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New MBX Caspian/Tanfo mags


MrPostman

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(ARy)

I've done quite a bit of testing with the mbx 170. Initially, Adrian had an issue with people swapping mag catches, which cause just enough of a variance to make one gun at nationals tempermental.

Measurements are the same, but it comes in at the feed lip/design. So, while they worked for me, just be aware of you swap mag catches, it may get sensitive on you.

I got 28/27 reloadable in the 170, of 38 super comp. 

20161121_171845_1479953394602.jpg

Edited by ryridesmotox
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ARy asked me to post  this....

 

28 for me was a tight fit. 27 reloadable. I tried a bunch of times, the 28th was difficult. 38SC at 1.25" The mags can take up to 1.3X so the length wasn't the issue.

 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Garmil said:

Not sure what that has to do with anything. Was just surprised since they advertise 28/29. 

I tried to get 29 in, couldn't. 28 was tough, but it feed 28 reliably, 27 reloadable. I have two welded 170s that easily get 29 relodable. 

But as we all know, welded 170s that actually work are non existent,  so these mbx are the only thing available to the masses. 

As I said above, I was testing these w 38sc brass, starline, new at 1.25ish. 

 

Edit: I'm not sure, as others can chime in about mbx followers - but I'm not sure if this had any issue with the ability to stuff them in; the follower was pretty crude...

20161121_183142_1479781909530_zpsmnja4te

 

Here are the 170s I have that work great. I had 4, sent two to Joe, so I'll let him chime in once he gets them. Also, he can comment on the vs. mbx, as I also sent him a mbx.

 

20161123_112305_zpsb9ctzuty.jpg

Edited by ryridesmotox
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5 minutes ago, Garmil said:

That's pretty rough for a $160 mag. I do have 2 welded 170s that are 28 reloadable but have not used them enough to know the reliability yet.

Our schedules got crazy once I received the mags, so I haven't had a chance to talk with him about the followers. Anyone else with a 2011 or any other mbx mag care to chime in re: follower (s )? Could very well of been a proto follower, but I got them after the production run... so, don't quote me on this as being what is sent to the end user, but I imagine if he wanted me to work out the kinks, he would've sent what was going out to the masses.

Edited by ryridesmotox
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26 minutes ago, Bamboo said:

Mxb uses a similar (same?) Followed in their sti mags.  I believe they are 3d printed and have they have worked fine for me in those mags.

Okay, good to know. I'm not faulting them, as they feed reliably.  I just couldn't get more than 28 in. Thanks for chiming in. -ARy

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I got my MBX order today. 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to live fire them yet, but I was able to play around with dummy rounds. 

Here are my initial impressions for 38 super (semi-rimmed) in a couple Caspians and a Tanfo:

170 mags each held 28 easily reloadable.  It might be possible to get 29 in, but it would be very tight and would probably require cutting a coil or so off the mag spring.  My Caspian (new style)  mags are mostly the same.  A couple will hold 29 but they have a coil or so cut and barely fit the mag gauge.  The MBX mags easily fit the mag gauge (haven't measured the gap, but it is small...maybe .025" ish?).  The mags cycled the dummy MG JHP rounds smoothly and without nosediving.  I also tried these in a large frame Tanfo and they fit fine, I didn't cycle rounds in that gun yet as it is a 9mm and I didn't have the dummy rounds handy. The mags fit both the Tanfo and Caspian mag chutes easily and drop free with no hang ups or rubbing.  

140mm mags each held 22 rounds easily reloadable.    I'm pretty sure there is room to get 23 rounds, but again I think it would require cutting a coil or so.   These mags also cycled smoothly with no nose diving. And again, they fit the Tanfo large frame gun fine. 

So, the Achilles Heel of the new  style Caspian brand mags is the 2nd round gap which is due to the rounds not stacking in the funneling area, which in turn leads to nose dives.  MBX solved this issue with much better funneling indents.  Also, they are a nice stainless body with strong feed lips that should retain their shape well.  The mag bases are not interchangeable with the STI mags, which makes sense since the dimensions for the C/T mag are different than an STI mag. 

Overall I'm pretty optimistic about these mags.  They look great, they seem to hand cycle dummy rounds well, they fit the mag gauge (no match surprises), I can get 28 reloadable in the 170s (I usually run 28 anyway unless there is a reason for the 29 rounders), and possibly 29 with some use/tweaking. Hopefully I'll get a chance to live fire these in the next week or so.   

Edited by Bamboo
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I'll agree that the MBX followers don't have the refined look you might be used to but they work, well... Not much different than in the MBX mags I run in my 9mm open STI and I think the way they are made actually helps with feeding. I have had 0, yes, 0 feed issues in the 2 -170, 2 -155 and 2 -140 mags I have run since spring..  I had to do no tuning at all, ran right out of the package.  I suspect the Caspian offering will be the same.....  Yes,. Cheaper would be nice but you gotta pay to play!!!

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Had a chance to live fire the MBX C/T mags I bought in my 38 Supers.  I have two 170mm and two 140mm mags. 

Both of the 170mm ran great with 28 reloadable.  The springs were a little tight when I first got them, but I let them sit with 25-ish rounds in them for a week and they are good now.  I also messed around with swapping in Grams Engineering springs and follower and even with a cut spring (I use in a caspian brand 170 mag) 28 reloadable was the max.  There was no practical way to get 29 38 Super in the mag without possibly damaging the mag.  Again, I'm good with a reliable and reloadable 28 so that wasn't a disappointment for me.  

I had the same basic experience as above with the 140mm mags.  They both ran 22 easily reloadable or 23 reloadable  if you are firm about seating the mag.   The springs were tight and I let them sit with 18-ish rounds in them for a week.  The springs are still pretty tight but am sure they will relax a little more with time and 23 reloadable will become easier.  One mag ran flawless out of the box.  With the other I was getting some failures where the top round wasn't being completely stripped off the top (not a nose dive).  Took a close look under magnification and found a sharp edge that was catching on the rim.  30 seconds with a dremel and a buff wheel and that was fixed.  Probably would not have had that problem if I was running rimless 38 supercomp or TJ, or if the spring was a little less tight.  

Overall impression- These are the best out of the box mags for the Caspian....ever.  I include the original 19 rounders in this statement (they were a good mag, but the feed lips are thin and easily damaged, especially if you are dropping them on a hard surface).  The MBX mags are solid and ran in  my Gen 1 and latest generation framed guns reliably  The base plate is an easy on, easy off affair, They insert positively without gorilla like strength, and they drop free from the mag chute quickly when both full and empty.   Expensive, yeah.  But they work well and in my mind they put the Caspian back on the table for those who don't want to mess with custom made or modified mags. 

Kudos to MBX!

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  • 9 months later...

Reviving this old topic that I posted last year to get some more recent opinions on how your mags are holding up. I didn't see any posts from folks using 9mm in these mags so if I can get some feedback on 9mm usage that would be great. I may buy some of these but I want some opinions first, otherwise I will just buy some Henning base pads since I know those work.

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I have 2 140 and 1 170.  I've swapped in Henning guts to the 140s.  Nose diving with the stock guts.  The 170 is not reliable.  I am waiting on TF guts for the 170.  Also getting a lead on some 170 EAA mags.

 

I bought 2 Henning extensions to put on a couple factory mags I had extra.  Those are running 100% with 22 rds.  

 

At the moment I would not recommend the MBX mags.  I am at 1.145" for a length and can't see going shorter with 8.0gr of HS-6.

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I bought one of the 170s to try in my 9mm major caspian. I had used their sti mags and had good luck with them so figured I'd give it a try.   Never managed to get through an entire mag without a jam.   The gun was always 100% with the welded up mags I had so (Jim Anglin had built  the weldups for me)  I went back to the weldups and tossed the MBX back in the box.   At some point I'll mess with it again the build quality of the mag seemed good so it can probably be made to work.

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I bought one of the 170s to try in my 9mm major caspian. I had used their sti mags and had good luck with them so figured I'd give it a try.   Never managed to get through an entire mag without a jam.   The gun was always 100% with the welded up mags I had so (Jim Anglin had built  the weldups for me)  I went back to the weldups and tossed the MBX back in the box.   At some point I'll mess with it again the build quality of the mag seemed good so it can probably be made to work.
I remember you telling me about yours Peter, I wonder if the tuning I did on my Czechmate mags would fix the MBX. The problem I was having with them was where the mag is pinched down near the top to funnel the double stack into a single stack wasn't keeping enough tension on the top round to keep it from nosediving. The fix was to close that up some more and then tune the feedlips so the next round down was flush with the top round so the tension was even from front to back. If you want to loan it out for me to try I may be able to fix it for you.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

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