AR-15 Magazines

[Patrick Sweeney]

I'm looking to get a feel for the experience of the group in magazine reliability. What I have found is that all mine are utterly reliable. Whether that is due to selection (I only kept the ones that worked) or maintenance (like I give mine any...) I don't know.

I just know that I have at least one of each brand listed, and they are all reliable.

If you've been dissed by more than one brand, click both if the poll lets you.

[davidwiz]

Once I started using the green followers in my USGI (LaBelle, Adventure Line, Okay) mags, I've never had a mag related feeding problem. Solution is to use only USGI mags w/ the green followers. I treat my rifle mags like my pistol mags. If it goes on the ground, it gets disassembled, cleaned out and sprayed with Pro Grip Mag Slick spray before being used again. Here is a link to a bunch of AR Mag FAQs.

I'm curious to see how the HK-tweaked SA-80 mags work.

[Les Snyder]

this is from a friend that works at SOCOM at MacDill.....a test was done (don't remember if he said USMC or Crane (Navy)) on reliability of contract magazines... first was OKay...second was anything with a green follower.... regards

[TBF]

USA, Love the country , hate the mags.

If anyone is looking for some AR mags, Dillon has the SA80 mags for $19.99.

They appear to be an exact clone of the USGI mag done in steel.

The finish is thick, and the followers are soft, but they seem to work just fine with a green follower.

Travis F.

[rhino]

I have a variety of mil-spec mags made by Sanchez and many other contractors. All of them have been trouble free in my guns, even with the original black followers.

The only trouble I ever had with a mag was when I was too aggressive removing the floor plate for cleaning and bent the little tab too much. Later on, I missed a mag change during a match and when the mag hit the ground, the floor plate failed and the contents of the mag spewed onto the range. But that was me being a moron, not the fault of the magazine.

I've never tried any of the mags manufactured by anyone else.

[Carlos]

USA brand steel 40 rounders (only 40's I could afford at the time). SOmetimes worked; sometimes not. Sure were cool when they worked on 34 round stages. "Sometimes works" ain't good enough.

[stingerjg]

USA mags make better targets

[Patrick Sweeney]

Interesting results. I would have thought there would be more of a disparity between brands, USA aside. The sample is a bit small, but the informaiton useful. If you haven't added your due centavos, please do.

[lucas]

Always use Okay mags,no problem,but had my first failure with my 40 rd sterling,and it couldnt of been at the worst time.Apparently shooting triples as fast as you can is to much for it to keep up with.Not a good mag for a drive by at 10 IPSC targets within 50yds out the side of a moving pickup with no time to reload let alone a malfunction drill.

[shred]

I used to hear that all the standard GI Aluminium mags were basically the same-- as in there are only a couple sets of tooling that got passed around between the manufacturers who only added their name to the baseplate. Is that not true?

[davidwiz]

Shred,

Pretty much. Dimensionally, they are all (supposed to be) the same. Differences could crop up quality of materials used and manufacture. As they are all built to the same standards, they should all be the same in all aspects. There was one USGI contractor (Cooper) that only put 3 spot welds on the tubes, while all the others are using 5+ welds. I've been told by people who have these 3 spot welded tubes that they are prone to breaking. See Troy's Mag FAQ

The AR15 Mag FAQ at Biggerhammer has this to say:

"All of the G.I. contract 30s work fine with two exceptions, all Cooper mags and early production Sanchez with the black followers. This is what the May 1987 issue of PM Magazine (The Army's Preventative Maintenance magazine) had to say, "The 30-round magazines made by Cooper Industries don't fit the magazine well, they double feed and they won't feed the last five rounds when fully loaded." To avoid any problems, NEVER buy Cooper mags these were recalled for destruction by the military. The second exception, some early black follower lots of Sanchez (DSI) production are also said to have feeding problems, however, they were never recalled like the Cooper mags were. To avoid problems here buy only Sanchez with the green follower (from the newer production runs) or plan on replacing the black followers with the green ones, (Thanks to Rambo for the PM information and clarification)."

I posted a link to about 5 different AR 15 mag FAQs in my first post. Its worth to read them to get an idea of what different people think on this subject.

-David

[Patrick Sweeney]

That "two sets of tooling" bit of info is something I'm trying to track down for the book.

[rhino]

For what it's worth, I've not had any problems with Sanchez mags with black followers.

[JFD]

Get with Troy at AR15.com. He'll answer any question you may have on AR mags. No doubt he knows about the tooling question as well.

[kimel]

I have a half dozen Sterling mags and after some tweaking and tuning they run 100%. The biggest problem I have found with them is that spot welded seams are often bulged out a bit leading to issues in seating them (and eventually removing them) from my lower. A few minute of work with a small hammer and a bench vise and they are off and running.

Despite what I read after I bought them, I have had zero problems with ProMag 20s.

The Thermolds I have work great but I had to modify them to work in my Oly lower and then again after I put an Arredondo magwell on it. 30 seconds with a Dremel and that problem was taken care of.

USA mags suck. I was given two of the 30s and neither would run despite lots of mucking about. I designated them as targets and left the remains in the dumpster. I now know why they were free...

[Patrick Sweeney]

Just thought I'd pull this back up to the top, and bring you up to date on the search for the "two sets of tooling" urban myth.

Trying to get info from the makers is worse than pulling teeth. You'd think I was trying to find out just how much Plutonium it takes to make a bomb. Colt doesn't make mags, but sent me to the company that does for them. That company asked for questions in writing. Two other makers hung up on me. Another sent me to a goverment office, who asked for questions in writing. No one has gotten back to me.

And everyone has heard the "two-tooling" legend, but always "from a friend" or "a buddy back at XYZ Corp." Non one so far has actually laid eyes on a set.

[EricW]

What seems to constantly be crapping out on me are Orlites. Every one of the feedlips seems to crack sooner or later. Unless the things become just hideously cheap - as in a couple bucks each, they're just not worth spending money on.

Way too short a lifespan.

[chp5]

I've had seveal Sanchez mags that would not drop free, but they ran 100%.

I also like the US Thermolds, although a lot of people knock them.

[rhino]

Weren't Orlites designed to be disposable?

[EricW]

Weren't Orlites designed to be disposable?

Mine all seem to be.

Time to put an ad in the Classifieds for almost new, cracked Orlites. Dissatisfaction Guaranteed.

[glockster96]

The only ones I've had problems with are Thermolds and USA (total junk, as noted above). I run almost exclusive Center Industry USGI mags with green followers.