USGI mags outlast all others

[wildcard600]

Interesting anecdote but I have trouble believing it just based on personal experience.

I have thrown out a couple of USGI type D&H mags that I have rendered inoperable in the last few years from drops, stepped on, stuff falling on them. I have yet to break a Pmag however. Once all my alum mags are used up/in the garbage I won't be buying any more.

Maybe GI mags do last longer under a heavy firing schedule, but they do not last as long under rough handling as a Pmag in my experience. I think i'll stick with the new USMC type mags.

YMMV

[Mysteryman]

So range use by amateurs is considered a validating source for reliability and durability of magazines? We all know that magazines are CONSUMABLES right? I guess the feed lip creep of a USGI is a myth and stepping on them does nothing to damage them either..

[Pilot1]

I have a bunch of Colt, Adventure Line, and Simmonds USGI mags. Mostly 20 rounders. They've always worked great, but I also have some P Mags, and they've worked well also.

[GH41]

A 10 pack of Brownells I bought once didn't work right out of the package. That was a couple years ago but I stopped at "fool me once".

Perhaps they're better now but with all the other good choices out there, I have no reason to give them a chance to "fool me twice ".

When Brownells got into the mag business for Uncle Sam they had a large lot of many ten thousands that didn't make the cut. Do you really think they threw them away? I am sorry but I look at Brownells as the JC Whitney of gun stuff.

[Kain]

So range use by amateurs is considered a validating source for reliability and durability of magazines? We all know that magazines are CONSUMABLES right? I guess the feed lip creep of a USGI is a myth and stepping on them does nothing to damage them either..

I'm kind of here. I need more than just a statement of "USGI outlasts polymer mags." How so, in what conditions, how many rounds, what platforms, what numbers? There are too many questions here raised for me to give credence to one side or the other. I mean this seriously. If you mean mag for mag purchased that the USGI mags are lasting longer then the Pmags under the same course of fire? Are both mags seeing similar round counts in the same weapons? If not, what is the difference in round count or platform. If your Pmags are getting 3X the number of rounds to the USGI mags, well then that might explain a lot. But the statement makes nothing that I can break down. Are you saying that USGI mags are lasting longer then polymer mags in general, in which case what polymer mags and under what conditions and round counts.

I'm sorry OP, the statement you've got posted there just doesn't give me any appreciable data that I can make a worthwhile conclusion from other than broad strokes. And If I just go by what a shooting range sees I'd make the conclusion from what I have seen in shooting ranges that AKs and Glocks are the most unreliable POSs ever made because they are the guns I have seen malf and go down the most followed by 1911 and then a distant 5th by the AR 15, 4th would be the M&p series of handguns. This ignores numbers and conditions, and twenty other factors though.

[scottryan]

Brownells consumer "USGI" magazines are factory rejects from the DOD contract line.

Buy a Brownells magazines and compare it next to a Colt/Okay magazine.

The fitment between the floorplate and body has a large gap on the Brownells magazine. The overall workmanship on the Brownells magazine is less.

[Jwknutson17]

While their experience may or may not differ from others on here, they are still a small sample size. I have had some sort of issue over the years with all different mags including both USGI and magpuls. That doesn't stop me from buying either and I will continue to own both. I rotate through a box of 50 mags that include a few different kinds. When and if I get a stoppage, the mag gets a marked pant pen line under the number. If it gets 2 lines, it goes in the trash. Not worth the 8-14 bucks to keep it in the rotation. When one mag of Mk262s costs the same as 2 window pmags, no point in keeping them after 2 failures.

[OH58D]

I have a bunch of Colt, Adventure Line, and Simmonds USGI mags. Mostly 20 rounders. They've always worked great, but I also have some P Mags, and they've worked well also.

If you ever run across Sanchez GI Mags, they're kind of collectible. Not because they worked good, but because we'd stomp them flat whenever we were issued the damn things.

[Iraqgunz]

A few things that are being overlooked here.

1. Magazines are consumable.

2. Magazines such as the PMAG and Lancer are much easier to disassemble, and therefore easier to clean.

3. USGI mags have had feed lip issues (hence the feed lip tool) from use and abuse. I doubt that the Vegas experience is replicating what type of use and abuse they get in the military. Until recently still had shitty followers.

4. The Brownells commercial mags, are not the same. I have a few of the Brownells ones and they do not compare to the NHMTG/USGI tan-ish colored follower magazine. They also cannot be rebuilt with standard followers or springs.

Finally use whatever makes your heart pitter-patter. I use a combination of magazines USGI/Colt/NHMTG, Magpul, Lancer, Surefire-60's and D-60 drums.

[Iraqgunz]

I think I have some Dirty Sanchez's somewhere. Only like 3 or 4. I upgraded the followers and springs to make them work.

If you ever run across Sanchez GI Mags, they're kind of collectible. Not because they worked good, but because we'd stomp them flat whenever we were issued the damn things.