Llama Micromax mag drops

[BadKarma]

Greetings and salutations,

I have in my possession a Llama MicroMax .380 that has the most disagreeably bad habit of popping its magazine loose after being fired, sometimes after a single round, sometimes after several. Being short on time when it was first brought to my attention, I took it to a gunsmith. After keeping it for six weeks, he sent it back at no charge, telling me the problem was with the magazine we were using, not the gun itself.

What is annoying me is the fact that this weapon has been tried with a total of four mags; one it came with, one that I had laying around unused, a well used one that I know functions quite well from another weapon, and a new one that came in today. All produce the same results - drops free after a random number of rounds. While I am hardly an expert with these weapons, it seems to me the likelihood of all four mags being defective is greatly surpassed by the probability that its magazine catch is in need of replacement.

My question to the board is: has anyone had any similar problems, and any suggestions for repair beyond catch and spring replacement, and/or taking it to another smith?

Cheers,

 

[kimbernut]

Premature mag drop

Never had that problem on the Micro-max but have seen it several times on the Colt .380s. Always fixed those with a slightly longer mag release spring cut from spring stock bought from Brownells. Cheap fix at under $20 delivered.

 

[jeepmor]

Mags dropping

I don't think this is related since you stated you have tried 4 magazines. But I will share anyway.

When I first started shooting my PT145, I dropped the mag out because of a poor grip. When I was squeezing the trigger, my thumb was over the release. And the magazine dropped as I squeezed off the round due to my grip tightening on the handle. I corrected it and have not had an issue since.

I can only hope this is the same problem for you, because it would be the easiest to fix.

jeepmor