[mike cyrwus]

Ive been running (or at least trying to run) a STI 40 in limited. I love the trigger, lover the accuracy, but as a lefty with medium-small hands, Ive always been fighting grip placement and grip "tension" while hitting the mag release button. Ive used and tried different buttons and techniques, but the way thats most comfortable for me with other guns is to use my trigger finger. If I get a perfect grip, I can usually reload smoothly enough, but I realized that the heel of my strong hand (remember, Im a lefty) would often be locked in such a matter to where I couldnt bend my trigger finger back enough to hit the mag catch. It really sucked with a ICE magwell, and so I went back to the stock aluminum sti magwell, and that helped. I decided to make a poor mans cape magwell of sorts (not really) and mill off the back of the sti magwell so I could come into full contact with the mainspring housing. that helped tremendously, and even better was when I completely took off the magwell; I felt very much at home with the gun in my hand, like a single stack or M&P does. Im going to try it out this week in practice and see how it goes.

I guess the moral of this story is dont just slap on a magwell because everyone else has one, they probably put their's on for the same reason!!

Im usually good about this; ie I like factory glock and M&P guide rod assemblies, I like simple belt holsters, etc.

Obviously this refers to any other must-have farkle that all the other cool kids have slapped onto their guns....


just fyi,

Mike

[Merlin Orr]

I like the Mike Carmoney magwell. In the extra large configuration.

[Flexmoney]

Merlin Orr, on May 26 2009, 05:48 PM, said:

I like the Mike Carmoney magwell. In the extra large configuration.

That thing really funnels the mag in there !

[2alpha]

Remembering when the modular frame first came out we all thought the factory mag opening was so huge you couldn't possibly miss a reload!! And it was compared to the biggest single stack mag well of the time. I don't want to feel the mag well on a modular frame gun either but I guess it depends on hand size and what you like.

[Singlestack]

I dumped the Ice years ago.

[P.Pres]

Perfect timing !! I'm going through the same thing, so what is the flatest, in the rear area,
magwell other then an unobtainable Cape magwell. I've been looking to the SVI or EGW ??

opinions ??

[bofe954]

P.Pres, on May 27 2009, 07:30 PM, said:

Perfect timing !! I'm going through the same thing, so what is the flatest, in the rear area,
magwell other then an unobtainable Cape magwell. I've been looking to the SVI or EGW ??

opinions ??

I sold my ice awhile back and got a Krebs.

The ice felt like it was pushing the bottom of my hand off the gun. Everyone I show it to thinks I'm nuts.

[P.Pres]

The Krebs is a possibility ?? It's more of an edge protector, sort of what the OP is looking for !! I'd like
to see it installed, any pics ??

I'm still looking for an opinion of which one is flater in the rear, I'm running an STI and the front and sides
are fine, just want to take some off the rear, SVI, EGW, other ??

[fortyfiveshooter]

I am looking at getting one of these and trying it
http://www.speedshoo...ail.cfm?ID=MMMW

[John2A]

fortyfiveshooter, on May 28 2009, 01:49 PM, said:

I am looking at getting one of these and trying it
http://www.speedshoo...ail.cfm?ID=MMMW

good luck, I talked with the Cape guys about 3 weeks ago and asked when they would be shipping to Speed Shooters, he said well in about 2 weeks, not making the SS any longer to much mill time. Well Speed Shooters still does not have them and I hate to keep bothering Renee. I think they will be sold out as soon as they get them.

BTW, I tried one of the SV aluminum and it is very small measured 1.612" wide very little flair and almost flat with the main spring. I think this is going to be the winner until I can try a Cape. I'll post pics in a week or so when I get the gun completed.

[bofe954]

I'll try and get a pic up of the Krebs on my gun. It is a bit more than just an edge protector.

[mt_goat]

mike cyrwus, on May 26 2009, 03:59 PM, said:

... but as a lefty with medium-small hands, Ive always been fighting grip placement and grip "tension" while hitting the mag release button.....
Mike

I used to shoot left handed (still do with rifles) but forced myself to switch to a righty years ago for that very reason. Now it feels weird to shoot with my left hand. Might give it a try.

[splashdown]

I switched from the ICE to a stainless SV magwell. It's now my favorite.

[Xfactor]

P.Pres, on May 28 2009, 01:18 PM, said:

I'm still looking for an opinion of which one is flater in the rear, I'm running an STI and the front and sides
are fine, just want to take some off the rear, SVI, EGW, other ??

I have big hands, and looked everywhere for a magwell that was as flat in the back (flush with the mainspring housing) as possible. Since the Cape magwells are not readily available (and I hear that the SV does't fit well with Dawson SNL basepads), I was focusing on the STI and the EGW. As it turned out, I recontoured the back/sides of both to make them flat, and when the dust settled, the EGW was the winner.

The stock EGW was close to a good fit, but even just that little bump on the back was enough to interfere with my grip... so I belt-sanded it off... then I took a little more off... and then a little shaping at the sides... and then I re-contoured the bottom section to blend it all the way around... and, voila! Best magwell I have ever handled for my large hands! EGW was even kind enough to re-anodize it for me so it's all black again

Just for the heck of it, I gave a Brazos Big Mouth magwell the same treatment, and it turned out very well also. It's much wider than the EGW though, so even taking off as much as possible on the sides, it still isn't as comfortable as the EGW.
Let me know if you'd like to see some before/after pics...

This post has been edited by Xfactor: 25 June 2009 - 01:21 PM

[ima45dv8]

Xfactor, on Jun 25 2009, 04:16 PM, said:

Let me know if you'd like to see some before/after pics...

Yes, definitely.

[mike cyrwus]

heres what I did to a plain ol sti alum magwell. Still think Im faster without one at all.

[kurtm]

Hey Mike....I didn't just slap one on there...Benny did. If I had thought about it (which I did) and you said you had hacked the back of yours off and then said you might run without one, I would have said YES that is how my brother runs his and he is also left handed (which I did).

BTW some of the very "fastestest" mag changes I have ever seen have been by Lance Jensen with his duty Glock...several right around the .93-.98 mark with no mag well...Must be something in the Oklahoma water. KurtM

[Steve Moneypenny]

I agree to being faster without a mag well... mag wells are just to inspire confidence and catch those rim shots!

[Xfactor]

Here are some shots of the Franken-magwells...


Here's a shot of the gun in my hand with a stock Brazos magwell... you can see the gap under my palm because of the magwell flare pushing my hand out:



Here's the freshly sanded EGW. I took some material off the back and sides at 11 degrees (to match up with the grip angle), then did a 0 degree back-bevel to make more room for the heel of my hand, and to match the contour around the magwell:



After a little more evening out to blend the contour, I sent it to EGW for re-anodizing... here it is on my gun:



And here's a shot of the finished Brazos mounted to the gun... Same process as the EGW, just a LOT more material to remove.



For my hand, the width is almost as much an interference as the length out the back, so I tried to round out the back and take as much off the back corners as possible as well. (With the Brazos, there was only so much that could be removed before grinding through into that huge funnel... )
Mike, if you rounded off those corners and took some material off the back of the sides, you might find that STI fits better yet...


Here's a shot of the gun in my hand - this time with the finished EGW... much better fit for my hand:

This post has been edited by Xfactor: 27 June 2009 - 03:11 PM

[Xfactor]

Steve Moneypenny, on Jun 26 2009, 04:17 PM, said:

...mag wells are just to inspire confidence and catch those rim shots!

And to keep those of us with big hands from pinching the bottom of our hands when seating the mag hard...

[DWPatriot]

Has anyone successfully modified the ICE magwell to accommodate larger hands? If so, I would really be interested in seeing some pics.

[boz1911]

DWPatriot, on Jun 26 2009, 07:18 PM, said:

Has anyone successfully modified the ICE magwell to accommodate larger hands? If so, I would really be interested in seeing some pics.

With the internal cuts for the insert, I'm not sure there is a lot of metal to be removed???

[Xfactor]

DWPatriot, on Jun 26 2009, 10:18 PM, said:

Has anyone successfully modified the ICE magwell to accommodate larger hands? If so, I would really be interested in seeing some pics.

Box is right - It won't work. The plastic insert comes too far back to allow removing enough metal to make it flush with the mainspring housing... You'd end up grinding off some of the funnel area, as well as the plastic insert itself to get it to size. That's why I modified a Brazos in addition to the EGW and an STI; the Brazos is the biggest magwell I've come across that can accommodate being re-sized to sit flush with the mainspring housing.