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Thread: Repeated Double Feed Failures on 100% of Manticor Arms 32 rd Mags for CZ Scorpion Evo

  1. #1
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    Repeated Double Feed Failures on 100% of Manticor Arms 32 rd Mags for CZ Scorpion Evo

    While this will be SBR'ed before too long, these mags are the same for those with the carbine version. A short version and a longer detailed version are below.

    Short Version:

    CZ Scorpion Evo pistol (will be SBR'ed when approved) shot for the first time today. Factory config without any alterations, bought new, manufactured in 2017.

    Used 3 of 3 recently purchased Manticore Arms magazines, each loaded to 30 rds only. Also used the 2 factory CZ 20 rd mags.

    Ammo was Speer Lawman 124 gr (very good quality ball ammo - this is the exact ammo that Sig and Glock use for their factory live fire function testing )

    All 3 Manticore Arms mags experienced multiple double feeds. The factory CZ mags were run repeatedly with no problems. See 2 pics below (one has a right-most round at the top, the other a left-most round at the top)

    CZ Scorpion Evo - Manticore Mags Feed Problems - Pic 1.jpg

    CZ Scorpion Evo - Manticore Mags Feed Problems - Pic 2.jpg

    -------------

    Long Version:

    The Scorpion Evo pistol was stripped and cleaned of factory grease etc. and properly lubed with G96 CLP per the manual. Inspection of all part before and after showed no visible abnormalities. Nothing whatsoever was done to modify the weapon (not even a sight on the rail). 2017 manufacture date bought from reputable FFL dealer new.

    4 Manticore Arms 32 rd magazines had been purchased directly from Prepper Gun Shop. Also had 2 20 rd CZ mags that come with the pistol. All were stripped and springs were extremely lightly lubed with G96 CLP. One 32 rd Manticore Arms mag was immediately rejected, as a dent in the mag on arrival in the rear right of the body slightly impaired the travel of the follower at this point. It was never used. All other mags were normal on inspection.

    The other 3 Manticore and the 2 CZ mags were loaded to 30 rds and 18 - 20 rds respectively with Speer Lawman 124 gr ammo. Several thousand rds of this lot have been previously shot by me through a number of G17s and HK VP9s with no issues.

    The factory CZ mags ran perfectly on slow and fast fire when tested repeatedly, always loaded to 18 or 20 rounds.

    The first Manticore Arms mag has 2 double feeds when slow fired at a rate of ~ 1 rd per 5 seconds. These occurred at roughly around 20 rds left in the mag and another at ~ 8 rounds left. The bullet portion of the top round was in the chamber, but the brass could not fit as the 2nd round down was nose-ing up, as it was ~ 25% fed (its rim was still barely under the front-most portion of the feed lips). One DF occurred when a right-sided round was being the top round, the other was when a left-sided round was at the top.

    The other 2 Manticore Arms mags had 2 identical failures at around the same point remaining in the round count, except these 2 mags were fired at maximal (mag dump) speed.

    These DFs did NOT clear with (1) tapping the mag (was already inserted fully) and then (2) racking the charging handle (the bolt simply returned to the same blocked position against the top round). I had to eject the mag, at which point the mag came out with the 2nd round falling out on its own, and the bolt then automatically moved forward and the top round was chambered (since the double-fed round always came out with the mag). Not a good malfunction type to have in a firefight / in the dark.

    Bottom line - all the Manticore mags are going back as a defective product in general (at least with my weapon, which works perfectly with CZ 20 rd mags). While Lawman isn't going to be the round I'd use for home defense, I don't trust any mag where 3 of 3 new mags have a 2 / 30 (6.7%) rate of double-feeds using high quality ball ammo. Not worth the further wear & tear on the weapon for testing a moot point, when I'd never use these mags anyway - my sample size is good enough for my brain's statistical satisfaction at this point. The 4th Manticore mag being physically damaged on arrival (and therefore never used) clearly occurred at the factory and not during any shipping damage (different issue obviously).

    Just curious if anyone else has seen or heard of this issue. You can always blame the weapon, but in this case that's sort of unsatisfying, given no issues using factory mags.
    Last edited by Naphtali; 04-09-17 at 15:53.

  2. #2
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    Just realized I posted this w/ the wrong tab open - would one of the mods mind moving this to the NFA forum if possible? (feel free to delete this post)

  3. #3
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    Short version answer... it sounds like your after market mags suck.
    Stick


    Board policy mandates I state that I shoot for BCM. I have also done work for 200 or so manufacturers within the firearm community. I am prior service, a full time LEO, firearm instructor, armorer, TL, martial arts instructor, and all around good guy.

    I also shoot and write for various publications. Let me know if you know cool secrets or have toys worthy of an article...


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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stickman View Post
    Short version answer... it sounds like your after market mags suck.
    Yeah, and with the CZ 30rd mags costing about $19/mag (922R compliant as well - https://shop.cz-usa.com/ProductDetai...rpion-9mm-30rd)
    , I have no idea why someone would spend $30 for an aftermarket magazine made by www.preppergunshop.com for Manticore Arms - and considering Manticore Arms has this to say about them...

    "PLEASE NOTE: For Purchasing and warranty work please go to www.preppergunshop.com - Manticore Arms designed the magazines for Prepper, and all sales and warranty work are handled by Prepper Gun Shop. Manticore Arms does not sell or handle warranty service for this product"

    I imagine they are having some 'teething' issues.
    Last edited by RHINOWSO; 04-09-17 at 16:16.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by RHINOWSO View Post
    Yeah, and with the CZ 30rd mags costing about $19/mag (922R compliant as well - https://shop.cz-usa.com/ProductDetai...rpion-9mm-30rd)
    , I have no idea why someone would spend $30 for an aftermarket magazine made by www.preppergunshop.com for Manticore Arms - and considering Manticore Arms has this to say about them...

    "PLEASE NOTE: For Purchasing and warranty work please go to www.preppergunshop.com - Manticore Arms designed the magazines for Prepper, and all sales and warranty work are handled by Prepper Gun Shop. Manticore Arms does not sell or handle warranty service for this product"

    I imagine they are having some 'teething' issues.
    I think the selling point of these new mags is the steel feed lips. People are reporting the CZ mags breaking feedlips without too many rounds through them. Questionable mag durability was the big reason I decided against a CZ Evo purchase.
    "I pity thou, fools who dost not choose BCM" - King Arthur 517 A.D.

    .OlllllllO.

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    The reason Manticore Arms made the mags in the firs place was that the polymer feed lips on the CZ mags had multiple reports of users with cracked feed lips after storing the 30 rd mags with 30 rds loaded, after just a couple months and with no actual other use. So Manticore Arms made a 32 rd mag but made the feed lips out of steel to address this issue... theoretically fixing the only major reported problem with the CZ mags.

    But... CZ says the issue has been reported in less than 0.01% of sold mags. While I am sure there is some under-reporting there, CZ also said that Manticore Arms worked with CZ and did in-house testing at CZ when developing those mags, and CZ was unaware of any issues with the Manticore Arms mags after that close partnership.

    So theoretically these are marketed as "superior" to the CZ mags, but obviously they are quite inferior. To date, however, I'm unaware of any reports like mine, though these were just released in March.

    Also they are 922r compliant, and I wasn't aware CZ was selling assembled 922r compliant mags (previously they just sold individual replacement parts for you to build your own) - RHINOWSO thank you for that link - I'll be buying those from CZ to test next.

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    I'm wondering, have you tried taking out the CZ follower and putting into the Manticore?
    * Just Your Average Jewish Redneck *
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    A lot of people are running the Manticore mags without issue.

    I haven't bought into them yet since I bought about 20 or 30 of the 30 round CZ mags when they were about $15.


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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by PattonWasRight View Post
    I'm wondering, have you tried taking out the CZ follower and putting into the Manticore?
    I have not, and I'm not inclined to try. I'm a believer that you either make a properly engineered product or you don't. Everyone has a random lemon occasionally, but 3 of 3 double-feeding mags means that, even if I did the experiment and it worked 200 times in a row, I still wouldn't trust it with my life, because now I'm running something that no one has tested based in a platform I already don't trust.

    Maybe if this was done for 40,000 rounds over 200 mags in 50 different Scorpions, then I might feel better about actually using that... but not with any sample size I can personally generate. A good experiment, and a good suggestion for Manticore Arms imo though.

  10. #10
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    No worries - the Scorpion is a great weapon and even better that CZ sells 922r compliant mags.

    I guess the bigger problem with Manticore / Prepper is the inevitable 'beta testing' period that has become so common with products these days.

    Maybe in 6-12 months they'll be worth looking at, but until then, pass.

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