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Thread: Lancer L5 AWM Advanced Warfighter Magazine initial review

  1. #1
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    Lancer L5 AWM Advanced Warfighter Magazine initial review

    I just picked up a couple of these mags from Rainier Arms to try 'em out for awhile and see how they stack up against my Pmags and USGIs. These are "Translucent Smoke", they also offer them in Translucent Black, Translucent Brown, and Opaque Black, FDE, OD, and Foliage Green. I haven't been able to shoot these yet, but considering Lancers rep I'm sure they'll function fine. Finding a reliable mag from one of the big quality producers (Magpul, Tango Down, or Lancer) isn't the issue (they're boringly reliable) as much as finding the mag that has the features that works the best for you. So here it goes...

    First Impressions: Seem extremely well made and lightweight. Stippling seems to be a good combination of "grippy" without being "holy **** this tears everything up" aggressive. It's easy to get a good grip on these.


    They disassemble extremely easily with the tip of a 5.56 round


    Anti-tilt Follower design, couldn't get the follower to bind with my finger to save my life.


    Floorplate, note no rubber like previous L5's



    Feedlips are steel and are finished in a uber non-reflective color



    Mag body has indicators for 20 and 30 round mark


    They locked back the bolt like they're supposed to, and dropped free easily from my LMT lower.


    But I did notice one drawback, it's much harder to lock the magazine in with the bolt forward than either a fully loaded Pmag or a USGI downloaded to 28. I even down loaded the AWM to 28 and still found it required a considerably harder "smack" to lock in. It might just be that the springs in it are new and not "broken in" yet, so we'll see if it gets any easier.



    Here's a size comparison with Lancer AWM, PMag, HK, and USGI


    All in all it seems like a nice mag, but the difficultly in locking in a fully loaded mag with the bolt forward makes me a little leery of replacing my USGI or Pmags with these. I really like the feel of them as well as the ability to quickly peek down and have an idea of how many rounds you've got left while also having steel feed lips (I've had Pmag lips fail before). We'll see if the steel feed lips hold up better than the HK mags. I look forward to putting these in regular rotation in my training and see how they hold up over time...
    PRAISE THE FALLEN
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    Interesting that you had a harder time loading on a closed bolt. I found loading on a full-30 with the L5AWM to be easier than the others.
    Dave Merrill
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    Not that it matters to me (as I own a few older L5 mags and they are fine) but is the body of the AWM still sort of squishy when you squeeze them? Just curious..
    Thanks for the review.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 021411 View Post
    Not that it matters to me (as I own a few older L5 mags and they are fine) but is the body of the AWM still sort of squishy when you squeeze them? Just curious..
    Thanks for the review.
    Yes, just like the L5 and L5A.
    Dave Merrill
    Terrible Technical Writer. Awful Photographer. Lazy Instructor. Kind of a dick.
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    Watched these fail German Synergy miserably at the last DeFoor class.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Littlelebowski View Post
    Watched these fail German Synergy miserably at the last DeFoor class.
    Ouch. What kind of failures was he having?
    PRAISE THE FALLEN
    SSG Kevin Roberts KIA 7-May-08
    1Lt Nick Dewhirst KIA 20-July-08
    Cpl Charles Gaffney KIA 24-Dec-08
    Spc Peter Courcy KIA 10-Feb-09
    PFC Jason Watson KIA 10-Feb-09

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    Quote Originally Posted by kaltesherz View Post

    All in all it seems like a nice mag, but the difficultly in locking in a fully loaded mag with the bolt forward makes me a little leery of replacing my USGI or Pmags with these. I really like the feel of them as well as the ability to quickly peek down and have an idea of how many rounds you've got left while also having steel feed lips (I've had Pmag lips fail before). We'll see if the steel feed lips hold up better than the HK mags. I look forward to putting these in regular rotation in my training and see how they hold up over time...

    Thats unfortunate. I can't see a reason why any of these newly designed mags for the AR-15 don't incorporate the capability to seat with a closed bolt with 30 rnds. I mean what is it? A dimensionality issue?

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    Quote Originally Posted by vicious_cb View Post
    Thats unfortunate. I can't see a reason why any of these newly designed mags for the AR-15 don't incorporate the capability to seat with a closed bolt with 30 rnds. I mean what is it? A dimensionality issue?
    These were designed to meet the military requirement of not being able to easily load 31 rounds into the magazine. These should seat with a closed bolt without having to muscle it in.
    Home of the L5 Translucent Magazine

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    Quote Originally Posted by Littlelebowski View Post
    Watched these fail German Synergy miserably at the last DeFoor class.
    We are aware of what happened, I discussed the issue with "German Synergy". The drain hole allows sand to enter and bind the follower. We will be making a new bottom without drain hole for use in sandy areas, the new bottom will be standard and the drain hole version will be optional.

    We should have new bottoms completed in about a month. In the meantime if you have an L5AWM and will be operating in a sandy environment place electrical tape over the hole in the locking plate or use silicone sealant to seal the hole in the bottom.

    We've had magazines in test through out the country since last summer and havn't seen this problem. I appreciate German Synergy bringing this to our attention.

    If anyone has issues or would like to discuss the magaizne they are welcome to email me. svilardi@lancer-systems.com
    Last edited by LancerSystems; 04-10-11 at 16:22. Reason: clarification and I can't spell
    Home of the L5 Translucent Magazine

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    I have several Lancer L5 generation 1 mags and they have been great to me. I found that they would occasionally fail to lock the bolt to the rear on my BCM 14.5" middy upper. I replaced the springs with Brownells CS springs (which also seem to be slightly stronger than std) and the issue disappeared. I love that they can be easily checked for round count and left fully loaded indefinitely.

    I have two of the AWM's on order from Rainier as I type this (They should ship tomorrow). Can't wait to get them in.

    Another quality contender in the AR magazine market....this is a win-win for the AR community.

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