View Full Version : Mako E-Lander steel mag range report
I took three E-Lander steel mags out for a range test today. I also brought three previously-tested BCM-branded USGI mags for comparison. I fired from a full 30rd load in each mag from my SR-15 w/ A5 buttstock kit and Battlecomp 2.0. The ammo was LC XM855 green-tip.
Each Mako mag fit, locked and dropped free from all of my lowers. They each locked the mag back with no problems. I loaded the mags with the bolt back, and pressed the release. The BCMs all chambered flawlessly.
First, I ran one BCM mag of 30rds with no problems, and then switched to a Mako. Mako #1 gave me failures to feed, jamming the bullet back into the case. I cleared the bad rounds and loaded from a closed bolt. The second round also failed to chamber. It fed fine until half way empty, at which point I began to experience more FTFs. It would fire one round and then fail to feed. I didn't bother to finish the mag, as it was denting rounds left and right and damnit, 855 is expensive right now.
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/BiteyMcClaws/20130129_144426.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/BiteyMcClaws/20130129_144312.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/BiteyMcClaws/20130129_144225.jpg
I then ran BCM mag #2 for 30rds, no issues.
Mako #2 also gave a FTF on the first round, but then ran the rest with no problem.
BCM #3- 30rds, no problems except that I was becoming poorer with every shot.
Mako #3 also FTF, but then ran for 30rds, no further issues.
After emptying each Mako mag, I compared them to one another. The mag that had the most FTFs, (#1) had slightly different feed lips than the other two, but all three had FTFs on the first round.
These are not, in my limited experience, go-to mags. They are range only, with the added benefit of inducing malfunctions for your training pleasure. I will shoot them more in my other guns and see what happens, but I am not optimistic.
Side note: Jesus christ the SCAR17 is a ****ing beast. I have found, however that a 21yd indoor range is NOT its natural element. Everyone else in that tiny, armored room agrees with me, too.
Great! I have six of them one the way. I wanted to try them out, but it seems you have done it for me. Oh well, I guess failure drills are in my future.
Great! I have six of them one the way. I wanted to try them out, but it seems you have done it for me. Oh well, I guess failure drills are in my future.
Same here. I ordered 6. Well see how they work for me in a few months when they come in.
NeoNeanderthal
01-29-13, 17:35
I have not shot mine yet but so far I am not that pleased. With 30, 28, 20, 10, or zero rounds in them they need to be smashed into the magwell to seat on a closed bolt.
Not only that but the tension is SO tight on the mags that sometimes a bullet wont get stripped all the way off even when i pull the charging handle back all the way and let go??? I've never had trouble chambering a round with usgi or pmags. Also anti-tilt follower works OK but it did bind once and a while while loading the mags! Once again i dont know how they will function when i actually shoot them. Ill report back friday.
I painted over the dumb shiny black finish and spray painted a big "T" (for training only) on all 6 of mine.
I have not shot mine yet but so far I am not that pleased. With 30, 28, 20, 10, or zero rounds in them they need to be smashed into the magwell to seat on a closed bolt.
Not only that but the tension is SO tight on the mags that sometimes a bullet wont get stripped all the way off even when i pull the charging handle back all the way and let go??? I've never had trouble chambering a round with usgi or pmags. Also anti-tilt follower works OK but it did bind once and a while while loading the mags! Once again i dont know how they will function when i actually shoot them. Ill report back friday.
I painted over the dumb shiny black finish and spray painted a big "T" (for training only) on all 6 of mine.
To fix the issue of the mags not seating easily I have read to modify the slots for the magazine catch on the magazine body. They say to remove very little material towards the top of the mag until they will seat easily.
As far as the followers I will be replacing with magpul kits later on most likely anyway. I just needed more mags and they fit the bill.
NeoNeanderthal
01-29-13, 18:04
To fix the issue of the mags not seating easily I have read to modify the slots for the magazine catch on the magazine body. They say to remove very little material towards the top of the mag until they will seat easily.
As far as the followers I will be replacing with magpul kits later on most likely anyway. I just needed more mags and they fit the bill.
Yep, i've heard that to. I'm leaving them loaded for a few days to try to help them seat as i've heard that helps. If that doesn't work ill bust out the ol dremel tool.
I dont regret buying them. I know i wasnt going to get pmag quality at prepanic prices here. They are just something to feed bullets into my gun to save wear and tear on my few (8) pmags in the event of a ban. 100 dollars is cheap insurance in the event of a ban. Do i wish i got 30 pmags when you could find them for 10 dollars a pop? Everyday.
I fully loaded two last night and have already noticed a difference. Still difficult to seat but easier than yesterday.
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
hotrodder636
01-29-13, 19:40
Any idea what the stamped "14" by the Made in Israel is? The few I got have a stamped "13" with a "MD 12/12"?
TheyCallMeGmoney
01-30-13, 07:18
I've had the same problem with my new D&H rounds, they seat fine but when I pull the charging Handel back it won't completely load the road it's weird if I reload the same round in the mag and try again sometimes it will take.. It has even done it with my pmags where it won't chamber the round but if I pull the pmag out and reload the same round then try again it will chamber.. Makes me wonder if I'm having a different issue altogether. Any thoughts?
Sorry to high jack
To be blunt, its what I expected. I'll stick with my Brownells GI mags and PMags.
To be blunt, its what I expected. I'll stick with my Brownells GI mags and PMags.
Well I didn't expect them to surpass my Pmags or USGI mags in performance. I got them for range use and to take the wear off my others.
Well I didn't expect them to surpass my Pmags or USGI mags in performance. I got them for range use and to take the wear off my others.
Exactly. But get ready for everyone to come out of the woodwork an tell us "I TOLD YOU SO!"
Well I didn't expect them to surpass my Pmags or USGI mags in performance. I got them for range use and to take the wear off my others.
As where they should stay. Thanks so much for your report!
Exactly. But get ready for everyone to come out of the woodwork an tell us "I TOLD YOU SO!"
It's not even an "I told you so".
It's more of a thanks for confirming my opinion. Lol
After emptying each Mako mag, I compared them to one another. The mag that had the most FTFs, (#1) had slightly different feed lips than the other two, but all three had FTFs on the first round.
1911-A1, I'm curious, were the Manufacturer markings on all 3 mags exactly the same? I am asking about the "M.D: 12/12" and "14" as shown in your last picture.
hotrodder636, I believe the MD is the manufacturing date. I think the stamped number (in this case "14") is the generation or version (with 14 being more recent than 13, and so on). But someone correct me if I am wrong.
Joe Mamma
1911-A1, I'm curious, were the Manufacturer markings on all 3 mags exactly the same? I am asking about the "M.D: 12/12" and "14" as shown in your last picture.
hotrodder636, I believe the MD is the manufacturing date. I think the stamped number (in this case "14") is the generation or version (with 14 being more recent than 13, and so on). But someone correct me if I am wrong.
Joe Mamma
I got 5 mags total.
All say 12/12
Three have a stamped "14", and two have a "13".
I brought two 14s and one 13 to the range in my report. All had "issues".
Have you contacted the Mako Group? I am curious if you do to see if they are willing to try to make it right.
Have you contacted the Mako Group? I am curious if you do to see if they are willing to try to make it right.
I don't think now is the time to attempt to send them back. They are trying to feel the other thousands of orders they have received.
I wouldn't send them back. It's a cheap mag either you fix it until it runs or you don't. Never seen anyone send mags back.
I've had some discussions with them on their FB page and they said they are willing to try to address any issues. If they aren't functioning why not try?
Well if they are opening up that can of worms then go for it's hey ship out 100,000 mags and get 100,000 back haha.
ChrisCross
01-30-13, 12:16
I've got 2 E-Lander Mags I received from Midway and I have 6 on order from E-Lander (mid 10xxx order number). One is stamped 10 with no date and one is stamped 11 with no date. Both have the open mag catch slot as opposed to the partially covered mag catch slot seen on the later batches.
They Function, Seat & Drop Free fine in my Bushy (Don't judge I was learning back then...) but not in my Colt 6920. Fully loaded I have to push on a closed bolt with decent force (download 1-2 rounds and this mostly goes away) and 1 of the 2 Mags does not drop free (the one numbered 10). If I shake the Colt some it will drop but that is not "drop free" in my book...
I got these as range/training mags and will use them as such. I haven't taken my Dremel to them yet since I'm hoping keeping them loaded for a week or two might help. Will update when I get my order from The Mako Group (next week or two judging by others ship dates).
Because I have had 2 orders for 6 each of the E Lander Mags I was doing some research on them and found similar problems as outlined here.
However I also found that the importer, The Mako Group, acknowledged that about 1% of customers were having these fit issues and E Lander agreed to modify future production to solve the issue.
According to Mako the Rev 3 Mags shipped from Israel I believe on 2/13. Someone (not Mako) said that the new rev mags have their markings engraved on them rather than printed on as the previous rev.
My first six were delivered yesterday, 2/21/13, and thankfully they are engraved not printed and have 2/13 embossed on them which I am guessing means they are the Feb 2013 revision.
I have not been able to test them yet other than seeing how they fit into my DPMS Oracle and they click in just fine and release as they are supposed to.
I have 2 elanders on order, I guess they will eventually arrive...lol.
Can't wait to see how they work in my gun, and if I can modify them to work better.
Luckily my local shop has p mags in stock again. Limit 2 but it's better than nothing. And they only jacked the price a few bucks.
Today I loaded 30 rounds into one of my E Lander mags received 2/21/13 with "MD 02 13" engraved on them and all of the print was engraved not printed.
Using my LULA loader all 30 rounds loaded easily into the mag. I am a new AR 15 owner and this was my first attempt seating a loaded mag into my rifle so I really did not know how much effort to expend.
The first three or four tries the mag did not seat / catch but it very well may have been me being too tentative in pushing it in because once it did catch (the shove with the most force) then it caught every single time after that when I tried.
I just checked on my order, placed Jan 15th, and it's still processing.
Wow they must be really swamped, lol.
Even though pmags are in stock locally again I am going to keep this order active. I am eager to tinker with them after reading about everyone's issues.
Has anyone received replacement mags from Mako yet? Are they different in any way?
hotrodder636, I believe the MD is the manufacturing date. I think the stamped number (in this case "14") is the generation or version (with 14 being more recent than 13, and so on). But someone correct me if I am wrong.
Based on looking at the pics, I would bet that the 14 or whatever is a die ("mold") number or something. All the 14s were made on the same station, the number 13s on the same station, etc. Just a guess. I've never used these mags, seen them in real life, or even heard of them until now when I saw this thread.
--
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/BiteyMcClaws/20130129_144312.jpg
Hey now...that range looks very familiar. Is that Teds?
Hey now...that range looks very familiar. Is that Teds?
No. It's not.
[QUOTE=1911-A1;1526980]
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh196/Caduceusmd78/2013-03-30_11-55-57_972_zps26ceb35d.jpg
Just adding my 2 cents. I had this experience yesterday using one of my Mako 20-round mags (the only one I've taken from the wrapper). Did this to 2 of the first 9 rounds. The remaining 11 rounds fired and cycled correctly from a non-Mako magazine.
I've contacted the company for refund/replacement. To the OP, did you try to get this replaced?
[QUOTE=1911-A1;1526980]
Just adding my 2 cents. I had this experience yesterday using one of my Mako 20-round mags (the only one I've taken from the wrapper). Did this to 2 of the first 9 rounds. The remaining 11 rounds fired and cycled correctly from a non-Mako magazine.
I've contacted the company for refund/replacement. To the OP, did you try to get this replaced?
He just got back to me. I have to mail them to Alaska for replacement. I'll update when I get the new ones.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.