20 vs 30 round magazine

Lot of arguments here, I suggest you use what your comfortable with. I've used 10,20,30,60 round magazines and drums. They all worked. I even used one of those 100 round magazines and a beta mag. Now I'm not military anymore and never have been police roving around in a car. I'm a civilian now so I use a 20 round with my long barreled AR. But I occasionally shoot higher cap magazines at longer yardage just to keep in practice, you know for after the election!

 

Our SOP is to keep them “cruiser ready;”
Chamber empty, selector set to fire (decocked), mag locked into mag well. You just hit the button to unlock the rack, grab the rifle, and pull the charging handle. Doesn’t take that long.

We had an officer in pursuit that was involved in a very, very bad crash at an intersection. It mangled the rifle and bent the barrel. If it had been chambered I’m pretty sure it would have fired. I don’t know if the bullet would have had time to exit the barrel before it was bent but I wouldn’t really want to take the risk.
We had a trooper here in Florida whose car caught on fire after a pursuit. The cats were hot and caught the grass on fire underneath the car. The ammo in the trunk started cooking off. Not really dangerous but if a round cooked off in the chamber that round would be coming out under steam.

I don’t really think it takes any longer to charge the rifle than it does to flip the selector to fire. So having a chambered rifle in the car seems to have a few more risks versus a potentially fraction of a second time advantage.

 

I have carried both the M16A1 and M16A2 into combat and the issue 30 round magazines always worked for me whether they were loaded to 30 or downloaded to 28 or 29 rounds. If I did download, it was only the one mag that was carried in the rifle, all the spares in my mag pouches were loaded to 30.

The only time we used the 20 round magazines was on the qualification ranges. It made it easier since you did two courses of fire of 20 rounds each. And yes the 20 round is better for shooting from the prone position.

 

20# USGI mags are balls on reliable. I’ve been using some for over twenty years. Can’t say that about 30# mags

 

You left out the struck by lightning scenario

 

You don’t think a bullet cooking off chambered in a fire is more dangerous then rds cooking off in the magazine?
Who picks up a rifle without checking if it’s loaded (if you are going onto a 2 way range?)
I like the 20 rd for comfort. Plus it’s plenty rds that I better have found cover before dry. Or better yet stopped the threat. I will buy more 20rd ones when I see them on sale.

 

You are all missing the mark here. Insert a 20 round mag, look in the mirror, it is cooler, and also makes one look bigger.

 

One thing about the USGI 20-rounder that I want to bring up. If you own more than just Mattel Toys or Mattel Toys-looking guns (i.e. AR15 piston guns), make sure that 20-rounder works in your STANAG mag well.

It's weird but I've found out the Galil ACE 5.56mm does not work with the USGI 20-rounders at all. It wouldn't even lock the mag in place. I tried it with my old Colt 20-rounders and new Okay 20-rounders. Didn't work. I thought that it was my gun, but another guy I know recently bought a Galil Ace 5.56mm and I asked him to try. The same thing happened with his Ace. So that's only two out of tens of thousands sold, but still more than one is a pattern.

Strangely enough the various brands of plastic 20-rounders worked just fine in the ACE.

My BREN 2MS 5.56 also does not like the USGI 20-rounders either. The mags will lock in and feed BUT it's a very tight fit and I would have to drag and yank the mag out.

Once again, all plastic 20-rounders and USGI 30-rounders worked fine in the BREN 2.

On the other hand, the previous generation BREN 805 has zero problem with the USGI 20-rounders.

So, just a headsup for those who own STANAG mag well guns - try out the 20-rounders first before making the assumption that just because it was USGI, it would work.

For the life of me, comparing between the 20-rounds and 30-rounds aluminum mags, I can't figure out why one wouldn't lock in place or fits very tight while the other slips right in and out.

 

I like the 20 round PMags for ease of maneuvering and lighter weight.

 

You can't go wrong with PMags or Lancers

 

Normally I just keep PMAG 20s in my Bushmaster AR. I figure 20 plus a 30 round spare mag is enough for social use. If I'm gonna be called up by the Army at age 60+.. well we have lost the war already.

That 20 allows me to go prone lower. See I'm a fan of Simo Hayha. He was a big time Swedish sniper in WW2. He said he didn't like scopes cause they put his head up farther off the ground. And I do like my noggin and want it to stay intact.

 

You can hunt legally in PA with a 20 rnd mag? I have a couple of Colt 5 rnd mags to legally hunt with here in MI. They are essentially 20 rndrs blocked with a rivet.

 

You can’t be that big of a fan of the man of you are calling him a Svensk instead of a Suomi.

 

While every Marine is a rifleman, not so much with law enforcement officers. That is why a shotgun is a better longarm option for LEOs. JMHO

 

Finnish sniper and anti-commie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Häyhä

Another famous Finn who killed lots of commies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_Törni

Sweden was neutral in WWII.

 

You’re right about not every LEO being a top notch rifleman, but they jug-f*** a shotgun worse.

One thing you might want to remember is that a main component of a Marine’s job is to kill the enemy and you get a little more rifle training to do so. A cop has about a thousand different jobs to do, and using a rifle is just one of them that rarely gets used.
I get a few days a year to try to whip them into shape.

I’m not sure if you think all of the cops are a bunch of bumbling idiots but I am proud to serve with my officers and think they do a good job of protecting.

 

That’s debatable but yes, generally accepted without further scrutiny.

 

Thank you for your service!
Most of the LEO's I know are decent people who do a very hard job. Far from being bumbling idiots.

 

T

hat because they don’t have to aim. ;-)

 

Sir, I had to go through a very rigorous and demanding 30 hour urban patrol rifle class to be authorized to carry an AR-15 on duty.