Rimfire Central Firearm Forum banner

Tungsten long follower for Razor Magnum

3K views 46 replies 13 participants last post by  22_boomer 
#1 ·
Guys, I'm thinking of having some long followers made from Tungsten for my Razor Magnum. The material is expensive, so I'm thinking about making more of them to offset my cost. The stainless long follower that's in mine now is 2" long and weighs 17.6 grams, I calculate that a tungsten follower @ 2.25" would weigh about 40 grams +/-.

I figure depending on how many I make, the cost would be around $50 shipped, if I only make 5, and probably $40 shipped if I make 16. These #'s aren't set in stone, I need to get a final cost of material/labor to know the exact cost, but I think these #'s are close.

So the question is, who is interested in buying them? If I get enough interest I will build 16. But, this will not be an ongoing part, once they are made, I won't be making them again.

Please post if you have any interest.
 
#2 ·
Here is a pic of my current long follower compared to the S.F. part. The reason for having this part is to add mass to the system and slow bolt speed. Adding mass to the Razors helps to reduce bulged cases and reduce the chances of spitting out the extractor.

This part alone won't cure every problem, but it's a step in the right direction.

 
#4 ·
I'm very interested as well but

Give me a couple of weeks, I talked to Phil at SF trying to get some ideas on mine, he's sending me a long brass one to try, I've got a tungsten glock guide rod in the mail, I think it's pretty close to the right dimensions. Then on top of that Phil said he ordered a foot of tungsten rod to make a few and try. So give it a couple weeks and we can see if it'll actually do any good first. My biggest concern at this point is the brittleness of the tungsten, I bet it'll be fine though.

I go back to work on the 12th and back on days off on the 19th, so should have some more test firing done on the 20th as long as I can catch a day without 20+mph winds in the valley. (I work 7 days on 7 days off so lots of time to work on it once I'm off)

If it shows improvement I'll probably buy 2, just to have a backup.
 
#5 ·
I sent Phil an email about building a few parts (this weekend) that would make the Magnums work a little better. His reply to me sounded like he wasn't interested in making these type of parts. He assumed the parts I mentioned would be for 17HMR builds, but the parts I mentioned would help 22 magnum builds. I was not going to back and forth with him trying to convince him what to build, so I decided to build them myself.

If he were to build them, that would be fine, but I'm not going to wait on him to change his mind. My build really doesn't need this Tungsten follower, it works pretty good as it sits, but a Tungsten follower would put my mass over 350 grams, and I would still like for it to be as good as it can be, right now it is good enough.

I do agree with Phil in that I don't think people should build these into 17's, it's not that it can't be done, it just takes more work and dedication than most people are willing to do.

As of right now, I'm still mulling the idea over, it's not set in stone. And Guitdolin, I will test fit the first one in my rifle to make sure everything works ok. The follower in mine is 2", I think there is enough room for 2.25", but if there isn't, the follower will be shortened back to 2".

Also, this is an experiment for us all, no warranty is expressed or implied. If the Tungsten fails, or doesn't fix your problem, I will not be responsible.

I'm basically trying to help myself and some of you get these rifles working the way we wanted them to.
 
#7 ·
Thanks Robert. They will be one piece of tungsten, turned on a lathe.

Also, Nick...you had me curious about the Glock guide rod, and they are very close, so I took my Glock apart to measure it and see how it would work out. The guide rod in the Glock is .235" thick, is over 3" long, and has a thin head. If you were to buy that, you would have to cut it down, it would be thinner than I plan to make them (.280"), and the head would still be thin. You would also pay more for it than I would be selling them for. But, if I don't make these, and you had no access to fabrication, that would probably be the next best option.

Also, the head of the Glock guide rod is a little larger than the hole in the S.F. receiver, so that would need to be turned down a little bit. But still, that was a good call, they were much closer than I expected them to be.
 
#8 ·
That's a relief, yeah I already ordered one last night, was able to find one on ebay for $40 shipped, so figured what the hell, I'd try it even though I couldn't get any real measurements anywhere. I knew it'd have to be cut down (I read a fiber reinforced dremel wheel will handle it), but wasn't sure on the diameter of the rod itself. The extra heavy .47 spring has a ID of .28 so it shouldn't be too loose.
 
#9 ·
I was able to find a bar of tungsten locally, and had one Tungsten follower made. It's 2.25" long, .275" thick, and weighs 44.5 grams. I'm going to go to the range tomorrow to put some rounds down range. I will post tomorrow about the results.

Stainless Steel


Tungsten


Total mass


Total mass w/7", .041" spring
 
#11 ·
Yes it will work with a 17 HMR. My rifle is a 17. I'm going to do some testing tonight, and I should have a final price by the end of the week. Hopefully I will be able to ship them out next week. Also, my follower was turned on a lathe, it did chew up tooling, the next batch will be ground with a surface grinder.
 
#13 ·
Ok, that's three. I'm not going to take any money until they are built and in my hand, which will probably be in the next few days. I will let everyone know when I have them, and it will be first come, first served.

I took my Magnum to the range today and put about 100 rounds through it, the Tungsten follower held up fine. Some cases were slightly bulged, some weren't bulged at all. That could just be the nature of semi-auto 17HMR. But with my total mass now at 350 grams, even the worst bulged cases aren't as bad as my best bulged cases used to be.

Like I said before, this may not solve every issue in your rifle, but it is a step in the right direction.
 
#14 ·
stuke, this may or may not help you. In the couple 17m2 that I've done, I found there was just a bit of bulging at first. Even after all the parts were so over done that the gun wouldn't even function.

after bringing 'em down a bit, I still got some bulging, then once the parts had a chance to work together for a bit. It went away.

I know the 17m2 is a different animal than yours, but maybe with what you've done, it just needs to get comfortable with itself and settle in.

In the mean time, keep it kleen and make sure it's in battery. cp.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for the advice CP. The rifle actually has about 1500 rounds through it now, and I believe that it's safe, even with the slight bulging. The only ammo I had today was a around 30 rounds of CCI, 50 rounds each of Winchester and Remington. The CCI did pretty good, but the Winchester gave me fits, and the Remington was total junk. I only shot about 20 rounds of the Remington because it was so bad.

I usually shoot CCI and Hornady, I stopped on the way home from the range and picked some up. Today's testing was really more about the Tungsten follower, just to see how well it would hold up to some abuse, and it held up fine.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top