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Anyone use a stainless mag follower?

Bathrobeman

.270 WIN
Hey y'all, new in town.
Do any of y'all have any experience with M-Carbo's stainless magazine followers? Is it even really worth it to replace the plastic one if it's not giving you any trouble?
They advertise "smoother feeding" but I wonder one can tell the differences or if it's just good marketing and placebo affect?
I'm using their trigger springs and they turned out nice. So what do y'all think?
Thanks
https://www.mcarbo.com/12-ga-stainless-steel-magazine-follower.aspx
 
I have the GG&G stainless follower in my 930 SPX. I can't tell any difference. I had no problem with the factory follower. If I had it to do over again, I'd just leave it alone.
 
I have the GG&G stainless follower in my 930 SPX. I can't tell any difference. I had no problem with the factory follower. If I had it to do over again, I'd just leave it alone.
Thanks Pawpaw, I was kinda thinking it might end up like that. Supposedly the mcarbo is so good because the follower is deeper.
Where in TX are you? I'm in colllege station.

But I see GG&G claims the same. https://www.gggaz.com/mossberg-590-shotgun-follower.html

Stainless followers must be the "cold air intakes" of the firearm world.
 
I have never used one of the stainless steel followers. And while stainless steel is strong, I think it's over-kill for a mag follower because it's never going to see anything close to its' strength rating just loading and cycling a couple of shells.

With that said, I have made a few 6061 aluminum followers.

Aluminum is lighter than stainless, is much stronger than plastic, and overall corrosion resistant.

And while I own several guns with plastic followers that I have never had a problem with, I'm old fashioned and I am not very fond of plastic followers.

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Same follower in my 1985 500 for 33 years. Went exotic with it back in the 90's. Took it out and spray painted it flo orange to save on buying an orange follower. Needs to be touched up every 10,000 rounds or so, but I can still see if the tube is empty by the bright brass shell. ;)
 
I usually know I'm empty when it quits firing..
I wasn't so much worried about it breaking, but they almost got me with the "smoother feeding" line the try to sell.
 
I run S&J polymer followers in my Mossberg 500 and Rem 870's. I believe they are an upgrade over the factory followers. I have read stories about the stainless aftermarket followers binding in mag tubes.
 
I recently replaced the follower in my Remington 870, but the Remington follower is far easier to change out.

I bought one on eBay that has a stainless steel body with a red anodized (aluminum) piece mounted in the middle.
I was rather impressed with how it was made the aluminum piece was screwed into the stainless steel body of the follower.

I believe I paid $26(shipped) for it they make a similar piece for a Mossberg and I'm thinking about getting one.

Frankly I thought of making one myself (I do own a lathe) but for the time involved....

There were also other "pretty" followers on eBay Made of various materials, mostly brightly anodized aluminum,
but there was one made of Brass.

ALL are far nicer than the cheap plastic followers...

My brother understood INSTANTLY what my issue was with a brass follower

They are mostly a showy "show-off piece" that for the most part will NEVER bee seen by others!
 
I installed a MCARBO stainless follower in my 500. I did find the stock follower bind. I also did not like it's dark color as it made it harder to see if the magazine was empty. The stainless stands out better. If I see brass I have a non-empty mag. Silver, empty mag. With the old one black told me it's either empty or not enough light to tell.

-- Mark
 
I've made a few other followers to replace the plastic ones over time. Besides the one above. I try to keep the face of them similar to whatever shape or contour the factory follower is. Though the Rem 870 follower that I posted above are probably the hardest because it's nothing more than a rounded bump and round shapes are hard to replicate on a hobby lathe.

The ones below are much more simple to make. These are for a couple of Turkish guns.

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I just installed the MCARBO follower. For $13.46 I thought I would give it a try. Looks like it’s a quality product, installation was easy, looks great and works great. Didn’t really need one but I’m thinking I’m never going to have to worry about the magazine follower again.
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I contacted MCARBO a month or so ago and they have discontinued their mag tube follower. They cited lack of sales. It’s too bad because I really like mine for my Mossy pump guns. I have 4 of them. I installed another 2 in my 930’s but they cause a “hard to load” issue every once in a while. If anyone wants one for their Mossy pump guns let me know. $10 each and I’ll mail it to you if you are in the contiguous 48 states. They are now a collectors item!
 
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