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Are "Plastic" Magazines for ARs Any Good?


MichiganShootist

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I figured I'd really stock up on 30 round AR magazines.... before the hoarders gobbled them all up :roflol:

But it looks like I'm too late.

About the only thing the huge sporting goods store near me has is mags. made out of thermo-plastic. They are American made, look okay, have green followers, and seem to have strong springs... but plastic at $18.95 each???? I think the brand name was something like "Magna-Pul" with (I think) an Ohio address on the package.

Have any of you used mags like these??????? I don't compete with my ARs so their use (if any) would be limited to plinking, critter control, and home defense. It was 10 degrees here the other night and the idea of a plastic mag. makes me scratch my head.

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The MagPul PMAGs are great, but they are made in CO, not OH. PMAGs also have the same color follower as the mag (so, black mag, black follower)

pmag2.jpg

They are very good, very tough mags. Remember, all "plastics" are not the same. Magpul has worked very hard to get the polymer they use to be as tough, strong and everything resistant as possible. They have videos of their mag being run over by trucks, shot through by 5.56mm and all still functioning (seriously, 3-4 bullet holes, mag spring sticking out the side, put back in an M16 and fired full auto)

PMAG Vs. Chevy:

PMAG shot and function:

PMAG, GI, HK Vs. HUMV: [ur]

[/url] (impressive)

You can get them from $14-$20 depending on model and even less from Brownells if you have the FFL/Dealer discount. Right now, order the Black, no window model. Due to demand of the Obama Effect, that model is the one they are making the most of right now.

Now, if they aren't MagPul, I would pass. I've heard good things from Lancer (The L5 magazine) but have no experience.

Edited by Chris Martin
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Magpul also called PMags are great mags. Not sure about any other brand of polymer magazine.

The PMags with the window are sort of cool but the window doesn't show as many rounds as I think it should. If I were buying more PMags, I wouldn't spend the extra for the window mags.

MLM

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Mag-puls mags at $18.95 RETAIL are priced ver ynicely - ginsohow last wekend had them for $29.95 each, and the only store in town that stocks them is asking $34.95 each.

Mag-puls are great mags, and getting quite a following - if things go south and AR mags become hard to buy, there will be a ton of 30 round mil-spec mags still floating around, but they have only been making mag-puls for few short years now - thats what I would buy to set aside in my hoard, if I was prone to that type of thing.

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Thanks for the input.

As of this morning. my local "store" had 3 cases of MagPul 30 rounders still in stock... They appear to be solid black with a green follower... so I don't know the model. I can't get there until Monday.. but it sounds like at $18.95 I should buy at least a few.

As a thank you to my "brothers & sisters" on Enos for their feedback....... Does anyone want a few??????? If so.... fire me a PM before Monday morning. I'm not rich so please don't ask me to buy you a couple dozen... but I'll pick them up and sell them at my cost + tax+ packaging + postage.

We really need to stock up before the hoarders find the supply :roflol:

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I use regular GI mags (D&H brand) with MagPul followers. These mags run 100% come hell or high water, and only cost around $10 each if you shop around. They drop free in every lower I have. I see no reason to pay more for a plastic mag, even one that can withstand being run over by a truck.

Oh, and +1 for 44mag.com

Edited by StealthyBlagga
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I purchased 8 P-mags this year as all I heard was great stuff about 'em.

But.... They all worked flawlessly in my Bushy. Only a couple fit and functioned properly in my brand new DPMS. And none of 'em would seat properly in the mag well of my 20 year old Olympic Arms lower.

I traded them with a bud who's rifle likes 'em for some standard GI mags with the Magpul anti-tilt follower...

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I now have 50. Don't think that is enough though.

I like how you think bro!!

Then you will really like how I think: during 2008 I have spent over $2,500 on magazines! :rolleyes:

(And that does not include my competition mags).

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I purchased 8 P-mags this year as all I heard was great stuff about 'em.

But.... They all worked flawlessly in my Bushy. Only a couple fit and functioned properly in my brand new DPMS. And none of 'em would seat properly in the mag well of my 20 year old Olympic Arms lower.

I traded them with a bud who's rifle likes 'em for some standard GI mags with the Magpul anti-tilt follower...

I had the same issue as Catfish. The Pmags were a very tight fit in my Colt lower. The would not drop free. Buy some and make sure they work the way you want on your lower. If not you can always return them or trade. But get them in your hands first, just in case they do work.

:cheers:

Seiichi

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I have problems with the P-mags dropping out of one of my AR's, it happens to be a DPMS but I don't think that necessarily has a lot to do with it. They run in all of my guns, just won't drop free out of one.

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Try mic-ing the inside of your mag well on the DPMS? :unsure:

I've got 6 PMAGS and all lock in and drop free from all of my lowers: RRA (1), DPMS (5), CMMG (1), Bushmaster (2) and Firebird (1). # of these mags however would not lock in place on a friends Oly lower, where as USGI alum mags would.

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$18.95 is high, but not outrageous these days. Judging by the backorders everywhere, it will be a while before 30 round mags gets back down to $10.

I started hoarding mags last year. I bought a bunch of the metal ones here: http://www.44mag.com/

44mag has been out of stock for some time. I did place an order for some (non-Magpul) mags which were "Sold out - accepting backorders" and they showed up in about 4 weeks, so I would expect 44mag to fill backorders as promised.

I have some Pmags. I really need to test them, but my Al mags work fine, and I am not prone to driving a truck over them, as demonstrated by the Magpul video. As for other plastic mags, I have some old Thermold and Orlite and they run fine, except some do not drop free.

Lee

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Just about every Pmag dealer has them on backorder. Brownells is probably getting resupplied the fastest. Retail for the non-window Pmag is $14.95. If you look around AR15.com there are some Pmag dealers selling them for that price w/ no shipping charges if you buy in quantity (usually at least 10).

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I now have 50. Don't think that is enough though.

I like how you think bro!!

Then you will really like how I think: during 2008 I have spent over $2,500 on magazines! :rolleyes:

(And that does not include my competition mags).

post-6373-1229488258_thumb.jpg

Edited by Leozinho
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I thought I preferred US GI mags with magpul anti-tilt followers. However, I have always taken care not to shoot them or run over them with trucks.

I considered magazines disposable. I destroyed with a hammer my team's collection of bad mags that they refused to get rid of. If I just threw them away someone would try to take it out of the garbage and use it. ("Hey, look! Someone just threw away a bunch of perfectly good magazines with bent bodies and cracked lips! I'm going to load this up and put it in my kit.")

But since it would be wise now to find mags that will last for long time, if I needed more I'd probably buy PMAGS.

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