During a recent "airsoft go-around" thing (the one I take out each one of my airsoft pistols and fire it to see if everything is OK, as well as trying out all my airsoft magazines), I discovered that some of my magazines leaked. Which was interesting because they were some of the most recently purchased magazines, some flat-bottom 1911 Western Arms ones. Now, I know this is an old design and most people prefer the "Wilson-lookalikes" but I have some pistols which I prefer with a standard flat-base magazine, so I have three or four of them for these guns, I always try to have at least one spare mag for each pistol.
Anyway, these mags were leaking from the square rubber ring that goes around their base. I also discovered that one of my Glock 19 mags was leaking from the same area. As I was getting ready to email my friend Michael Cripps in UK for some replacement rings, I remember something I've read in another airsoft site (http://www.justpistols.co.uk/). In one of the reviews in that site, it was mentioned that you could "rejuvenate" a leaking o-ring by soaking it overnight in some Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF). I remembered that I had a bottle of that in my truck, so I decided to give it a try.
I poured some ATF in a small glass and I let the rubber rings of the WA magazines soak in it for a night. Guess what? Next morning, when I re-installed them in the magazines, there was absolutely no leak!!!
Next, I took apart the Glock magazine and removed its ring. This is of different design than the WA ones, instead of being a rectangular-o-ring-like thing, it is more like a seal with two lips, one a little wider than the other. OK, the ring went in the ATF bath, but unfortunately I forgot about it for a couple of days. When I removed it from the ATF and I tried to re-install it in the magazine, it was impossible to do so. I just couldn't reassemble the magazine. The ring had gain in width enough to not allow me to put the magazine base inside the magazine body and drive through the two pins that hold it in place. It took some serious ingenuity to come up with a way which allowed me to do a four-hand job (one to hold the magazine body, one to press in the magazine base, one to hold the pin that should go through and another to hold the hammer to hit the pin), with only two of them. Finally, I managed to re-assemble the magazine and put some propane in it. Guess what? No leak again.
So it looks as if the ATF trick works. And it works quite well. If you have any leaking magazines, put their o-rings in some ATF and see the difference. Just do not leave them in the fluid for too long, or they may grow enough to give you a headache.
Next time I have a leaking magazine, I'll try to soak its bottom in ATF, without taking it apart. I want to see if this will do the trick.
Bookmarks