RandomHero
Custom
As there are many manufacturers out there now making AR-15 5.56 magazines which ones do you use? Which ones have you tested by various means, and have been reliable? I personally like the Hex-Mags and P-Mags.
Which AR mags do you run?
- Thread starter RandomHero
- Start date
I don't have much of a dog in this fight (or maybe I have *all* the dogs in this fight?)....
I have a mix of Okay Industries Surefeed aluminum, PMags (mostly Gen M2, with the exception of a few 40-rounders and a couple of D60s), and Lancer L5AWMs.
I'll use them until they go bust, and just put it in the circular file.
For polymer-plastic mags, I'd be comfortable with PMags (either Gen M2 or M3s that you've proven seats in your gun - the overinsertion stop is problematic with certain lowers), Troy Battlemag or TangoDown ARC Mk2 mags. I know that HK makes a poly 5.56/.223 AR mag, too, but I honestly don't know much about them. Based on reports via M4Carbine.net and P&S, I would -NOT- go with any other polymer mags other than Troy, TangoDown, and PMags.
There's always tides of popularity where it comes to aluminum versus polymer mags. A lot of good knowledge is to be had by searching up those old posts and looking at those debates. Here's one such thread from 2011: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?81074-Move-back-to-GI-magazines-a-journey .
One of the stand-out posts on M4C.net from 2014 was when Vickers advised folks to pick up aluminum USGI mags while the price was right and the getting was good, as they remain to this day the only ones to have *_really_* stood the test of time (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?145532-Now-is-the-time-to-stockpile-magazines). Larry Vickers caught a lot of smack on that M4C thread for suggesting that to-date, only USGI aluminum ones have withstood the test of time. But really, this isn't that far from the truth, isn't it? I mean, PMags have been around for going on some 2 decades, now (and at the time of that post, close to a decade and a half), discounting the various generational revisions, but how long have aluminum USGIs been around for, right? I've got a decent number of PMags, as I truly believe that their polymer formulation is on-point, but I also have a few of these Okay/Surefeeds cached as a just-in-case. Everything else is academic, but Vickers' point that we have first-hand proof that aluminum magazines withstand the test of time is logic that is hard to go against.......
But as with anything else in the shooting sports/industry that is "cyclical" in nature (i.e. point-shooting versus sighted, caliber-vs.-capacity), these trends come and go, and return yet again.
Similar debates raged on the P&S FB Groups from the Q1 2016 period on PMags.
Consensus from that period of intense debate on the aluminum "USGI" mags is that OKAY/NHMTG/Colt magazines are among the best of the genre, followed closely by or equivalent to (depending on who you ask and their personal experience) the D&H (BCM/Brownells/PSA/DSG - these are all D&H mags), with C-Products, Bushmaster and others trailing significantly behind. Today, with the bargain-basement cost of the D&H mags, it's almost stupid to not stock-up, regardless of any of our personal beliefs as to whether aluminum or ploy happens to be superior.
Wanna split the difference?
Lancer L5AWM for hybrid. Some folks don't like them because these tend to fail the field-expedient "slap on the bottom of the mag, see if rounds pop out the top" test - I'm OK with that: yes, it does happen. Regardless, avoid non-AWM models that are still hanging around in the secondary market. There's also a manufacturer's notice regarding a specific time-point during which their followers were "non-conforming" - avoid those dates as well: https://lancer-systems.com/awc/3_15follower/ - As this post shows (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/extended-cap-magazines-do-you.270/#post-4237) I use a set of ten L5AWMs that I purchased in 2012 or so for my primary range beaters (I also have a set of ten GenM2 PMags for the same purpose, I usually go to classes with all of them loaded, M193s for the former, M855s for the latter) after I got turned on to them by a few police-officer friends whom I highly respect. I will come right out and say, however, that there have been several big players in the game (i.e. London Metro, Poland, and some other Scandinavian countries, IIRC) who have dropped them in favor of Gen M3 PMags, and it stands well to remember that the L5AWMs finished dead last in the USMC's tests a few years ago - the same ones that saw the adaptation of the Gen M3 PMags into current service.
If torture is your thing, go steel - go HK. You pay in terms of money and weight, but these are very, very highly regarded. That said, there are naysayers here as well, citing the same "baseplate whack" failures that's seen of the Lancers (above). Their cost alone typically keeps all but the most Gucci shooters away from these mags. E-Landers are another viable one in this category, and they were all the rage during the last craze, but honestly, I don't think they're worth it given the ready availability and low price of both quality aluminum and poly mags these days.
The market's good for buying, now - but whatever you buy, you need to properly vet through your specific ARs. Not all ARs "like" all magazines equally, be this something as simple as just how "drop free" the magazines are (the main reason why I switched to the L5AWMs from GenM2 PMags was because my then [c.2012] range/training gun, a Daniel Defense M4V5LW is a bit more reluctant to drop-free empty PMags) or whether a death-stick full of 30 will seat on a closed bolt...to something even more importing like whether the magazine will seat reliably at all (i.e. GenM3 Magpul's overinsertion stop).
And towards this, training classes are where my magazines are vetted. So far, I've not had any issues with any of the magazines I listed as in-use above (Okay Surefeed aluminum, GenM2 and M3 PMags, or Lancer L5AWMs).
I have a mix of Okay Industries Surefeed aluminum, PMags (mostly Gen M2, with the exception of a few 40-rounders and a couple of D60s), and Lancer L5AWMs.
I'll use them until they go bust, and just put it in the circular file.
For polymer-plastic mags, I'd be comfortable with PMags (either Gen M2 or M3s that you've proven seats in your gun - the overinsertion stop is problematic with certain lowers), Troy Battlemag or TangoDown ARC Mk2 mags. I know that HK makes a poly 5.56/.223 AR mag, too, but I honestly don't know much about them. Based on reports via M4Carbine.net and P&S, I would -NOT- go with any other polymer mags other than Troy, TangoDown, and PMags.
There's always tides of popularity where it comes to aluminum versus polymer mags. A lot of good knowledge is to be had by searching up those old posts and looking at those debates. Here's one such thread from 2011: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?81074-Move-back-to-GI-magazines-a-journey .
One of the stand-out posts on M4C.net from 2014 was when Vickers advised folks to pick up aluminum USGI mags while the price was right and the getting was good, as they remain to this day the only ones to have *_really_* stood the test of time (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?145532-Now-is-the-time-to-stockpile-magazines). Larry Vickers caught a lot of smack on that M4C thread for suggesting that to-date, only USGI aluminum ones have withstood the test of time. But really, this isn't that far from the truth, isn't it? I mean, PMags have been around for going on some 2 decades, now (and at the time of that post, close to a decade and a half), discounting the various generational revisions, but how long have aluminum USGIs been around for, right? I've got a decent number of PMags, as I truly believe that their polymer formulation is on-point, but I also have a few of these Okay/Surefeeds cached as a just-in-case. Everything else is academic, but Vickers' point that we have first-hand proof that aluminum magazines withstand the test of time is logic that is hard to go against.......
But as with anything else in the shooting sports/industry that is "cyclical" in nature (i.e. point-shooting versus sighted, caliber-vs.-capacity), these trends come and go, and return yet again.
Similar debates raged on the P&S FB Groups from the Q1 2016 period on PMags.
Consensus from that period of intense debate on the aluminum "USGI" mags is that OKAY/NHMTG/Colt magazines are among the best of the genre, followed closely by or equivalent to (depending on who you ask and their personal experience) the D&H (BCM/Brownells/PSA/DSG - these are all D&H mags), with C-Products, Bushmaster and others trailing significantly behind. Today, with the bargain-basement cost of the D&H mags, it's almost stupid to not stock-up, regardless of any of our personal beliefs as to whether aluminum or ploy happens to be superior.
Wanna split the difference?
Lancer L5AWM for hybrid. Some folks don't like them because these tend to fail the field-expedient "slap on the bottom of the mag, see if rounds pop out the top" test - I'm OK with that: yes, it does happen. Regardless, avoid non-AWM models that are still hanging around in the secondary market. There's also a manufacturer's notice regarding a specific time-point during which their followers were "non-conforming" - avoid those dates as well: https://lancer-systems.com/awc/3_15follower/ - As this post shows (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/extended-cap-magazines-do-you.270/#post-4237) I use a set of ten L5AWMs that I purchased in 2012 or so for my primary range beaters (I also have a set of ten GenM2 PMags for the same purpose, I usually go to classes with all of them loaded, M193s for the former, M855s for the latter) after I got turned on to them by a few police-officer friends whom I highly respect. I will come right out and say, however, that there have been several big players in the game (i.e. London Metro, Poland, and some other Scandinavian countries, IIRC) who have dropped them in favor of Gen M3 PMags, and it stands well to remember that the L5AWMs finished dead last in the USMC's tests a few years ago - the same ones that saw the adaptation of the Gen M3 PMags into current service.
If torture is your thing, go steel - go HK. You pay in terms of money and weight, but these are very, very highly regarded. That said, there are naysayers here as well, citing the same "baseplate whack" failures that's seen of the Lancers (above). Their cost alone typically keeps all but the most Gucci shooters away from these mags. E-Landers are another viable one in this category, and they were all the rage during the last craze, but honestly, I don't think they're worth it given the ready availability and low price of both quality aluminum and poly mags these days.
The market's good for buying, now - but whatever you buy, you need to properly vet through your specific ARs. Not all ARs "like" all magazines equally, be this something as simple as just how "drop free" the magazines are (the main reason why I switched to the L5AWMs from GenM2 PMags was because my then [c.2012] range/training gun, a Daniel Defense M4V5LW is a bit more reluctant to drop-free empty PMags) or whether a death-stick full of 30 will seat on a closed bolt...to something even more importing like whether the magazine will seat reliably at all (i.e. GenM3 Magpul's overinsertion stop).
And towards this, training classes are where my magazines are vetted. So far, I've not had any issues with any of the magazines I listed as in-use above (Okay Surefeed aluminum, GenM2 and M3 PMags, or Lancer L5AWMs).
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RandomHero
Custom
The Troy Battle Mags, I have heard those are not very durable. Have you tested them with a drop test and so on? I have heard they will spew rounds out when dropped.I don't have much of a dog in this fight (or maybe I have *all* the dogs in this fight?)....
I have a mix of Okay Industries Surefeed aluminum, PMags (mostly Gen M2, with the exception of a few 40-rounders and a couple of D60s), and Lancer L5AWMs.
I'll use them until they go bust, and just put it in the circular file.
For polymer-plastic mags, I'd be comfortable with PMags (either Gen M2 or M3s that you've proven seats in your gun - the overinsertion stop is problematic with certain lowers), Troy Battlemag or TangoDown ARC Mk2 mags. I know that HK makes a poly 5.56/.223 AR mag, too, but I honestly don't know much about them. Based on reports via M4Carbine.net and P&S, I would -NOT- go with any other polymer mags other than Troy, TangoDown, and PMags.
There's always tides of popularity where it comes to aluminum versus polymer mags. A lot of good knowledge is to be had by searching up those old posts and looking at those debates. Here's one such thread from 2011: https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?81074-Move-back-to-GI-magazines-a-journey .
One of the stand-out posts on M4C.net from 2014 was when Vickers advised folks to pick up aluminum USGI mags while the price was right and the getting was good, as they remain to this day the only ones to have *_really_* stood the test of time (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?145532-Now-is-the-time-to-stockpile-magazines). Larry Vickers caught a lot of smack on that M4C thread for suggesting that to-date, only USGI aluminum ones have withstood the test of time. But really, this isn't that far from the truth, isn't it? I mean, PMags have been around for going on some 2 decades, now (and at the time of that post, close to a decade and a half), discounting the various generational revisions, but how long have aluminum USGIs been around for, right? I've got a decent number of PMags, as I truly believe that their polymer formulation is on-point, but I also have a few of these Okay/Surefeeds cached as a just-in-case. Everything else is academic, but Vickers' point that we have first-hand proof that aluminum magazines withstand the test of time is logic that is hard to go against.......
But as with anything else in the shooting sports/industry that is "cyclical" in nature (i.e. point-shooting versus sighted, caliber-vs.-capacity), these trends come and go, and return yet again.
Similar debates raged on the P&S FB Groups from the Q1 2016 period on PMags.
Consensus from that period of intense debate on the aluminum "USGI" mags is that OKAY/NHMTG/Colt magazines are among the best of the genre, followed closely by or equivalent to (depending on who you ask and their personal experience) the D&H (BCM/Brownells/PSA/DSG - these are all D&H mags), with C-Products, Bushmaster and others trailing significantly behind. Today, with the bargain-basement cost of the D&H mags, it's almost stupid to not stock-up, regardless of any of our personal beliefs as to whether aluminum or ploy happens to be superior.
Wanna split the difference?
Lancer L5AWM for hybrid. Some folks don't like them because these tend to fail the field-expedient "slap on the bottom of the mag, see if rounds pop out the top" test - I'm OK with that: yes, it does happen. Regardless, avoid non-AWM models that are still hanging around in the secondary market. There's also a manufacturer's notice regarding a specific time-point during which their followers were "non-conforming" - avoid those dates as well: https://lancer-systems.com/awc/3_15follower/ - As this post shows (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/extended-cap-magazines-do-you.270/#post-4237) I use a set of ten L5AWMs that I purchased in 2012 or so for my primary range beaters (I also have a set of ten GenM2 PMags for the same purpose, I usually go to classes with all of them loaded, M193s for the former, M855s for the latter) after I got turned on to them by a few police-officer friends whom I highly respect. I will come right out and say, however, that there have been several big players in the game (i.e. London Metro, Poland, and some other Scandinavian countries, IIRC) who have dropped them in favor of Gen M3 PMags, and it stands well to remember that the L5AWMs finished dead last in the USMC's tests a few years ago - the same ones that saw the adaptation of the Gen M3 PMags into current service.
If torture is your thing, go steel - go HK. You pay in terms of money and weight, but these are very, very highly regarded. That said, there are naysayers here as well, citing the same "baseplate whack" failures that's seen of the Lancers (above). Their cost alone typically keeps all but the most Gucci shooters away from these mags. E-Landers are another viable one in this category, and they were all the rage during the last craze, but honestly, I don't think they're worth it given the ready availability and low price of both quality aluminum and poly mags these days.
The market's good for buying, now - but whatever you buy, you need to properly vet through your specific ARs. Not all ARs "like" all magazines equally, be this something as simple as just how "drop free" the magazines are (the main reason why I switched to the L5AWMs from GenM2 PMags was because my then [c.2012] range/training gun, a Daniel Defense M4V5LW is a bit more reluctant to drop-free empty PMags) or whether a death-stick full of 30 will seat on a closed bolt...to something even more importing like whether the magazine will seat reliably at all (i.e. GenM3 Magpul's overinsertion stop).
And towards this, training classes are where my magazines are vetted. So far, I've not had any issues with any of the magazines I listed as in-use above (Okay Surefeed aluminum, GenM2 and M3 PMags, or Lancer L5AWMs).
Any experience with the Amend2 mags?
No experience with the Amend2s.
Troy's are experience-by-proxy: one of the trusted instructors that I've had in the past was partial to them (same as with the Tangodown, albeit different instructional staff),. He never mentioned cascading when dropped, but I'm imagining it to be kinda like what happens with the L5AWMs?
Azmarlin39a
Elite
I've got quite a few. All are Okay and Pmags.
Trigger Monkey
Operator
PMAG's, Okay Industries, and Lancer 20 rounders.
Trigger Monkey
Operator
Magazines are disposable items, I would have at least several more on hand.
Annihilator
Emissary
For me, I always just use factory mags, it’s just me, I don’t own any after market mags for anything I own, yea, weird that way.....lol
Trigger Monkey
Operator
What factory mags are you using? Most factory AR's are shipping with either an aluminum magazine or a Magpul PMAG, which are third party products.
Annihilator
Emissary
Aluminum ones, mine is an older Bushmaster M4.
Epeeist
Elite
I have yet to find an AR mag that won't run well in a quality AR. A couple of my bullpups are a bit more finicky due to the magwell design and only really like Lancer or metal AR mags. The ones I like the best are HK, Lancer, Pmag gen 3, Troy and C mags. I have also had good luck with Brownells, ASC, Colt, MSAR and Surefire mags.
Keystone19250
SAINT
P-Mags only. No problems with any I’ve used. Have multiple for each AR I have.
Here’s an off topic question is how many magazines do you keep loaded so they are ready if you need them. This goes for both AR and hand gun mags. I’ve heard many different takes on this question.
since I have multiple magazines for all my weapons I rotate them to let the spring relax.
Here’s an off topic question is how many magazines do you keep loaded so they are ready if you need them. This goes for both AR and hand gun mags. I’ve heard many different takes on this question.
since I have multiple magazines for all my weapons I rotate them to let the spring relax.
Grifter
Custom
In my range/go bag I keep 6 AR mags loaded. For my pistols I have a minimum of three loaded mags and normally more than that. I have 8 loaded mags for my xdms ready to go at any time.
Keystone19250
SAINT
But for how long?
Is there a length of time leaving a mag loaded that it affects the mag spring that could effect reload function?
Is there a length of time leaving a mag loaded that it affects the mag spring that could effect reload function?
RandomHero
Custom
Yes, when a mag is kept fully loaded the springs lose their strength in length and begin to stay compressed. Usually after a year of being compressed, the springs are usually 1/2-1 inch shorter than their original size. This can cause feed issues.
That's why it is good to rotate your mags out that you keep loaded.
Epeeist
Elite
No, not in practical terms. Modern mags are designed to stay loaded to capacity. Loading and unloading is what kills mags, a properly made spring under compression will not degrade. Depending on the mag they may shrink a bit, but this “set” in time is already factored into the mag function. Once it takes its “set” to the proper size it will not shrink further without numerous compressed cycles degrading the steel. And we are talking many thousands of compression cycles.