Originally Posted by
3 AE
OP, Me and a friend have four different ARs, Colt,DD,BCM,LMT. We went through 12 different 30 round PMags w/Maglevels. Everything mimicked what you had for results. Loading an empty mag or mag with one round loaded inserted easily against a closed bolt. With two rounds loaded there was a slight increase of resistance.From 5 to 10 to 15 to 20 etc. to 30, resistance increased a little bit along the way. We needed to have a firm push to lock in the magazines. We could see the spring compress about 3/32" as the mag was fully inserted.
It could simply be that it was a month or two since you last used the weapon and the effort to seat a mag felt more magnified. Kind of like a loss of muscle memory if that makes any sense. We did find out that if we loaded the PMags with 31 rounds, there was no more room for the spring to compress and you could not load it on a closed bolt. Our conclusion from this unscientific test was what you are experiencing is normal and that the brain is playing mind games on you. That happens to me a lot since I've gotten into my 50's! :laugh: