Brownells Magazines Tight in Bushmaster

[alzo]

Earlier this year I bought four 20-round magazines from Brownells (Brownells brand). I had heard that these were very well made, reliable magazines for AR's. Anyway, I finally got around to trying them out today. I have a factory stock 16-inch Bushmaster V-Match carbine. All four mags were tight in the magazine well on insertion and none of them drop free when the mag release is pressed. The factory Bushmaster magazine (plastic body) drops free just fine. Are the Brownells mags on the "thick" side ? Or are Bushmaster magazine wells on narrow side ? Is this worth trying to figure out, or should I just sell the mags and try another brand ?

Edited November 27, 2009 by alzo

[Matt Cheely]

I seem to recall that the Brownells mags were made by C Products? Not the best, but not bad.

I only go for stuff made on Labelle tooling. I think they're called D&H now.

[alzo]

Nevermind. I found this link on the internet and it worked perfectly. I guess this is one of those common knowledge things I didn't know:

http://www.fulton-armory.com/DropFree.htm

I gave each mag a firm tap twice on that bump with my small brass "gunsmithing" hammer. Each mag drops free easily now.

[DougCarden]

Yep, some receivers have been know to be a little on the snug side, and the mags need a little TLC.

FYI Brownells spent an assload of money and do manufacture their own mags, to MIL SPEC. I have seen the BS Federal stuff they have to go through. Drove by the building, but cant get an invite in.

They are some of the best MIL SPEC ones out there, GOVT tested and approved....

DougC

[larry weeks]

DougCarden is right. Brownells mags are NOT made by anyone but Brownells. Bushy's are on the tight side on their mag well dimension. If your Brownells mags are on the max side of the tolerance they might be snug. But, the Brownells mags won't exceed the max govt spec. As Carden said, we spent a whole lot of money to do the magazine project and the hoops we jump through are mighty tough to clear. I'm not on the project but check in with our Project Manager frequently. Did you know there are over 120 "critical" dimensions on the green follower alone? Every one has to be met. Uncle Sam doesn't care that many of them won't affect performance, the drawing shows it, you must match it. We're currently filling a 2.8 million piece contract for Uncle Sam, and keeping up with the commercial sales too.