If you’ve ever wondered how to disassemble a Glock magazine, you’ve landed in the right place. While the concept and steps for taking apart a Glock magazine are pretty straight forward, actually doing it can be a little more complicated. That’s why we’re explaining how to disassemble a Glock magazine, along with some tips and tricks to make it easier.

Parts of a Glock Magazine

First, in order to take apart the magazine, we need to know what each of the parts. The Glock magazine parts are:

• Tube – the shaft or body of the magazine
• Follower – the piece that cartridges sit on, which guides them into the chamber
• Spring – pushes up on the follower so it can feed the cartridges into the chamber
• Insert or Lock Plate – the piece that sits between the spring and floor plate, locking the magazine together
• Floor Plate – the base of the magazine

Glock Magazine Disassembly: Tools Needed

Now that you know your magazine parts, you’ll need to gather everything you’ll need to disassemble one. The most important thing you’ll need, other than the magazine itself of course, is some kind of punch tool. This could be a Glock Armorer Tool, a punch that is sized from 3/32″ up to 5/32″, or any other tool that is narrow enough to fit in the hole on the floor plate.

You may also consider wearing safety glasses. That’s because the magazine’s spring will be under pressure when you slide the floor plate off, and could potentially launch pieces of the magazine at your face. As shooters, our eyesight is pretty important, so let’s protect it as much as we can.

How to Disassemble a Glock Magazine

No matter what caliber or how many rounds your Glock magazine holds, Glock magazines are disassembled the same way. Let’s break down the steps to take a part the magazine.

1. Punch Hole in Floor Plate

Locate the detent button and hole on the floor plate. This button is attached to the lock plate, which you must be depress in order to slide the floor plate off. You will use the punch to depress the button. The best technique is to punch the button hard and quickly. 

2. Use Leverage to Unlock Floor Plate

While the button is still depressed, you will use the punch to leverage the floor plate in the direction of the front of the magazine. You should hear a pop, and the floor plate should then start sliding off the magazine tube. 

This is probably the trickiest part of disassembling a Glock magazine. It helps to know what is going on inside the magazine and how the floor plate is locked onto the tube. 

If you look down at your magazine to where the magazine tube meets the floor plate, you will see notches on either side of the tube holding the floor plate in place. In order to get the floor plate off, there must be enough force applied when using the punch’s leverage. It may help to squeeze the sides of the magazine tube inward if you have enough grip strength.

It also helps to know what is going on inside the magazine during this process. When the punch hits the lock plate inside the magazine, it causes the lock plate to slide down in front of the spring. This gives the punch something to get leverage on when attempting to slide the floor plate off.

You will know this step has worked when the floor plate starts to slide off.

3. Place Thumb on Spring and Slide Floor Plate Forward

Next, you will slide the floor plate forward. The spring will still be under pressure, so you’ll want to place your thumb on it to ensure it doesn’t send parts flying out of the magazine. No one likes to crawl around looking for gun parts that were launched, after all.

4. Remove the Spring

Finally, with the floor plate removed, you’ll be able to easily remove the spring and follower from the magazine. The lock plate will also be in the magazine tube, so be sure to remove it as well.

There you have it —  you’ve disassembled your Glock magazine!

How to Reassemble a Glock Magazine

Luckily, reassembling the magazine isn’t too difficult. Return the spring to the magazine, then place the lock plate on top of the spring in the correct orientation. Press down on the lock plate, depressing the spring, and slide the floor plate back on to the magazine tube. It should lock in place and you should see the button back in the hole on the floor plate.

Now that you know how to take apart your Glock magazine, you can easily clean it or replace parts as needed.