 | I guess this whole project started when I purchased my PT 709. It's really a great concealed carry gun. I liked it so much I joined the taurusarmed.net forums and started trying to participate. The only thing I didn't like was that my pinky was left dangling off the grip, but I'd heard from several sites that Taurus was going to come out with 9 round extended magazines. I figured the forum was a great place to stay on top of magazine availability news. Well, a few months down the line I heard that Taurus USA ordered some regular mags, but no word on whether extended mags would ever show up. Sick of my poor pinky not having a comfortable place to go, I set out to design a mag extension. Unfortunately I have no experience with this, so it took me about a month to get a workable design going. The picture to the left shows a screen grab of the 3d design. |
So I started looking into getting prototypes made and it most certainly isn't cheap. I shopped around for a while and finally found a place that was about 2/3 the price of everyone else. I ordered the prototypes and after only about a week wait, they arrived at my door. I went to put them on and they were a little tight. I started worrying about the dimensions and the quality of my measurements. I got the extension on and inserted the mag into the gun. Perfect fit. I really couldn't believe it. There were two sharp corners in the rear that that had to be dealt with, but that was it. Pictures of the prototype below. Text continues after the images.
 |  |
A couple of things should be pointed out about the prototype. It was created by a process called fused depositation modeling. Because of the way this process works, the prototype has a fairly rough finish. Production of the design with injection molding will result in a smooth matte finish. Also, there is slight corner on the back of the prototype. You can see it in the top of the photo that's on the right above. I've fixed these two back corners in the design, and everything else was perfect. I sent the design off to several places and got some quotes back. The problem with injection molding is that it has really high start up costs so I sent a prototype off to Taurus USA. I hoped they would be able to produce it far cheaper and be able to sell it to more people. Unfortunately, I never heard back from them or anyone else I have contacted, so now I'm trying to put together an order on my own. And to finish things off, here are a few more pics showing off the extension.
 |  |
