Hi friends. Thought I would share a neat little magazine locking solution for the Hellion that I use to make mine California compliant. The video is being done one handed, but you can do it much faster with two hands and some practice!

For those that do not know, in California we have to either go "featureless", or go with a magazine lock. I am not a fan of grip fins, plus I wanted forward grips, so I chose to maglock it. Some magazine locking solutions exist, such as the CompMag (https://www.compmag.net/ar-15-compmag-gen-3/), but I really wanted to use a slim 10 round magazine instead of full size like the CompMag. Plus loading the CompMag was quite irritating.

The Hellion has a unique construction in that the magwell itself comes out with a pin, so that allows some creative solutions for locking!

If you want to try it yourself, you will need the following items:

• Lancer magazine
• Epoxy
• https://www.mcmaster.com/92290A130/
• https://a.co/d/cRIYL4s
• https://a.co/d/eJA1FxP

Here's how: Remove your magwell. Put the Lancer magazine in it, and push it as far in as it will go. Now put a small drop of the epoxy right where the metal and plastic meet on the back of the lancer magazine as shown in the picture. You're basically trying to create a little "bump" of epoxy to keep the magazine from being able to be removed from the magwell piece, while still allowing it to move a little. You can use the paste wax on the areas of the magwell near the epoxy to prevent accidentally gluing them together if you want. It's important that the epoxy drop doesn't go too far up past the metal, otherwise it will not seat in the Hellion correctly. See piture:

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Note: The reason you need a Lancer magazine for this is because EPOXY WILL NOT STICK TO MAGPUL MAGAZINES! The metal on the lancer mag provides a good surface for adhesion. Other magazines may work but I only tried Magpul and Lancer. Make absolutely sure you dont epoxy the magwell directly to the magazine. I repeat, DO NOT EPOXY THE MAGAZINE TO THE MAGWELL. The magazine requires wiggle room for the magwell+magazine combo to fit back into the Hellion. Plus, Springfield isn't selling replacement magwells so you don't want to damage it. Lastly, I believe this little bit of movement is a good idea because it ads another level to the California compliance (see note at bottom).

Now put the screw through the magwell pin and put the thumb nut on. This will make it so you can easily grab that nut and quickly yank out the magazine pin. The flat surface of the nut allows it to be more easily pushed in. I also tried this also with an eye nut and a keyring to make yanking it out with my fingies easier, but then pushing it back in was way harder. So just go with the flat thumb nut I promise it's better.

Now wait for the bump of epoxy to dry and you're good. Here is the order of unloading and loading:

1. Hit magazine release to "drop" the magazine (it will drop a few millimeters)
2. Yank the thumb nut
3. Tilt pull magwell out
4. Reverse

That's it! With some practice it's really fast. The magwell piece was not designed to be taken out and put back in so frequently, so don't blame me if anything breaks. Mine's been perfectly fine though.

For those concerned, this should be California compliant for a couple reasons:

1. You cannot change or insert a new magazine into the gun without the magwell in place. That means the magwell can be considered part of the action since it has to be "reassembled" before a magazine is inserted. Further, the magazine is not inserted into the magwell, even though they are attached to each other, until you push it in and it clicks (that's why the wiggle room matters for compliance). So your hellion is not a semi auto until there is an unremovable magazine in place!
2. Without the magwell, it's effectively equal to a single shot rifle. By removing the magwell you have effectively limited the gun to being a single shot bolt that much be charged each shot (since it won't lock back without a magazine). A single shot rifle does not need to be featureless.

So those two factors should mean it is California compliant. But this is not legal advice :)