Taurus PT145 Magazine Springs(Para P14?)

[Jes]

I really like my PT145 but the last range session one of my magazines started having nosedive failures after about 75-80 rounds. This gun has approximately 600-700 total rounds without a problem until now. I have searched for aftermarket magazines and springs (Wolff) without any success.
However today I stumbled across a thread where someone used Para P14 magazines in their PT145. Wolff makes extra power springs for the Para P14 and Midway has them for $6.99 MidwayUSA - Wolff Magazine Spring Para-Ordnance P13, P-14 10% Extra Power

Look at the photo of the spring.

It is almost identical to the PT145 and PT24/7 springs. It seems to have 2 more fat coils and 1 fewer thin coil(top). Just a possible solution for the other PT145 owners out there.

[Jes]

I bought some P14 springs and fitted them to my 10rd PT145 mags and 12rd PT24/7 mag. They are definitely stiffer than the originals. They do help.

I started cutting one coil at a time and trying the mags for capacity and function.
The 10rd mags still function best with only 9rds but I discovered another problem while working on the spings. The mag release notches in the factory mags are cut about 1/32 too high. If I push up on the mags function was perfect even with my truncated cone hollow point handloads.

Anyone have a fix for the release notches on mags?

[BillW]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I bought three PT145s based on their fantastic combination of price and features and my excellent experience with three PT1911s. However, after months of struggling, spending money, and trying al sorts of crazy things to correct the nose-diving issue (you got it--Taurus was "unaware"), I was getting ready to throw in the towel, but I'd gotten to the point of suspecting the springs (shouldn't have taken me so long), and then I happened onto your blog.

I immediately purchased ten, tested all ten last weekend, and had ZERO nose-dives in about 250 rounds. I did get a few FTFs, but I blame most of them on the ammo (Speer Gold Dots which SUCK IMHO) and maybe one or two on the feed lip, which leads me to my one other recommendation--use a Dremmel tool to remove material at the feed lip (a nice arc that follows the circumference of the round sitting in the chamber without removing material from the side walls has worked for me) to prevent the edge of the casing from impacting the feed lip during chambering.

[Jes]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I bought three PT145s based on their fantastic combination of price and features and my excellent experience with three PT1911s. However, after months of struggling, spending money, and trying al sorts of crazy things to correct the nose-diving issue (you got it--Taurus was "unaware"), I was getting ready to throw in the towel, but I'd gotten to the point of suspecting the springs (shouldn't have taken me so long), and then I happened onto your blog.

I immediately purchased ten, tested all ten last weekend, and had ZERO nose-dives in about 250 rounds. I did get a few FTFs, but I blame most of them on the ammo (Speer Gold Dots which SUCK IMHO) and maybe one or two on the feed lip, which leads me to my one other recommendation--use a Dremmel tool to remove material at the feed lip (a nice arc that follows the circumference of the round sitting in the chamber without removing material from the side walls has worked for me) to prevent the edge of the casing from impacting the feed lip during chambering.

Glad it worked for you. I know there are other Taurus owners that have given up on the gun just because of a faulty magazine spring. I also did a little dremmel work on the bottom edge of the feed ramp and the sharp edge of the frame under the feed ramp and now have zero malfunctions.

[neagle05]

Dive feed with the original magazine was the fact on my original factory magazines. I sent them back and Taurus replaced them. The new mags have a different spring. The replaced spring had only 8 coils 4 large and 4 small. Also noted is the spring pushing directly on the follower is bent upward so that pressure is placed on the front of the follower. Fellow shooter of mine pulled his originals out, cut coils from both ends, bent the lead coil and stretched the spring to match the original length. Neither of us have had problems since with more than 200 round each in practice and qualification. P.S. this costs nothing to do!

[BillW]

I'm not one to argue with success, but I do worry about stretching springs. By doing so, you introduce plastic deformation to the material, which I imagine could have a detrimental effect on longer-term, proper functioning (a spring works by using coils to multiply the elasticity of the steel wire--short of causing any plastic deformation). I would think clipping coils and even bending the end coils for permanent shape would be okay, but stretching the spring doesn't seem like a good idea, but I'm no materials scientist. : )