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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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Well I was at the range a couple of days ago. All of a sudden I started getting failures to feed. I pulled out the mag and clear the weapon. When I tried to reinsert the mag it was vary tight and hard to seat. The failures counted so I pulled the mag out. It was getting late and we were losing light so I put the mag aside. When I got home I took a close look and found a small crack at the top spine at about the point where splits off to the lips. See pic. All of the other new pmags worked fine. In fact this one worked for the first 30 rounds. I still think their vary good magazines, but not indestructible.
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Ok, just wanted to add a few more things about the PMAG.
Here is a picture of PMAG after doing 100 drops from the magwell of my rifle onto concrete. Magazine was unloaded. Other than some scuffs, no damage to the magazine. Functions perfectly.
Here is another one, after 55 drops on concrete, loaded with 20 rounds to simulate dropping a partially loaded mag. This would be more severe than most would subject their magazine to, since most would retain this mag. Also, the was a straight drop down onto the concrete which really stresses any magazine. In most instances, you will be moving and the blow would be glancing. Still, the PMAG functions fine.
This is the same magazine, but showing the feedlips. Normally, the magazine would bounce when it hit the floor and about half the time lose a round or two. You can see a small crack starting to form on the back spine of the magazine. This did not effect function or retention of a full 30rds
Now, for the USGI. It faired about as well as I thought it would. For the empty mag on concrete test, after 10 drops it had shifted so much as to change the feedlip geometry. I did not try to fire this magazine to test for function, but you can clearly see the damage in the picture. This is why the original MAGPUL's or the ranger floor plates help out in multiple ways.
Now, for those concerned with the windowed version strength vs. non-windowed. I placed this magazine on the concrete on its side and hit it with a brass hammer right on the window. The window was fine, but resulted in a crack on the spine of the magazine. I then took a 3/16 punch and put it on the window itself and hit it about five times before I could get on side to start to move out. The window is set in place during the molding process, so its part of the magazine. The window does not effect strength as far as I can tell.
Here is a picture of the window insert so you can see how it is retained in the body.
Here is a picture of the mags three methods of retention. From right to left, 550 cord through a 1/4 hole drilled in the floor plate. Normal Magpul slipped over body and pre-production Ranger floor plate. And no, the translucent magazine is not available yet.
Now for the drop test on the feedlips. This is probably the toughest test of a magazine. Here is where the PMAG is most vulnerable. When empty, the mag can be thrown against the ground, stomped on, dropped, run over and anything else you can think of and have seen on youtube.
The problem comes when you add the weight of the column of loaded rounds and drop the mag straight on its feedlips. I'll try to explain why this happens. The magzine is open at the feed lips and therefore that is the weakest point. When dropped feed lips down, the mag contacts the concrete floor/street and the column of rounds tries to keep moving. The right top round is already in contact with the ground and the only open area is immediately to its side. This would be the 29th round. All the weight tries to push next to the 30th round. This causes the lips to wedge apart. The PMAGs I tested survived 7 drops before developing cracks down the spine. They were black windowed and non-windowed. If you continue to drop them after they crack, the crack will just grow down and out to the side of the 29th round.
Now, the good news. The mags that eventually split, still could retain the majority of the rounds. One or two would spit out. The benifit of the PMAG is that when it does crack, it doesn't break completely off. The magazines that where dropped after cracking, where able to be loaded into the weapon with no additional effort from a normal magazine. Once inside the weapon, the magzine functioned normally. So, even if you somehow get a split magazine, you can still use it. Now, the USGI didn't even compare. After four drops it could not even be inserted into the mag well, let alone feed anymore because the feed lips where totally jacked up.
As for freezing, I took a couple magazines and froze them in my freezer for a couple days and did the same drop tests. I did not notice any difference in strength.
As an added bonus, if you should somehow damage your mag, MAGPUL will probably send you a new body. Their customer service is a front runner in the industry.
5PINs,
I'm surprised your mag would no longer function. This has not been my experience with cracks much worse than yours. Any chance this was not mag related? Call MAGPUL, I'm sure they will replace your body for you at no charge. Can you recall anything that would have resulted in the crack? What date code is on you body?
Not at all happy to see those cracks on the feed lips, I just ordered 3 and then see this thread![]()
I ass ume that was from dropping them loaded as stated and not from normal usage.
Terrific write up and evaluation of these mags, thanks for posting it.
I wouldn't worry too much about the cracks. I'm not sure how 5pins got his, but on the ones I tested, it took 7 drops from about shoulder height to get a crack. The magazines still functioned perfectly. Not seeing his weapon, or knowing its history I can't be sure that his FTF's where because of the crack he had in the PMAG. Its possible, but I haven't had any FTF's with cracks much worse than that.
Besides, this is on concrete and the GI mags where useless in half the time. I doubt you would stress the mags that much in normal use or even hard use. Empty mags are ussually the ones that hit the ground and in that case I haven't been able to get any of the PMAGs to fail.
Again, if you do have a problem, MAGPUL will take care of it for you. Hard to complain with that kind of reliability, customer service and price point of about the cost of USGI mags with no mod's like the MAGPUL followers. Less weight than steel and more durable. As you can tell, I'm sold. Now my mission is to get the word out to as many Soldiers and Marines that are deploying and let the units decide if they want to order these.
Just my thoughts
KDG I would not worry either. I still think the pmags are great.
The PMAG is my go to mag -- the CPro, USGI, HK, Belgian FNC mags have all been shelved...
Kevin S. Boland
Manager, Federal Sales
FN America, LLC
Office: 703.288.3500 x181 | Mobile: 407-451-4544 | Fax: 703.288.4505
www.fnhusa.com
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