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Preferred AR Mags and Replacement Parts

wmg1299

wmg1299

Professional
The majority of my shooting, even before the ammo market went insane, has always been done with handguns and .22 LR rifles. I have purchased and built a few AR platform rifles out of curiosity over the past few years. Just to hedge my bets in case new legislation passes, I'm picking up a few more mags and parts/oops! kits to have on hand.

The government was kind enough to train me on the AR platform, but I have much more experience shooting/cleaning the rifles than building/repairing them. I've always kept Magpul P-Mags for my personal rifles, but was seeking opinions on steel vs. aluminum mags. I was also wondering if most of the parts/oops! kits are made with about the same quality, or if there are any brands that you guys have had problems with?

My AR's are reliable, but are not high-end (Ruger AR, Springfield Saint, and Bear Creek/Palmetto State builds). I do not torture test or abuse any of my guns, and am looking for quality mags and parts that will last for a long time. I'm hesitant to rely too much on Youtube recommendations because I never know who is being paid to promote products vs. honestly reviewing them. Any advice from more dedicated AR shooters would be appreciated.
 
I myself use primarily aluminum Okay Surefeed E2 or Pmags. The Okay mags have stippling dots on them for better grip and they slide in and out of the magwell easier than the Pmags though you can't go wrong either way.

As for oops kits I usually buy more popular brands kits that have brass detents. I haven't run into any issues with oops kits.

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ps.. as far as replacement parts go. I have never needed to replace anything. If I cracked a feed lip, I just toss it in the bin. I run my stuff pretty hard and have never had the occasion to rebuild a magazine.
 
I'm pretty new to the AR platform and I have no experience with USGI or any steel or aluminum magazines. I tried and really wanted to like the Amend 2 30 rd. magazine, but of the 10 I bought only 4 of them would drop free from my rifle. They do drop free from my son in laws pistol though so I gave them to him. I have 20 something gen 2 P Mags and every one of those work perfectly and drop free on their own. So I just run those.
 
Bassbob said:
I'm pretty new to the AR platform and I have no experience with USGI or any steel or aluminum magazines. I tried and really wanted to like the Amend 2 30 rd. magazine, but of the 10 I bought only 4 of them would drop free from my rifle. They do drop free from my son in laws pistol though so I gave them to him. I have 20 something gen 2 P Mags and every one of those work perfectly and drop free on their own. So I just run those.
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I've been tempted by the Amend 2 mags because I constantly see them on sale for $7.99. I don't automatically dismiss something just because it's cheap, but I'm hesitant to buy value-priced stuff unless I have heard or read good things about the product. If I start seeing a lot of posts about the Amend 2 being reliable, then I'll probably pick a few up. I've ordered some Duramags and Okay Surefeeds for the time being.
 
wmg1299 said:
I've been tempted by the Amend 2 mags because I constantly see them on sale for $7.99. I don't automatically dismiss something just because it's cheap, but I'm hesitant to buy value-priced stuff unless I have heard or read good things about the product. If I start seeing a lot of posts about the Amend 2 being reliable, then I'll probably pick a few up. I've ordered some Duramags and Okay Surefeeds for the time being.
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They are pretty solid mags and they function flawlessly. They just don't drop free on their own out of my particular rifle. I think it's worth it to buy a couple and see if they drop out of yours. The Amend 2 drop out of my son in law's AR pistol. He has a pile of Thermold mags that don't work worth a crap in his pistol, but function perfectly in my rifle. I'm just going to stick with the PMags though.
 
KASHIRA-3 said:
ps.. as far as replacement parts go. I have never needed to replace anything. If I cracked a feed lip, I just toss it in the bin. I run my stuff pretty hard and have never had the occasion to rebuild a magazine.
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I hadn't actually thought about getting repair kits for magazines. I picked up a few replacement spring and small parts kits for my rifles in case I lose, break, or wear out one of those parts. I don't trust this congress not to pass restrictive laws at any time, and I want to be able to fix as many parts on my AR's as possible without having to send them off anywhere. Since you brought it up, I may grab a few parts for mags too. I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
 
wmg1299 said:
I hadn't actually thought about getting repair kits for magazines. I picked up a few replacement spring and small parts kits for my rifles in case I lose, break, or wear out one of those parts. I don't trust this congress not to pass restrictive laws at any time, and I want to be able to fix as many parts on my AR's as possible without having to send them off anywhere. Since you brought it up, I may grab a few parts for mags too. I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
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I have a list a guy I know gave me of springs and other small parts that typically wear out. My plan is to stock up on that stuff in case at some point parts become unobtanium.
 
wmg1299 said:
I hadn't actually thought about getting repair kits for magazines. I picked up a few replacement spring and small parts kits for my rifles in case I lose, break, or wear out one of those parts. I don't trust this congress not to pass restrictive laws at any time, and I want to be able to fix as many parts on my AR's as possible without having to send them off anywhere. Since you brought it up, I may grab a few parts for mags too. I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
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Considering that that current availability might be considered endangered. I cant argue with the idea that repairing a magazine may become crucial. My comments were basically historical.. you are probably not off base about our prospects in the future. I yield to your logic
 
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wmg1299 said:
I've been tempted by the Amend 2 mags because I constantly see them on sale for $7.99. I don't automatically dismiss something just because it's cheap, but I'm hesitant to buy value-priced stuff unless I have heard or read good things about the product. If I start seeing a lot of posts about the Amend 2 being reliable, then I'll probably pick a few up. I've ordered some Duramags and Okay Surefeeds for the time being.
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Did you get the SureFeed e2 mags or the standard?
 
I was running Pmags for a long time with my rifles but ending up switching back to Okay Industries steel mags. The main issue I ran into with the Pmags was the material would flex outward when loaded and overtime the mag would not slide as easily as it used to into the mag well. Once in the magwell, I had to pull with a lot of effort to get the mag out. The steel mags never did that to me, I am sure someone, somewhere has had that issue with a steel mag. I also dropped a Pmag and broke the top edge that held the rounds in off. Magpul makes nice stuff but I am sticking with steel or aluminium.
 
I use pmags, hexmags and 2amags. these are also the ones we use for rental guns at the range.
 
I mainly use PMags, Gen 1, Gen2 and 3’s for range mags, but HK mags are in my “go bags”. Have some HexMags, some Troy Battlemags, and others as well rattling around. Have many (100? 200?) USGI from various mfg’s in storage, many with upgraded followers, some without...and have a bunch of followers to upgrade those that don’t.
 
I stay almost exclusively with Pmags (except for my P365) but im not as experienced with others as some of you grizzled vets here =). Haven't had any issues and the Pmags are fairly priced so if it ain't broke, dont fix it, as they say.
 
I was just looking at the Magpul site, and they're currently out of stock on the Pmag 10 round model for 5.56 . Figured they'd have plenty of them, but looks like I figured wrong. 🤔
 
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