AusVarmint

Have been thinking about modifying the trigger guard so that it is nearly flush with the wood work and take a 3 round mag. Was put off by having to modify the magazines. This style is available in the 527 M1 version from the US, not seen widely here and I hadn't seen the mags for sale as spares. Always used to notice the 5 shot mag catching me in the back when rifle was slung across my back and bouncing across rough ground on the quad.
Then a couple of mags came up for sale on Used Guns still in packaging so bought them and committed to the changeover. The hardest part was making the first cut with the hacksaw . After some measuring, looking, remeasuring, looking, taking a deep breath it was hacksaw away. Like most jobs the longer you look and plan the easier it seems to get.
I cut wide of my marks and did a bit extra filing to shape and finish with emery paper. Couple of hours work and it came up ok. Waiting on some blueing chemicals to finish it off. Sits well in the hand with the flusher mag but still takes a 5 shot mag no problems. More pics to come.
Bruce

The mag release sits flush with bottom of mag so fits just right. 5 shot mag is still tight and no different to use.
A pity they only make the 3 shot mags in 223 size otherwise the 20 VT on its 222 size mag (a bit shorter) would get modified as well.

Bruce

Good Job
That looks way betterer
I look forward to the finnished Fotos know

Nice tidy work there Bruce. Looking forward to seeing tje finished product after the blueing.

Very nice Bruce, I did a similar thing with my old fox mod 2, but I had to cut the mags down, and that took a lot of stuffing around, lots of fiddly work with files to get it to hold the cases as well as feed, it didn’t look quite as neat as yours though . Mags weee cheap then, only 25 bucks

Real good job there Bruce, pays to be a handyman. The factory flush bottom metal and three round magazine were $285 some 10 or more years ago, this pic shows the Calhoun single shot adaptor I used at the time too.

Impressive work there Bruce - well done. Think I've seen a rifle like that somewhere else.
Barry