Every once in a while, I seem to bump into posts about people having problems with their P-3AT +1 Magazine Extensions. I thought I would post some info on what I did to mine that got them working 100%. While this info is for the P-3AT, it should apply to the P-32 as well.
A common problem is that after the factory +1 Extension is installed, the capacity doesn't increase. This is due to the bottom of the follower hanging up on the top ridge of the aluminum base. To solve the problem, carefully install your extension without the steel floorplate, using your thumb or finger to keep the spring inside the mag tube as you slide the base on. Here is a pic:
Once in place, use one hand to hold the base in place (it may start to pop off without the floorplate to retain it), then start loading it with ammo (or snap caps if you have them). As you load, watch the inside of the mag tube from the small opening on the back of the mag normally covered by the steel floorplate. You may need a flashlight to see inside. After loading the penultimate round, you may see the left side of the follower hang up on the base. Here is a pic of essentially what is happening:
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Once you can see the problem, unload and disassemble the magazine, then carefully round off the part of the follower that is hanging up with some fine grit sandpaper. The idea here is to round the edge a little so it slides over the lip of the base. Repeat the experiment and see if the follower consistently clears the lip. If not, you may need to round the edge some more. At some point, it may be necessary to round off the lip on the aluminum base a little too. Try and solve the problem without sanding the aluminum, but don't remove too much plastic either. I wish I could be more specific on how much plastic to remove before starting on the base, but it is sort of a judgment call. You should now be able to fully load all the rounds in the magazine as anticipated, and still get the mag to snap into the magwell. If the spring is too stiff, loading/unloading the mag repeatedly may help a bit.
Another problem is the steel floorplate hanging up on the hammer spring catch when mag is being inserted into the magwell. I have read of a few people who have tried to bend the floorplate more to make it stick out less, but this often results in a broken floorplate. Another solution is to sand the hammer spring catch; that may stop the hanging up, but the plate is still sloppy and loose, which was the cause of the problem to begin with. A loose floorplate may snag on your pocket, allow lots of lint into your magazine, or snag unexpectedly on the hammer spring catch when you aren't being careful (like in an emergency). My solution is to flatten the raised flange in the middle of the floorplate slightly so that it fills the entire hole in the aluminum base, and thus can no longer move around. Here is an illustration:
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To bend the flange, cover the floorplate (top/bottom) with a cotton cleaning patch, then gently use a pliers to compress the flange down toward the rest of the floorplate. Here is a pic:
Be extremely careful here; a little bit of bending goes a long way, and over bending the flange will almost certainly result in breakage when you try and push it back out! Bend a tiny bit, then check the fit, etc. It should only snap into place at the very last part of the base plate's travel onto the mag tube. That should stop the slop and hanging up on insertion!
