Just grabbed a couple Magpul couplers the moment they came back in stock, after waiting quite awhile. I'm just trying to figure something out, and hoping to get some answers from people who actually touch grass. My health has been absolutely shot ever since the pandemic (incredibly long story, but basically, I had not 1, but 2 strokes because of the vaccine), so I'm not likely to be able to just hit the range and try things out, not for awhile. But I can at least handle limited shooting on a square range, with frequent breaks. And things are very slowly improving.
Anyway.
Hopefully the images show up. Basically, I always see people using the configuration on the left (pics 2 and 3), with staggered mags, and I'm really not sure why. Other than, that's what the instruction sheet says to do with a pair of 30s. But the configuration on the right makes way more sense to me. With the 30 in the rifle, the 40 doesn't hit or interfere with anything. I guess it blocks access to the quick-release knob on my optic mount, but that's beyond trivial. So, the left configuration adds an inch of height to the rifle when the 30 is loaded, why exactly? I know a pair of 30s has to be staggered for ejection port clearance, but that's a non-issue here. A 30+40 can be even shorter than 2x30 if done my way, so why have I never seen it? I've either figured out a smart solution, or I'm missing something that I'm not going to be able to figure out without doing some actual drilling. Or people are doing it, and I haven't met them.
Also, I hope it's not too rude to just nip this one in the bud (or try; at least I'll know who actually read the whole thing this way), but I have less than zero interest in the "mag couplers are too heavy and slow, they add weight to the gun, you need to keep a dust cover on one mag, just do everything my way" discussion. You have no idea how many people think "good advice" is something that essentially boils down to "just pretend you're healthy, pretend you never had 2 strokes, do everything my way, and things will be easier!" My priorities and abilities are obviously going to be very different from everyone else's. In this case, the idea is being able to have a rifle and 70 rounds that I can just grab in one hand (leaving the other hand free to support myself with, especially when I have to deal with stairs) and hobble out of my house with, buck naked if I really have to. 90 rounds, even, if I can figure out a non-stupid way to attach the coupled mags to either the rifle or the sling. I deliberately made sure that there's a 20 round mag in every photo, because that's the mag that's lived in the rifle 99.99% of the time until now. I don't care if I have to hook the magazine covers on the the trigger guard before loading them (that's what I practice, anyway). I care about not needing to put on a freaking battle belt or bandolier or molle vest or whatever, just to have more than a single mag on tap. And I don't want to find out the hard way that there's a gigantic downside to having the baseplates flush with each other, if that day ever comes.
So, yeah, I'm hoping someone who actually touches grass on the regular can offer some insight into why seemingly everyone who runs a 30+40 chooses to stagger them, and whether flush baseplates is a genuinely better idea.
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