Ok, so I recently bought a 1911 gbb from one of our members on here. I went into this knowing that the pistol would come with broken parts, leaky mags, etc. etc. I thought of it as my new project gun.

Before I go into spending lots of money on this gbb, I need to make sure I can get the mags functioning. I have looked at numerous threads about fixing leaky mags, DIY mods, etc. etc. I have tried a few, nothing has worked so far. I am fine with having to get down and dirty with it, but at the moment I have a few questions.

1. When I go to fill the mag with gas, the propane just sprays everywhere. Only the tiniest bit of gas actually gets in the mag. I took the mag apart, using Miles' guide on here, and lubed it up. Put it back together and same results. Propane just sprays everywhere. I decided to try another mag out, and got the same results. The propane adapter works fine with my glock mags. What exactly is going on? The o ring looks fine. Its not so much that its leaky, but more that the gas just will not go in. Do I need new fill valves?

2. My bottle of propane is almost empty. I guess that could be the problem. But not sure why the gas is just spewing everywhere. Suggestions?

I have done lots of searching, and I still have some things to try out. I have five mags, and so far I have tried two of them and have gotten the same results. Gas everywhere. I will give an update after trying the rest.

Any suggestions would be great. I am willing to buy some new valves or whatever I need, but before I do that, I need to establish what the problem is.

Thanks

Fuzzy


Edit: Just tested out the other mags. I just realized that the propane tank is really really low on gas. I need to get a new one and that should solve the problem. The results were different this time around. While filling the mags, none of the gas spewed everywhere and it all went into the mag itself. However, there being almost no gas in the propane tank there was really nothing there. So a new propane tank should solve that problem. *I feel stupid*

With that taken care of, now I just need to solve the leaking issues with some of the mags. Dutton has given me some advice, and I plan on giving it a try. However, what do you guys think about teflon tape in this situation? If I teflon tape around the o ring, wouldn't that keep the gas in the mag, preventing it from escaping? Just wondering. I do not plan on using this until next summer, so I can try many different things out here.

[Thor]

If they're WA mags, are you depressing the tab at the top of the mag when you fill them? If not, that could be your problem. There should be a some kind of sliding... tab for lack of a better description, that you have to hold down while you fill.

[fuzzywolly]

They are we tech mags. Sorry, I must have forgotten to say that. Thanks for the input though.

And I edited my first post with the "fast" update I made.

[Thor]

Ok, gotcha.

If it's the o-ring that's the problem, either replace the o-ring or the teflon tape might work if you wrap it tight enough so that it seals properly.

If it's actually leaking from the valve itself, I'd say replace the valve. You might try spraying some silicone lube into a small dish and soaking the o-rings in them, that could bring some life back and fix your problem. Straight propane can really dry o-rings out if the mags never get lubed at all.

[fuzzywolly]

So far I have dissembled three of the mags. The o rings look fine at the moment. The only reason I say they are leaking is because the person I bought it off of, told me so. I believe only two or three were having leaking problems. I just need to get a new tank of propane to confirm it.

As for your advice about soaking the rings in the silicon, I like this idea. The only thing is that I can only identify the large o ring. I took apart the mag but not the fill valve which the o ring is attached to? If this is confusing, I will take some pictures, I have bad terminology with gbbs.

I looked at some guides, but none that I have seen go in depth of taking out both o rings.

If for some reason that is not the problem, then I will go ahead and get new valves. Just need to test it out first, to see if any new purchases are necessary. Thanks for the tips. I just need alittle more guidance on taking apart the mags in its entirety and I should be able to soak the o rings. Ill do more searching around to see if I can find anything regarding mag dissembly.

[Thor]

You could probably soak the whole valve, don't see how that would hurt anything.

[fuzzywolly]

Ok, alittle update.

I took apart the mags and took the large o ring off and lubed it up. Then I lubed the other parts a the bottom as well. I wanted to get the small o ring out, but did not know how. Any help would be appreciated. I fiddled with it for alittle, but nothing came out so I am lost

I did the teflon tape mod around the large o ring as well. Put everything back together. Then I got to thinking. I have watched and read about guides stating that there are other places where the gas leaks out as well. The little rubber piece at the top (don't know the name) is one of those places. A guy showed a video where he used duct tape to seal off the edges where the gas would escape. I decided just to use the teflon tape and wrap it around. This would prevent the gas from escaping. Here is a picture:



Now here it is attached to the other bits and pieces:



The sides are now sealed off, and should prevent gas from being wasted.

Now with everything together.



Mainly, I just want to be able to get a solid mag out of each fill. I might be able to get more, but its not super important. I have heard bad things about WE tech mags, and if I can get it to holding gas properly for even just one whole mag (15 rounds) I will be happy.

Any other tips would be appreciated. Such as how to get the small o ring out at the bottom? I would like to get the fill valve out as well, but I do not know how to get that part out.

[fuzzywolly]

Update, sort of.

I have since got rid of the 1911 and now have a m9 on my hands. The two mags that came with it (received from fellow member) leak big time. I can here the "hissing" noise and can smell the propane leave the mag.

I am using a similar process to fix these mags up.

1. Soaking the o rings in silicon oil. So far they have been soaking for around 12 hours.
2. Teflon tape will be placed over the large o ring once they are done taking a bath.


Now I want to soak the small o ring in the valve on the bottom. However, I cannot take it apart so that I can get to the small o ring.

Thor mentioned this earlier, should I just soak the whole valve? (As in the entire bottom piece of the mag (includes a small barrel like thing, black bottom part of mag, and valve (where large o ring goes over top).

[Mles]

Make sure you soak those o-rings for a good 48 hours. Soaking the whole valve is not a bad idea, just remember to wipe it down a bit before reinstalling.

Another thing I usually do is put some blue loctite on the threads of the valve. The blue loctite that is removable with tools, so if you need to work on the valve again you are still able to. The loctite will create a far better seal than the Teflon tape. When I am working with my WA magazines I usually use both methods - you really need to experiment yourself as all GBB magazines are different and find out what works best.

[fuzzywolly]

Soaked the rings for around 60 hours (forgot about them til yesterday).

Thanks for the tip, I still need to soak the valve yet.

I also never thought about using loctite. I have some blue loctite I can use, and will test it out.

I will experiment and post back here with results.

Thanks bud!

[Mles]

Also, you might actually want to replace your o-rings. If you can't get them to stop leaking, send them my way and I'll work some magic.

[fuzzywolly]

I have got a few new m9 mags coming my way, but really wanted to figure out how to fix these leaks. If for some reason I cannot, I will surely send you a PM and let you take a look at them.

Will post here with updates soon. Got to get out and get some propane and test these puppies out.


Edit:

Updates

Found a propane can sitting in my garage, so I was able to test out the mags. I actually only tested one as the other is still waiting to be assembled.

Mag number one (as we will call it): Mods
-Teflon tape on the place where gas spews out (when you release the gas...can't think of the name of it--see pics above with HFC mag..same mod)
-Lubricated the large o ring for a couple of days
-Lubed up the small o ring, cleaned valve and lubed spot where you press button to release gas)

No teflon tape on the large o ring, as I was curious how it would do without it. When I first filled the mag, a little gas escaped. Then the leaking stopped. I filled up the rest of the mag with gas, and no leaks. Took some shots, and got the whole mag out of it.

But I am not satisfied yet. I want to see how long the gas is able to stay in the mag (as in none escapes over a few minutes/hours). I am going to fill a mag and wait a hour or two and see how well the gbb performs. Weather is around 65 degrees so not expecting 100% perfect results.

Depending how things go I might add some blue loctite to the large o ring.

More updates to come.

[fuzzywolly]

Update! (reason for double post)

I have got the one mag ready to go, as it was able to hold the gas over a short period of time outside (45 minutes or so).

However, the other mag refused to assemble. I cannot push the bottom piece (with the large o-ring) back up far enough so that I can push the small cylinder metal pieces through the holes. I literally applied all force to align the holes up, but there seems to be something getting stuck, not allowing the metal piece (with large o-ring) to go up far enough into the mag shell itself.

Sorry for the lack of technical terms. GBB's are not something I am extremely experienced with. If anyone has had this problem, and could share some ideas, I am all ears...or eyes.

[fuzzywolly]

Long time, no update.

1. Was able to assemble the m9 mags again, after having some trouble getting them to fit with the valve correctly.

However, I still have to get some new o-rings. The ones I got at Home Depot today are a little too chubby. That is, they are too thick to be able to fit on the valve in the mag correctly. So I need to snag some thinner ones. If anyone knows the size, feel free to let me know. Home Depot was low on stock of rings, and only had a few to choose from.

2. Received two new mags from evike. But they were both duds...figures. So I will be returning them and getting some new ones. After that, I should be good to go. With the exception of 1/6 mags, which has the small o-ring sticking halfway out.

Does anyone know how to dissemble the valves?

Pic below: