[jwfilion]

I was asked by a good friend to "fix" his .22, a Squires Bingham model 16, the one that looks like an M16. It seems that it will not pick up the last shell in the magazine. Looking at it from the side profile, there is a distinct difference between the angle of the shells with a full clip and with a single shell. As the magazine empties, the point rises and the rim sinks to a point that the rim of the last shell is too low for the bolt to contact it. He said it always had this problem since he first inherited the gun. It seems that the spring is not pushing upward evenly on both ends of the shell. I don't like the idea of taking it apart. Is it possible that the tabs at the top of the magazine are too far apart to keep the shells at the same angle under different spring tension? Should I try tapping the front of the tabs closer to keep the shells at the same angle? Of course I mean the front on the rear tabs that hold the shells in the magazine. I'm not sure how available these magazines are and I don't wish to screw this one up anymore that nessessary.
If photos are needed, let me know and I'll try to find my camera. Any response will be greatly appreciated.

[DrumJunkie]

Floor plate bent?

[axxe55]

or possibly a weak magazine spring?

[DrumJunkie]

Floor plate?
I meant follower...man I need to get a fresh pot of coffee

[Catfish]

Another vote for weak mag. spring.

[Flatman6]

Could the follower be installed backwards? Is there a natural slope to the follower, because if so, it could be placed backwards giving an improper slant to the loaded cartridges.

[hiwall]

Don't bend the lips of the mag.
Take the mag apart to see if the follower moves freely all the way. On most mags it is impossible to put the follower in backwards. You could try stretching out the spring a LITTLE bit.

[jwfilion]

To be honest, I thought the spring was weak. The tabs look o.k. and the follower is inserted the correct way. I was actually thinking of soldering a thin piece of steel onto the follower on top of the rim end to raise the rim enough to contact the bolt. I thought the additional shim would also increase spring tension, to a point. The fact is, I'll still have to take it apart and I have no idea what to expect with this type of magazine. I'll check first to see if I can get a spare, just in case.
Thank you all for your quick response.

[nitestalker]

That is not bad for a Squires Bingham, it is running 99% of time.

[jwfilion]

Well...I think I fixed the magazine. After close inspection, I saw that one of the lips that actually holds the shells in was slightly bent outwards and allowing the shells to rise a bit more towards the point and the rim ends to drop, so I bent it inward and now the bolt picks up the last shell.
I discovered something interesting. Stamped in small letters on the side of the actual magazine are the words "USE HIGH..." The actual magazine goes into the fake, larger one at that point and any remaining words are not visible.
Could the lettering say "USE HIGH POWER or HIGH VELOCITY ROUNDS"? If I'm getting this right, is it possible that this is the reason my friend is getting a lot of jamming? He got a whole box (500) of Remington .22 SUBSONIC hollow point shells and is using them exclusively.
Is it not logical that using low power shells in a semi-auto meant for high power shells would tend to cause jamming? I would be interested in your thoughts on this.