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Thread: The NEW USGI Mag and "The Rest of the Story" Review

  1. #1
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    The NEW USGI Mag and "The Rest of the Story" Review

    .

    I have been seeing the new USGI mags around lately and have been wanting to do a comparison to the OKAY, NHMTG, and Colt mags that I use.
    Maybe this is common knowledge and I'm just behind times but most of the info I found out was new to me and my friends. So, I thought I'd post my "discoveries"...

    I went to a Gun show last weekend and picked up two of the new USGI 30-round Magazines. I paid $8 each but a dealer friend gave me a good discount. I've seen them go for $12-$15 over the past few months.

    These mags had the new Tan Followers and came from two different makers.
    - Center marked CAGE #6P199 Dated 08/10
    - Brownells marked CAGE# 12238 Dated 10/09.

    I compared these new USGI mags to an new unused OKAY 30-round mag, of the type that I normally use.


    GENERAL
    Both mags were in a sealed plastic bag with a paper USGI info label on the outside.



    The Brownells mag had a a few scuff marks on the body. The Center mag body was scuffed and scraped up like a normal OKAY or NHMTG body that I am used to seeing. Always assumed the scuffs and scrapes were from being pressed through a sizing die.

    The only differences I can see on the new mags are the Springs and Followers, everything else looks the same as the old-style mags.


    BODIES/FLOORPLATES
    The mag bodies and the floorplates look to be identical to the old USGI mags. I swapped all of the bodies, springs, followers around and everything worked fine interchanged. The Brownells had a floorplate marked, Brownells; Montezuma, IA USA. The Brownells Floorplate was flat. I did not see any internal markings in either mag. The Center mag’s floorplate was blank and it was slightly concaved towards the Spring. I did notice the Brownells Cage/Date stamping was on the side of the mag with the mag catch hole and the Center markings were on the other side.


    FOLLOWERS
    The only thing I have heard about the new Followers is that the first round starts out on the right as opposed to the old Followers the first round started out on the left. This is true...

    The new Followers spring attachment hole is in the center of the Follower compared with this hole being about having a 1/3 rearward offset with old Followers.

    Comparing the new Followers to each other, I can see a slight difference in tint. Now I’m not an "interior decorator" but, to me, the Brownells is a brownish tan and the Center is a greenish/yellow tan. Kind of hard to tell in the pictures and in low light, the colors are hard to tell apart but there is a difference.



    The new Followers each have different sprue locations and minor mold marks locations. All of the bevels, angles, edges and bearing surfaces appear to be identical.



    The Brownells mag had no marks on the follower but the Center had a tiny number “7” molded into the end of a pedestal where the Spring attaches. Don't know what the "7" indicates but I think it is evident that each Follower definitely has a different maker.




    SPRINGS
    The new Springs appear to be CS. They have a copper/bronze tint to them. Every dimension of the new Spring is different than the old Spring, as indicated in my Chart below. Compared to the old Springs, the new Spring wire is a heavier gauge, overall length is about ½”+ shorter, with thinner but wider coils and one less coil than the old Springs.




    When inserting the new Spring in a mag body, it slides easily in between the bottom tabs that hold the Floorplate without snagging. With the new dimensions, if you remove the Floorplate, and turn the mag upside down, the new Spring and new Follower will fall out without having to wiggle or work the spring sideways.

    The new Followers fit snug on their new Springs compared to how the old green Followers fit loose on the old-style Springs. The green old Followers rattle if the old Spring is shaken. When the new Follower is installed on the new Spring, the new Spring has a slight bind on the Followers that giving them a snug fit. I did notice that it is very easy to remove/install the new Followers on the new Springs. Just using my fingers was very easy.

    I found this interesting - The new Spring has bends to hold Followers on both ends.




    One end fits the new Followers and the other end fits the old green USGI Followers.
    I verified this with the new Spring by fitting the new Follower on one end and the old green Follower on the other end.





    The old green Follower fits on the new Spring but the Spring has to be kind of pulled and stretched a little to attach it. Once the old Follower was on the new Spring, it worked fine. This pulling and stretching makes the green Follower not rattle like it does on the old Spring.
    The new Follower will only fit on the new Follower end of the new Spring.

    So, it appears the new Springs are designed to work with the old and new Followers.


    VERIFYING
    I tried "mismatching" components and seeing how things fit. Pictures below of these two arrangements.

    #1
    I took the new Follower and installed it on the old USGI spring.
    The new Follower would only fit one way on the old Spring. I took my “New Follower Mag Tester” (a 5/8” dowel rod) and pushed the new Follower to the bottom of the mag. Everything functioned fine, just like a MagPul Follower.

    #2
    I took the new Spring from each of the new USGI mag, removed the new Follower, and installed an old-style green Follower. I loaded 28-rounds into each mag and hand cycled 28-round through my rifle. This combination worked fine.




    NOTE
    My biggest disappointment was that the new Springs appear to be designed to not work with MagPul Followers. I tried to put a MagPul Follower on the old green Follower end of the Spring and it would not fit. If I really forced it, I might have got the MagPul Follower on the Spring but I didn’t want to chance ruining the Spring or the Follower.


    SUMMARY
    It is evident that the new Spring & new Follower combination was designed to work individually with old-style USGI Spring and Follower. Any of the combinations I tried seems to function fine.
    The old and new Mag Bodies are unchanged.
    The old and new Floorplates are unchanged.
    The new Followers will work on old-style Springs and the new double-ended Springs.
    The new Springs will work with old-style green Followers and the new tan Followers.
    The new Springs will NOT allow MagPul Followers to be used.


    But maybe it’s just me…

    .
    Last edited by ucrt; 08-12-11 at 00:20. Reason: Clarity

  2. #2
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    Great review, you answered alot of questions, thank you for sharing

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    Quote Originally Posted by SMT85 View Post
    Great review, you answered alot of questions, thank you for sharing
    Agreed. Fantastic post.

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    Interesting... I doubt I'll ever need another mag in my lifetime... but if I did end up with one of these, I'd have to change the follower so the even number of rounds left the top round on the right side of the mag.
    "What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v

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    cool to see the backwards-compatible spring.
    Nice review.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonM View Post
    cool to see the backwards-compatible spring.
    Nice review.
    Yeah. The Mil can be dumb sometimes... but that was a no brainer.
    "What would a $2,000 Geissele Super Duty do that a $500 PSA door buster on Black Friday couldn't do?" - Stopsign32v

  7. #7
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    ucrt,

    Could you post a photo(s) of the new-spring trying to be inserted into a current MgaPul-Follower so we can see what you are discribing (?).

    Regards, RichardS in MI.
    US Army, Retired

  8. #8
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    Great post. I saw a ton of these last weekend for the first time even at the backwoods NC gunshow, but was leery of them since I didn't know squat about em.

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    Very nice review. Well done.

  10. #10
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    Great post. Every time I came up with a question you answered it within the next couple sentences.
    Dave Merrill
    Terrible Technical Writer. Awful Photographer. Lazy Instructor. Kind of a dick.
    Loves Tacos.

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