06 March 2023

Metal Snobbery

It's not really a huge statement to say that all of your magazines are made from steel.

Virtually all magazines are.

Even Glock, which is a steel liner encased in plastic.  There's a company making larger capacity Glock magazines by ditching that encasement and just making a steel body that's just a bit wider.

There's darn few steel AR magazines.

Chris Bartocci went through what was available a couple of years ago.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Most non-plastic AR magazines are aluminum.

I'm not really that impressed with H&K's magazine.  It's heavy and doesn't really work any better than the USGI or PMAG.

And that's what I care about.

Does it work?

The Amend-2 doesn't appear to work.  But the Hexmag, Lancer and PMAG do; despite being plastic.

I'm someone who remembers Orlite and Thermold.  Those weren't good at all.  They also cemented the idea that plastic AR magazines were junk.

Interestingly, the OG Thermold isn't that bad, Canada's attempt to sharpen their pencil on manufacture led to a magazine that didn't last.

It's not the "plastic" per se.  It's what kind of plastic and the design of the magazine that matters.

5 comments:

  1. bravo company makes really good military like metal mags... panzer guy

    ReplyDelete
  2. There are few doubters of the PMag. Some people don't believe in Hexmag or Lancer. I've not had problems with either of those two. The Lancers I have use metal feed lips so I consider them more of a hybrid. There are a number of other plastic AR mag offerings with varying reputations out there. Plastic AR mags other than Orlite and Thermold were out there even back in the day. An example was the RAM Line, aka "Jam Line". They actually worked OK for the most part other than they were a dual design that fit both an AR and a Mini-14 and made some compromises on each one that made them less than idea. Like holding the bolt open after the last round, and how they fit and how secure they locked in place. But to be fair... I have one that I've had at least since around 1990 that still works... I doubt many can say that about on Orlite or Thermelt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actually do own a steel AR mag. It's a stainless steel C-products 30rnd with the orange Magpul-style follower. It's the worst mag I own. My two Spikes lowered rifles have had issues with it feeding and my CAV-15 feeds fine but it won't lock back when empty. I keep it around because it looks cool but my pmags, lancers, and Brownells aluminum are superior.

    -RF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've got a bunch of older C-Products aluminum mags that work fine. I've heard later ones have issues and that a lot of their steel mags are not good. It's my understanding that somewhere in there C-Products changed ownership/management and that's when the problems started.

      Delete
    2. OG C-Products were good. Then the ownership dispute and move to a new location...

      Delete

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