Great video and thanks for posting it! Also excellent failure analysis figuring out the issue with the probe.
I was able to get all my factory Notos magazines to work perfectly with any pellets I tried over a year ago by adding a small cover extension as shown in the photo below.
Copy and paste of from about a year ago of my method to fix the dragging back issue. I got this idea from AGN member Rawroots. One was a temp fix using thick clear packing tape and that temp fix has lasted over a year. It is hard to see in the photo. Look for the reflection over the right half of the opening. The other is made from some 0.006" stainless steel scope base shim stock which has also lasted over 1 year.
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Thanks Rawroots.
Very ingenious fix and thanks for sharing it! I tried making the grooves like you did and it looks like that is the easiest method to prevent pulling the next round back out of the magazine from probe drag. However, if the pellets are not seated deep in the magazine, or if they work their way out so they are touching the clear cover, then the grooves do not work.
I had some micro gouges that were used in wood carving and block printing that made some clean grooves pretty quickly and was able to make one mag "groovy" in just a few minutes. Is there a need to put the grooves farther down than the shortest pellet one plans on using? I did just one groove about 1/16" in from the top, fairly deep and it seems to work 100%,, as long as the pellets are seated deep in the mag, even with using the ball end of an allen key to test, that grips even more than the probe would. Not one single pull back no matter how fast or slow I punch it in and out. But if the pellets are touching the clear cover, then it jams every time.
Just to see if a single hole cover would do the job, I put one layer of fairly thick, clear packing tap on the inside of the clear cover to block the top half of the loading / feeding port on four magazines and I tried to get them to jam with 21 rounds each. Not one single "pull back" caused jam! I don't know now long that tape will stay there but time will tell. If I get ambitious I will probably end up making a shallow recess on the inside surface of the clear cover and epoxy a small piece of clear clamshell merchandise display packaging over the top half of the opening. If you put too much tape on there, then the mags won't fit in the gun.
Now that I know about the set screw below the cover retaining screw, opening these up and doing modifications goes very quickly. I am anxious to try some set screws underneath the small spring loaded ball tipped cover indexing screws as well.
By the way, the small recoil stop set screws that come in the UTG dovetail to picatinny adapters are the same size as those used in the Notos mags. I only have two springers so I have a fairly large collection of those setscrews. More than enough to add to my Notos mag detent screws, eliminating the need for thread locker and making tuning the tension a breeze!
Clear Packing Tape Temp Fix
Permanent fix using some 0.006" stainless steel scope base shim stock from Brownells, glued onto the clear cover with CA glue. The black marks are from a Sharpie used to help cut the shape out. I used regular kitchen scissors. Not a single pull back even when trying to force it with a ball end allen key.
It is fun for me to try to fix stuff that is poorly engineered / built and very satisfying when it works. With my normal hourly rate, those mags will be "worth" about $200 each for my time when I am done!
. Single shot It is for me.
