View Full Version : AR15 Magazine purchase advice
20 Bravo Co. mags are 259.00 before shipping. 20 PMAG's are about 290.00 before shipping. Personally I would go with the PMAG's. You can buy 17 of them for less than the cost of the B Co. mags. I won't buy aluminum mags anymore unless Magpul goes under.
GastonG-NoVa
09-06-08, 15:31
Yeah...... what he said.............p-mags rock!!!
Beat Trash
09-06-08, 15:34
I am now buying PMAG's for all of my new magazine purchases.
I was a hard sell to go with the PMAG's. I bought two of them and tried them for myself. After having used the M16/AR15 platform with aluminum magazines since 1983, it took awhile for me to just get used to the look of the PMAG inserted in my gun. I have damaged, and seen others damaged good magazines by merely dropping them on a hard surface while loaded, thereby denting the feed lips and rendering the mag unserviceable. (Bad Velcro on Patrol Rifle cases will do this...). This is not so much of an issue with the PMAG.
If I wanted to go with anything else, the D&H mags with the enhanced Magpul followers linked in your original post would be my #2 choice.
As a LEO, my price for PMAG's from Brownells is so close to the price of the D&H mags, that for me, that it's a "No Brainer".
I think I paid 12.97 on my last order of PMAG's from Brownells. Can't beat them.
AIM has C Products mags with magpul followers on sale right now for $9.95 ea and with green followers for $8.95. I just ordered some. A great price for new mags! Their Pmags still have $.01 shipping too.
+1 on the pmag, only ones I'm buying.
I have no bitch with P mags ( I have 5) ,but the USGI mags just feel right to me . maybe I'm too old to change ,there is just something about the feel and sound of an aluminum GI mag that gives me confidence . :D
MarshallDodge
09-06-08, 17:09
I bought a couple Magpul PMags this year and have been very happy with them. Time to go get some more......
I bought 24 Cproducts stainless steel mags last year. They were probably the toughest mags at the time. Problem was they had to be debured inside at the spot welds and the chrome silicon springs had to be cleaned of the surface rust. They originally came with Magpul followers which turned out to be slightly off size so they sent me the special follower to upgrade them at no charge. Now all is OK. That said, along comes the Pmag. Tougher mag for less money. Get them with the Stainless steel spring which will last for years. Pmags have gone through the teething period and are now 100% GTG. I have a good supply of GI aluminum mags, but will not invest in anymore with the other choices we have now. I would stay clear of Cproducts mags at this point due to QC issues. Go Pmag!:cool:
flyboy1788
09-09-08, 20:56
PMAGS!!!!:D
I was at G&R Tactical awhile back and Grant told me to buy the pmags, that I would like them better then the regular GI mags and at first I was leary about using polymer type mags and so I bought 4 of them from him and ever since I tried them in my AR's, I havn't used my GI mags at all, so as to pmags they are definately the best in my book and now I own more of them then my GI mags. I have never had a jam or any type of failure with the pmags at all.
Magazines
My receipe for reliable AR15 magazines for the last several years was a quality USGI magazine with a Magpul Enhanced Self-Leveling Followers with a Wolff Gunsprings 10%+ magazine spring. When purchasing new magazines I recommend the USGI magazines made by Bravo Company USA or the Magpul P-MAGs. I have found that Bravo Company (www.bravocompanyusa.com) has some of the highest quality USGI magazines at some of the best prices I've found. As an added bonus, Bravo Company is now selling their USGI magazines with the Magpul Enhanced Self-Leveling Followers already installed. I don't know if Bravo Company uses an enhanced magazine spring in their magazines or not, but I have found that the magazine springs in the Bravo Company magazines to provide more than enough tension for reliable feeding.
In September of 2007 I attended Larry Vickers Basic Carbine course (www.vickerstactical.com), in attendance were some of the crew from Magpul (www.magpul.com) and they gave each student (3) Magpul PMAGs. Myself and several other students ran the PMAGs exclusively during the course and I saw no magazine related malfunctions. In May of 2008 I attended Pat Rogers Carbine Operators Course (www.eagtactical.com), in this class each student received (1) Magpul PMAG. Again in this class myself and several other students ran Magpul PMAGs exclusively through the course. I witnessed zero issues with the PMAGs. I have been running Magpul PMAGs a majority of the time since September of 2007 and would highly recommend them.
S/F,
Jeff
The BCM magazines with Magpul followers that you've selected are actually very good.
I have some, and I think I should've gotten more. I think they are pretty much guaranteed to drop free from any lower receiver. I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. BCM as a company has a very good reputation.
PMAGs are very strong and very reliable, and Magpul backs up their product like nobody else. I own several PMAGS from different production dates (all post July 2007). The only minor issue that I found is some variation in external dimensions between different production dates. The same lower would drop some PMAGs free easily, other PMAGs not so easily, and some PMAGs won't drop free at all. This is easily rectifiable with sand paper, though.
P.S. I got distracted, and Jeff beat me to it. I won't admit that I am a slow typist.:)
Robb Jensen
09-09-08, 21:29
For aluminum mag BCM as some of 'the best of the best'. Other great mags but not metal are Magpul PMAGs and Lancer mags.
tweakmeister
09-09-08, 21:44
I prefer CProducts over BCM as some of my BCM's won't drop free (lips spread slightly too much when full combined with a magwell on the tight end, but in spec, of things).
I plan to try PMAG's next.
I'm a definite PMAG fan (have 8 of them and another 10 on the way) but I wouldn't shy away from an aluminum-tubed mag so long as it has the Magpul follower. Those followers are too nice of a widget to save a buck by going without.
I prefer CProducts over BCM as some of my BCM's won't drop free (lips spread slightly too much when full combined with a magwell on the tight end, but in spec, of things).
I plan to try PMAG's next.
I'm not trying to get into a pissing contest with you....but I ordered a 100 mag lot of Bravo Company magazines....I own 12 AR's. I also lend a lot of Bravo Company magazines out at training classes and matches.
I have NEVER seen a BCM magazine that wouldn't drop free from the lower.
In reference to C Products magazines:
This is what it looked like when I used a magazines from C Products last year in a match. Three different stages, three different magazines, three different magazine related malfunctions, all caught on film.
Mags were sent back 3 different times due to problems (4th set of mags were sold brand new):
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2007.02/smaller/D101_1424_img.jpg
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2007.02/smaller/D101_1428_img.jpg
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2007.02/smaller/D101_1434_img.jpg
Been shooting P-MAGs a majority of the time since Sept 2007 and haven't had any mag related issues:
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2008.05/smaller/D462_6236_img.jpg
Seem to popular with other shooters as well:
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2008.05/smaller/D462_6288_img.jpg
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2008.05/smaller/D462_6430_img.jpg
http://demigodllc.com/photo/PRM-2008.05/smaller/D462_6441_img.jpg
S/F,
Jeff
tweakmeister
09-09-08, 22:26
I appreciate the reply - I know everyone has a different experience, and I never tried to send them back (use for plinking in another AR). With my luck in firearms, I seem to spend the most and get the worst results :rolleyes::D
The PMAG's are next...look forward to trying them.
HighSpeedDreams
09-09-08, 22:47
Pmags for me. AIM sent them cheap and fast.
Failure2Stop
09-10-08, 08:47
I am superstitious about aluminum magazines.
OKay, DSA, or BCM only. I am quite adamant about this. They are the only ones that I know will run unless I see an obvious fault. Like I said- I'm superstitious about this, but for a reason.
Anything else goes into the "training only" bin.
PMags are the only polymer mag in my loadout until I determine the breaking point of these Lancer mags. But at the end of the day the PMag is brown, and I like not having to paint stuff.
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