AR mag longevity and reliability ?

[mosin46]

i have a large excess of AR mags,esp aluminum. i am asking if anyone has any experience with the various brands. i have brownell,duramag,bravo and palmetto. BTW the guy that built my excellent custom AR spent time in africa and mid east as an operator. he swears that the only mags he trusts are the brownells editions. any input or experience comparing these ? also,comparing to pmags. he does relate a serious failure with pmags-shattering when dropped out of pouch when exiting a vehicle. i suspect gen 2s. my smith reports a similar failure with aluminum mags,so only trusts Ps. planning on offing a few as i am in the hunt for an ak-74. any comparative knowledge,opinions or experience? hope this is right place to ask.

[Matt_J]

I have experience with GI mags in the Army and they had no issues, but as far as polymer magazines I use on my AR I like the MFT Extreme Duty. I've never had a problem with Magpul mags but these feel more durable so that's what I buy now.

[17K]

I've been using legit GI issued aluminum mags for a couple decades.

I've damaged a few, but trust them very much.

I've also been off an on with Pmags since the RevM and they're fine, but I have had issues.

No experience with any others.

[pag23]

Personally I like different mags but tend to choose what the braintrust on the forum recommend...Lancer, Pmags, DH, Okay... I even have a few Beretta steel mags..and a couple of Brownells

Haven't tried out MFT mags yet..but I have one... I already Posted about my clear HK mag..the rest I will dedicate to the range only.

[mack7.62]

All you need to know is that after years of testing, hundreds of thousands of rounds and untold millions of $$$ the EPM and Gen 3 PMAG were approved for issue with the PMAG being the only magazine the USMC will go to war with. Granted that was with the M855A1 which is unobtainable right now but if you happen to stumble across a can of A1 that falls out of the back of JTLV you best have some Gen 3's or EPM's to run it through.

"The USMC chose the PMAG because through multiple rounds of testing at Aberdeen over several years, it was best. In the end, the GEN M3 PMAG was the most reliable commercial or government magazine tested by a very, very large margin, and passed all TOP 03-02-045 durability and environmental tests. In the USMC tests, the Lancer L5AWM finished dead last, with multiple ammunition types in the test, not just M855A1. Those test results were published, and you can find them online. Later rounds of testing, including one round of tests that went to 250,000 rounds through PMAGs convinced Army to approve the SEP proposal and fully approve fielding the M3 with regular magazine funds. SOCOM approved as an authorized user when USMC did. AirForce adopted, as did Coast Guard and NSW. Last round of testing was over 30,000 rounds between magazine-related stoppages for the M3."

But it's your money so by all means feel free to pick the latest and greatest polymer mag to hit the market because you "like" the way it feels.

[Five_Point_Five_Six]

Magazines are one of those things that some people have an odd emotional attachment to. Magazines are consumable items, so if they stop working and a spring or follower swap doesn't fix them, I toss them.

With that said, Colt marked/Okay Industries/NHMTG USGI mags have given me the least amount of headaches for the last twenty years. I stopped buying PMAGs for quite some time until the gen 3's came out, I ran into some consistency issues with the gen 2's. I've got 20 or so of the gen 3 MCT PMAGs and they are by far the best PMAG but for stacking deep I prefer true USGI mags.

I don't have very many Brownell's magazines, maybe a half dozen or so, but they seem to be decent mags, along the lines of D&H. It's odd that those are the only one's he trusts though.

[feraldog]

as said, i too prefer Colt/Okay/NHMTG/USGI/Brownells

not very fond of pmags

[Arik]

My immediate reaction to people who claim to "operate" is to disregard everything they said or did, do the opposite and if warranted ask for my money back!

[mosin46]

thanks. just the kind of input i was looking for.

[SeriousStudent]

They are not family heirlooms, they are an expendable item as other people mentioned.

As I have both 5.56 and 300BLK AR's, I stick with polymer for 300BLK, and aluminum for 5.56. I want to be able to instantly distinguish between them by sight and feel.

Polymer - I have some of the very earliest PMAG's, and keep waiting for them to fail. They have not. I also like the Lancers. Their 300-specific mag is superb with the 220-grain subsonic loads in a suppressed SBR. The PMAG's run great with the supersonic Barnes TSX loads. I probably have a 150+. I have had exactly one problem with one - I slammed a pickup tailgate on the feedlips of one and broke it. Hardly the mag's fault.

Aluminum - I have NHMTG, Okay and D&H from BCM. I have no idea, probably 300 or so. You know those big tubs you keep Christmas decorations in? I run Magpul followers and chrome silicon springs.

I treat mags the same way I treat a lady. Respectfully, and I don't abuse them. But at the first sign of treachery, they are discarded without a backwards glance.

Hope that helps.