Magpul Industries and pistol mags

[Slater]

With their great success with the P-Mag and other polymer firearms products, it would seem that Magpul would be a natural to manufacture polymer mags for handguns such as Glock, S&W, etc.

I realize I'm kind of talking out of my ass, but I'm guessing there are proprietary and technical issues when it comes to this. Seems that a competitively priced, reliable polymer handgun mag from a reputable company would sell quite well, though.

Thoughts? Slapdowns?

[markm]

That thought actually crossed my mind the other day too.

Pglock mags woud be awesome.

[MisterWilson]

That thought actually crossed my mind the other day too.

Pglock mags woud be awesome.

In that "Man, I sure wish someone would fix something already regarded as flawless" kind of way.

I'm sure that they'd like to make every kind of magazine under the sun...Just as soon as they're not swamped making their existing products.

Just my opinion...

[LOKNLOD]

Pistol mags are a tougher nut to crack.

AR mags are a little oversized for what they carry, width-wise. That gives a little room to play with different designs and materials.

Most pistol mags are pared down to their minimum dimensions already and use thin metal to achieve that. Unless you could make the plastic as thin as you can steel, and still maintain the rigidity and toughness, it's going to end up too thick. The pistol most known for mag issues - the 1911 - has mags that are barely thicker than the rounds they carry. There's just not room there for Magpul to work their polymer magic. Maybe they'll prove that wrong, if so I'll be extremely impressed :eek: (and they'll completely dominate that market, too, I'd imagine).

The advancements of the Pmag aren't just from the use of some new wonder plastic, or somebody probably would have figured it out earlier. Their design is what makes that plastic so strong, and so reliable. Unfortunately they're limited by the existing guns' designs so there's only so much they can do.

The Glock mags are likely an exception since they're already polymer, and I'm sure Magpul could make a mint just cranking out Glock Pmags, but it's not like Glock mags are especially problematic, rare, or expensive in their current form.

All that said...I'm willing to try out any thing Magpul wants to design and build :D

[markm]

All good points....... BUT.....

I can remember when Pmags were first being discussed.

1. Why would we need a polymer mag? Polymer mags in the past have been crap.

2. USGI mags are plentiful and cheap.

3. USGI mags work fine. They aren't problematic.

There's no logical reason for AR pmags to be a successful product. But they are!

[MisterWilson]

All good points as well, however...

Wasn't the magazine considered the weakest link in the chain of AR/M16 reliability?

[markm]

I think the mag is the weakest link in any autoloading weapon with a detachable box magazine. The USGI m16 mag is relatively flemmsy compared to some other mil rifle mags though.

Switching to an all polymer or all metal mag would be nice for the glock. I have a few glock mags where the polymer is peeling back by the feedlips and causing problems.

[LOKNLOD]

There's no logical reason for AR pmags to be a successful product. But they are!

Fair enough. Like I said, they'd sell as fast as they could make them...
And they might drop them on the market next week, who knows. But given the track record of the constant search for "better" AR mags over the years, and their work with them already, the evolution of the Pmag made sense more so than the decision to go after a new market with a PlockMag. Magpul also knew they were making an improvement to the AR mag. I'm sure they have or will make a decision if they could justify redesigning the Glock mag as well.

Lets be honest, at this point, they could just make factory Glock mags with Magpul logos, charge a couple extra bucks, and we'd all go ga-ga. And that's not a dig on Magpul, it's a testament to their track record of quality products. Besides, they'd probably do it and charge less than normal Glock mags, cause they're cool like that. :cool:

[Slater]

I think it would make a difference to the guy who can maybe only afford to buy a handful of mags at a time. In my neck of the woods, for example, a Glock 17 mag goes for around $25. You could obviously get a better price online, but shipping would eat up any savings realized from going that route.

A Magpul G17 mag that went for $15-20 in the store would be attractive in that circumstance.

[Drummer]

Magpul has established themselves as a world class firearms design company. They could do much more for the handgun industry than merely making magazines.

Imagine a polymer single-action pistol, ala 1911 that is less expensive, much easier to manufacture, has a better feed angle, and maintains the great 1911 trigger.

OR, imagine a Glock frame system that has a serialized aluminum chassis and interchangeable polymer grip frames available in different lengths (midsize, fullsize, etc.) and different sized backstraps and grip panels, allowing for changing the length of pull, grip width, and textures.

They could do any of that with no problem. There's no reason to limit them to just magazines.

[Paulinski]

I would like to see 9mm PMAGS, Glock and 1911 polymer magazines from Magpul.

[Slater]

Wonder if a polymer mag for the Beretta 92/M9 series would sell?

[sgtmajor]

I think the mag is the weakest link in any autoloading weapon with a detachable box magazine. The USGI m16 mag is relatively flemmsy compared to some other mil rifle mags though.


this statement is all to true. unless im mistaken the m16 mags were and are so cheap because there made to be dropped on the battlefield and left behind after the mag change.

[citizensoldier16]

In that "Man, I sure wish someone would fix something already regarded as flawless" kind of way.

I'm sure that they'd like to make every kind of magazine under the sun...Just as soon as they're not swamped making their existing products.

Just my opinion...

+1, completely agree about the "already regarded as flawless" part. Why fix it if it ain't broke?


imagine a Glock frame system that has a serialized aluminum chassis and interchangeable polymer grip frames available in different lengths (midsize, fullsize, etc.) and different sized backstraps and grip panels, allowing for changing the length of pull, grip width, and textures.


Maybe LEGO should start manufacturing guns!! That way we could buy the kit, throw out the directions, put it together the way we want, and loose the rest of the pieces. :D

Good idea though...

[citizensoldier16]

Deleted....double post.

[ToddG]

Maybe LEGO should start manufacturing guns!!

Already been done. (http://www.brickgun.com/)