Anything wrong with exclusive use of 20 round USGI mags as go to?
Anything wrong with exclusive use of 20 round USGI mags as go to?
There was a long thread on AR Technical of guys going back to USGI aluminum mags for many different reasons. I prefer metal mags (USGI) for their compactness and have quite a few USGI 20 and 30 rounders. All my 20’s are USGI straight Colts. All my 30’s are OKays that have been upgraded with Magpul Gen 2 followers.
As everyone knows, a USGI mag fully loaded with 30 rounds can be slightly difficult to lock in with bolt forward. To insure easier and positive bolt forward reloading, most SME’s recommend the 30’s to be loaded to 27 or 28. Some even recommend 28 rounds in the newer mags (Magpul, Lancer, etc.) which are slightly longer than USGI metal mags, and “should” have no problems loading to a full 30 and loading bolt forward. The newer mags were supposedly designed for a full 30 round loading, yet there are continued reports of people who have difficulty loading a bolt forward AR with a full 30-round mag.
I keep a sizeable stash of go to 20 round USGI straight mags fully loaded to 20 and find they insert and lock into all my Colt AR’s VERY easily and VERY positively with bolt forward.
I am considering going with straight 20’s exclusively. My rationale is they are super compact. Substantially more so than 20’s from Magpul, Lancer, or even curved metal 20’s. A loaded AR is more compact. Spare mags can be carried in more compact pouches and a joy to manipulate during fast reloads.
I’d rather have mags loaded with 20 than much larger mags holding just 7 or 8 rounds more.
They were the original mag designed for the AR. Although my 30’s have been just as reliable (on the range) as the 20’s, the 30’s with it’s compound curve, was a design afterthought and most weapons experts agree the AR mag is the weakest link in the system.
This is kinda analogous to piston AR’s. Some piston designs work. Some designs work better than others. But most SME agree, the DI AR works best the way it was designed. Replace the words “piston” with 30 round mag and “DI” with 20 round straight mag. I understand AR improvements like flattop uppers, but I'm talking about the original design function.
While I won’t get rid of my 30’s as a just in case, do you guys see any issues/major disadvantages with going with 20’s exclusively for HD/SHTF? Anyone else considering the same?
I cannot recommend the Lancer 20 round AWM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Moonlight Again
Nope.
That is, I don't think there's anything wrong with relying exclusively on USGI twenty round straight aluminium magazines. Then again, I'm the "Square Range Kid."
There was an interesting thread by some jerk called MoonlightAgain recently about twenty round magazines. I picked up some of the Lancers, and now you're tempting me with GI mags.
I cannot recommend the Lancer 20 round AWM.
I love 20 round mags for their compactness. I love Glocks with plastic frames. I LOVE the idea of translucent mag bodies to monitor rounds left. The Lancer AWM is a plastic, translucent 20 rounder. What’s not to like? I ordered two of them from Brownells to try out.
Because of a bad experience with a couple of similarly designed Ramline 30 round translucent mags, where the mags would water fountain 2 or 3 or more rounds, out of the top of the mag when slapping into the magwell. I was a bit cautious but hopeful 25 or so years have improved translucent AR mag design.
I fully loaded both mags to 20. I “settled the rounds in the mag” in the usual way and sure enough, 1 or 2 rounds would water fountain out of the top of both mags. The AWM’s have wrap around metal feed lips, so I didn’t think that would happen. I “slapped” the mags into several Colt AR’s with bolt carrier locked back, figuring the mag well would “reinforce” the wrap around feed lips to reduce the water fountain effect. Nope….one or two rounds would pop out into the open AR action. I repeated the test numerous times with the same result. YMMV.
I suppose 1 or 2 pop outs per slap are better than 2 or 3 pop outs a generation ago. I suppose they would be great mags if they were loaded gently and NEVER slapped into an bolt-locked-back AR. Without shooting them, I returned the mags to Brownells with a comment on the return receipt. I don’t need to see if they are shooting reliable as I already have reliable USGI mags. I REALLY wanted the translucence feature. I repeated the same test with 20-round and 30-round USGI mags with the same slapping force, if not WAAAY harder, and no rounds popped out.
Furthermore, the 20 round AWM’s are significantly longer than 20 round straight mags. Nevermind the significantly thicker baseplate area verses straight mags. I took photos of this size difference as a reminder.
I believe the dimensional restrictions of the AR mag well prohibits the thickness required to allow a reliable clear plastic mag. (AUGs use MUCH thicker translucent plastic in their mags.) With present technology, clear plastics is < colored plastics < black plastics is the rule. I believe even Magpul recommends their black mags are stronger than their “other colors” mags.
I don't know about your intended 300 Blackout use. YMMV. Good luck, but test those mags if you intend any serious use.