It is not too hard if you know the big secret! With the gun unloaded (duh, hunh) and the action out of the stock, place the action on a non-skid surface with the barrel pointing up and slightly away from you, then using a heavy rubber mallet strike the forward end of the magazine hard enough to dislodge the forward tab and it (the mag) will fall right off. If something else falls off you have more problems than just the mag, hee hee. I have done these and like Savage rifles for their accuracy but think they could have come up with a better box/mag system. Hope this helps. BTW, reinstalling is done in a very similar manner. Just remember the main thing is don't cut yourself on the stupid thing.