HK translucent polymer magazines

[Dano5326]

Those HK SA80A2 steel mags, O'... I mean the "HK416" mags worked so great in M4's & 416's......

[sinlessorrow]

My initial impression with mags is good. Body is stiff, also narrrow portion that goes into mag well seem stiff enough, while flex also enough not to be easily broken. Feed lips geometry is interesting. They are little thicker in the back (there is step up on lips some 3mm from back of magazine) and they gradually become narrower toward front. Most of cracked feed lips I seen, where cracked at the back. Front of mag body has shelves in corners (shaped to clear bullets), that reinforce body and prevent front of follower to came up.

There is shelf around mag, where narrow parts end and ribbed parts start. It looks like this shelf can work as anti over insertion device for both HK416 and AR15 magwells, But I did not opportunity to test that yet.

Spring seem to have plenty of juice in it and there is no tilting in follower.

Disassembly is very easy and do not require tools. There is special "pocket" on bottom of mag to place thumb, then squeeze mag body and slide bottom plate toward back of magazine. That is all it takes.

How exactly does one over insert a mag in the AR-15? Honestly curious, I cannot do it to save my life with my lancers. I think the other thing is the HK mags even at $20 are to expensive, I can get Lancer L5 AWM's for $13 if I buy 10 at a time.

[montrala]

They look a lot like the mags from the SA80 contract submission. The store page lists them as the same polymer as in the G36 mags. I'll be interested to see if it's something different than that, though.

Polymer "looks" similar to G36 and HK417 mags. At lest to my Mk1 Mod 0 eyes. What I think HK did was not inventing magic polymer, bur rather do lot of homework on dimentions, geomentry and weak points. Anyway, soon we will know how they work.

How exactly does one over insert a mag in the AR-15?

All it takes is for mag catch to hang on. Does not happen often, I know.

[Jippo]

ooops...

[MichaelVain]

I got my 10 mags this morning. I'll upload a video in a bit, I'll do drops from my SR15, SR15 SBR, SCAR and MR556.

The mags drop freely from all 4 of the lowers I tested. The only gun where it drops free out of the magwell canted at a 45 degree angle was the MR556. My PMAGS also do not drop out of the magwell at a canted 45 degree angle on my SR15s or SCAR.

The geometry of the new HK translucent mag is the same as the PMAG and KAC mag that came with my SR15. It does NOT share the same geometry curvature as the HK maritime mag, or does it share the same follower or even feed lip opening. It most resembles the KAC at the top of the magazine.

The finish of the HK mag is better than the PMAG. Edges are well defined without the unfinished rough edging that are on the back mag catch of my PMAGS.

For $20, this seems like a good magazine. I'm going to give HK the benefit of the doubt and assume it will fire from all 3 guns, but I will load up the magazine and drop it out of the guns and run over it with my car.

Should have the video in a couple hours.

[sinlessorrow]

I got my 10 mags this morning. I'll upload a video in a bit, I'll do drops from my SR15, SR15 SBR, SCAR and MR556.

The mags drop freely from all 4 of the lowers I tested. The only gun where it drops free out of the magwell canted at a 45 degree angle was the MR556. My PMAGS also do not drop out of the magwell at a canted 45 degree angle on my SR15s or SCAR.

The geometry of the new HK translucent mag is the same as the PMAG and KAC mag that came with my SR15. It does NOT share the same geometry curvature as the HK maritime mag, or does it share the same follower or even feed lip opening. It most resembles the KAC at the top of the magazine.

The finish of the HK mag is better than the PMAG. Edges are well defined without the unfinished rough edging that are on the back mag catch of my PMAGS.

For $20, this seems like a good magazine. I'm going to give HK the benefit of the doubt and assume it will fire from all 3 guns, but I will load up the magazine and drop it out of the guns and run over it with my car.

Should have the video in a couple hours.

Drop a loaded mag on thefeedlips from 6-8ft and lets see what happens.

[MichaelVain]

Drop a loaded mag on thefeedlips from 6-8ft and lets see what happens.

Sure.

[Joe Mamma]

I remain skeptical.

As far as I know HK does not specialize in polymer and to really make it work they would need some kind of fancy never before heard of super strong polymer to keep the feed lips from cracking and breaking.

Fair enough. But don't forget the first polymer handgun was an HK VP70. The VP70 came out in 1970, well before the first Glock which I believe came out in the 1980s.

I'm a little skeptical about these mags too. But I would not underestimate HK.

Joe Mamma

[sinlessorrow]

Fair enough. But don't forget the first polymer handgun was an HK VP70. The VP70 came out in 1970, well before the first Glock which I believe came out in the 1980s.

I'm a little skeptical about these mags too. But I would not underestimate HK.

Joe Mamma

It's not about HK, but about the limits of the AR magazine and how thin the feed lips must be as well as the inherent weakness when comparing translucent to black polymers.

[MichaelVain]

Here's the video.

I did 3 drops at about 6ft, my wife ran over it with our G35, and I did some drop free tests.

In the video you will see that after I dropped the magazine on the driveway a few times I put the magazine into my SR15 to cycle rounds. I only show the cycling of 3-4 rounds because as I was cycling, I didnt let the charging handle engage all the way on the 5th round causing a double feed. I edited out me doing the clear because, quite honestly, it was embarrassing.

The magazine held up well on the drops, it definately got scratched up along the feed lips but they never broke or cracked. I know this is not a scientific test, but it was what I had time for.

http://youtu.be/JxEsZiBe0Qg

Edit: I have no idea how to embed this, my youtube fu sucks.