# Loading the 21-A Magazine



## bluesman77 (Mar 15, 2020)

_I've been having problems w/ my 21-A FTF, FTE w/ anything other than CCI Stingers. After the dust settles to find some CCI Min Mags in high velocity & hoping they work. I watched a video a couple of months ago in which a gentleman explained how important it is to get the rims on the shells to be lined-up edge to edge rather than staggered - edge under edge. I have enough trouble w/ my old fingers loading anyhow & not exactly sure how to do that w/ the rims touching rather than under each other. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. When the pistol was new, almost 25 yrs. ago, I don't recall having any problems. The gun was for my wife & probably hasn't had 300 rounds through it._


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## SSGN_Doc (Mar 12, 2020)

My 21A was kind of picky when it was new (Also about 25 years ago). Mine probably has a few bricks worth of ammo through it now. It seems to have gotten a little less picky with age and break in. It still prefers high velocity ammo, but I can get it to feed some of the bulk stuff too when it is clean and lubed up. I use a little Tetra grease on the ends of the recoil spring cams, where they engage the slide and the pivots on the frame. It is supposed to “condition” the metal a bit. I know a lot of lubes claim to do this. Don’t know if it’s true, but the pistol always seems a little smoother when I clean it and lube it this way instead of just using my standard CLP for everything on it.

might just be my imagination though.

also if you haven’t taken the mags apart and given them a good cleaning, that might be a good idea as well. Wax and residue can build up in those little mags pretty fast.


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## bluesman77 (Mar 15, 2020)

Thank you. Since I have plenty of time on my hands - I'll give it whirl. Winter has returned to NE OH - so it might be a day or two before I can test out things.



SSGN_Doc said:


> My 21A was kind of picky when it was new (Also about 25 years ago). Mine probably has a few bricks worth of ammo through it now. It seems to have gotten a little less picky with age and break in. It still prefers high velocity ammo, but I can get it to feed some of the bulk stuff too when it is clean and lubed up. I use a little Tetra grease on the ends of the recoil spring cams, where they engage the slide and the pivots on the frame. It is supposed to "condition" the metal a bit. I know a lot of lubes claim to do this. Don't know if it's true, but the pistol always seems a little smoother when I clean it and lube it this way instead of just using my standard CLP for everything on it.
> 
> might just be my imagination though.
> 
> also if you haven't taken the mags apart and given them a good cleaning, that might be a good idea as well. Wax and residue can build up in those little mags pretty fast.


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## bluesman77 (Mar 15, 2020)

_Still curious, anybody pay attention to the relationship of the rims to each other?_



SSGN_Doc said:


> My 21A was kind of picky when it was new (Also about 25 years ago). Mine probably has a few bricks worth of ammo through it now. It seems to have gotten a little less picky with age and break in. It still prefers high velocity ammo, but I can get it to feed some of the bulk stuff too when it is clean and lubed up. I use a little Tetra grease on the ends of the recoil spring cams, where they engage the slide and the pivots on the frame. It is supposed to "condition" the metal a bit. I know a lot of lubes claim to do this. Don't know if it's true, but the pistol always seems a little smoother when I clean it and lube it this way instead of just using my standard CLP for everything on it.
> 
> might just be my imagination though.
> 
> also if you haven't taken the mags apart and given them a good cleaning, that might be a good idea as well. Wax and residue can build up in those little mags pretty fast.


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## SSGN_Doc (Mar 12, 2020)

bluesman77 said:


> _Still curious, anybody pay attention to the relationship of the rims to each other?_


i only casually pay attention to rim orientation, when loading. I do tend to load on a table top. The follower angle helps tip the rounds with a slight "nose-up" orientation. This tends to hep guild the round into the mag in a manner that seats the rim forward of the previous rim, almost automatically.


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## bluesman77 (Mar 15, 2020)

_Wow...that makes perfect sense - better than the way I have been using. Can't wait to try that - thank you!_



SSGN_Doc said:


> i only casually pay attention to rim orientation, when loading. I do tend to load on a table top. The follower angle helps tip the rounds with a slight "nose-up" orientation. This tends to hep guild the round into the mag in a manner that seats the rim forward of the previous rim, almost automatically.


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