Drop-Away Floorplates

“DROP AWAY” FLOORPLATES. . . MAKING A GOOD THING BETTER

Ten-round mags not falling out like they’re supposed to? We hate that.
Shooting USPSA’s “Limited 10” division (which requires 10-round mags), taught us some hard lessons about the 9mm and .40 S&W 10-round magazines.

1. They don’t drop properly

Drop-Away floorplate on a Glock 22

Drop-Away floorplate on a Glock 22

Nothing is more aggravating than stopping a speed reload to strip out a misbehaving magazine – particularly when you’re in the middle of a match. It costs time, it rattles your plan, and just shouldn’t happen.

To combat this problem, I designed the “Drop-Away” floorplate – a solid brass (weighted) floorplate that helps force your magazines to drop away. The “Drop-Away” floorplate closely resembles the old Glock “+2” floorplate in profile, but is actually a “+0” model. Our design makes full use of Glock’s locking sub-floorplate, guaranteeing it will stay securely in place.

A surprise benefit, the Drop-Away works wonderfully on the Glock 26/27.

 

2. They’re finicky

Drop-Away floorplate with Seattle Slug in place

Drop-Away floorplate with Seattle Slug in place

There are now a couple versions of the 9mm 10-rounders, and I learned the hard way that some of the early ones don’t like 147-grain flat points. Other shooters may have experienced different results, but the 147-grain flat points that work wonderfully in my hi-cap mags jam roughly 1 round in 10 if I use them in my 10-round mags.

The .40’s, however, run just fine, and will actually take the long bullets that work so well with non-drop-free magazines. (I’ve shot quite a few 195- and 200-grainers loaded out to 1.170, but I settled on 1.150 OAL in order to get along with my newer mags.)

COMPETITION READY

While these are “the cat’s pajamas” for pin shooting, steel shooting, and USPSA’s Limited-10 division, they’re too heavy for use in IDPA, which restricts the weight of the floorplate to one ounce, and no more. (See our “Bling” floorplates, if you shoot IDPA.) These weigh more than three ounces each.

For shooters using a large magazine well like the Lightning Strike, JP, or California Competition Works, extended plates like ours are mission-critical equipment. Without them, you can’t seat the magazine (except by using your fingertips).

If you opt to shoot “Limited 10” (which we highly recommend), these floorplates give your 10-rounders most of the speed, and all the weight of the 10-rounder’s high-capacity parents.

This part is the parent of our new “Speed Wedge” for the CZ-75, Caracal, and others. It sets the standard for speedy, reliable reloads.

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