I Did The Research

OK, I didn't really do the research, but I certainly did more looking around and reading than a lot of folks whinging about AR magazines.

I learned a lot when I was just trying to make a timeline to be certain that there couldn't be PMAGs in Twilight:2000.

I read theories about why things failed.

I think that the old black follower USGI was sensitive to weak springs.

I think that because new springs brought several of my surplus magazines back to life.

I think that new followers were a good idea because some Magpul followers brought several other surplus magazines back to life.

But even springs and followers can't fix the silent failure of the feed lips going wrong.  It takes special gauges to check, you can't really eyeball it.

It's a "feature" of metal magazines; the damage might not be visible.  Aluminum magazines also get the special problem of work-hardening.

Then there's the PMAG haters.

Some can't get past the plastic.

Others claim that their PMAGs failed.

I've seen pictures, they can fail.  No mechanical device is immune from failure.

What's nice about plastic is when it has deformed enough to cause the feed lips to go out of spec, it's past the elastic limit and you will SEE that they have become damaged.

But the issue of PMAG fails isn't as cut and dried when you're on the soapbox condemning the entire company.

There isn't A PMAG.  There are PMAGs.  Four (or five) generations.

There's a reason that OD, FDE and Foliage Green were discontinued.

There's a reason that Rev M became M2.

There's a reason that coyote brown isn't the same color as FDE.

So.  Your PMAG failed?  What generation and color was it?  How did it fail?  No details?

The people with actual failures took the pictures I talked about.

The people with actual failures can describe how it failed.