Glock?

If so, OEM all the way.

Black rifle, aluminum or stainless.

Just saw posted in Black rifle, but didn't specify

 

Yea... Black Rifle forum. I'm asking about AR's or M4's I would only use Glock mags for my Glocks. I edited my question.

 

If you maintain your equipment either is reliable, but i think polymer is more durable.

 

Magpul is hard to beat for ARs.

 

I answered for both

 

I prefer aluminum or stainless steel bodied mags. Never had a problem with 2nd gen 30 round windowed or straight 20 PMAGs which were the first mags I bought. Magpul makes nice followers and I’ve dropped a few of their GI followers in my mags.
But IMHO it comes down to:
Metal mag feed lips can deform over time or if dropped on a hard surface. Visual inspection won’t always tell.
Polymer mags are more resistant to dents but more prone to crack. Visually it’s usually pretty easy to tell when a PMAG is damaged enough not to function.

my preference is stainless steel. E-landers and the Bulgarian AR mags are much heavier gauge than CPD or ASC steel bodies. But an AR mag is a disposable wear item. Use it til it malfunctions then chuck it.

my only complaint with my PMAGs is they were a tight fit in all my lowers (Rock River, Anderson, PSA, Plum Crazy, New Frontier & Mag Tactical) but my D-60 drum fits great which I’m told is gen3 spec. Be aware that some lowers like BCM can’t take the new PMAGs with the lip/flange that prevents overinsertion.

 

USGI or magpul in that order. No others kept or used.

 

USGI or magpul in that order. No others kept or used.

:agree:

 

I have about 50/50 mix of Magpul gen 3s/steel or aluminum. I still can't seem to trust leaving polymer mags loaded (plastic lips). As much as I like them, they are reserved for the range. They come with clips to keep stress of of the lips but I don't want the clip in the way of a fast reload. All of my "at the ready' mags are steel.

 

What ever is priced the least
Never had problems with either

 

Dunno... I have about 100 P Mags, and a variety of aluminum and steel mags, but am not really shooting RIGHT NOW, for obvious reasons. Up till now I have had no issues either way.
Now, keeping the P Mags in the original bag may be a better barter item sometime down the road, Ifyougetmydrift.......

 

USGI 20# straight mags.......the most reliable mags available

 

Seconded

 

Plastic in the tropics!

 

PMAG

 

Life is too short to worry. I prefer standard USGI mags, but buy all kinds and stockpile them because I lived through the AWB once and figure I'll see it again.

 

but buy all kinds and stockpile them because I lived through the AWB once and figure I'll see it again.

That AWB allowed "grandfathering". That WON'T happen next time.

 

Never had an issue with pmag or okay industries.

 

USGI , Lancer, Magpul


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Pretty much same thing quality usgi magazines 20-30s okay doke's
For polymer I prefer the lancer translucent 30 mags. I do like the magul d60 drum better than my surfire quad stack.

 

up and down sides to both. Consider them disposable so you don't get too attached to them.
Functional distinctions too small to matter.

Metal mags will cause more wear and tear on surrounding materials, including flesh (hands-- that rear seam edge and feed lips can be sharp), pouches, and gun parts. If you wear them on a chest rig and have your AR slung high and close to chest, they will tear up your AR finish-- gives it that battle worn look FAST---happened to me the last weekend class I took. Less so with polymers.

 

If you can find it, Beretta steel ARX100 mag. Imagine a commie steel AK mag but for the M16.

 

Never, ever had a problem with my 20 round USGI mags. Old as hell and still function flawlessly. Most of my older 30 round USGI mags with green followers (swapped out or original) work flawlessly too. I've got an HK mag also, but you are talking more money. You can't tilt that follower if you try.

PMAGS work fine, but I wouldn't trust keeping a polymer mag loaded long term.

 

On usgi magazines my observations.
Brownells I bought in the 2007-08 time frame 2 of them wouldn't lock the bolt back the other 8 I have has always worked no problems. But with internet help I figured out why those 2 magazines didn't work and I now know why the okay magazines are the best ar15 usgi magazine market. Hint the 2 stamped shells that make the body are misaligned badly. All of the brownells have some miss alignment and the spot welds have gaps in between them. D&H usgi are lot better for alignment and spot welds. But the okay usgi are even better the alignment is spot on and the spot welds are perfect and absolute no gaps in between them.
Also using the same magpul follower you can tell a difference between the 3 different usgi shells same as before the brownells its very loose sloppy fit. The D&H magazines are a lot better but again the okay magazine shells align and guide the magpul followers the best.

 

Gen 3 Magpul is the best mag on the market ... period. It has constant curve technology that reliably feeds the rounds (that the GI mags lack) and it has a higher feed angle that feeds the rounds higher into the chamber, preventing nose dives or excessive wear on the aluminum feed ramps. It’s a highly engineered mag that was built to solve problems and issues seen with GI mags and 2nd gen PMAGs...

If I was going to war or apocalypse I absolutely positively would have gen 3 Magpul magazines in my carbine.

The best GI mags are Okay surefeed mags. Better built, better tolerances, they just work.

The best metal mag I have ever used is the Beretta steel ARX100 magazine. It’s made in Italy of steel, has a heavy duty spring, a high quality metal anti tilt follower. It has the nicest cleanest welds I have ever seen and just oozes quality . You used to be able to get them on Berettas website for about $17 a piece but they are extremely hard to find nowadays. Prolly the nicest stanag metal mag in existence. I have several thousand rounds through mine - no jams or issues.

 

Best are USGI alloy, preferably OKAY/NHMTG. 20 straight or curved, and 30s.

Use P-mags as range mags, as I did with Orlites. They tend not to impress bolt catches......the P-mags, I mean. And there's a reason they include covers with P-mags.

 

Has anyone actually worn an AR mag out? Besides damage from dropping them how many of you have seen a worn out mag from individual use? How many rounds did it take?

I don’t think AR mags get worn out as often as people worry about them getting worn out.

I don’t have any guns but when I did I started switching over from metal mags to PMAG which i also don’t have any more.

 

Has anyone actually worn an AR mag out? Besides damage from dropping them how many of you have seen a worn out mag from individual use? How many rounds did it take?

I don’t think AR mags get worn out as often as people worry about them getting worn out.

I've seen many GI mags go out of service, but that's mostly due to thousands of rounds or fairly rough handling and abuse.

 

Read between the lines of all the responses thus far and you realize that any quality magazine is good.

Hands down, the Beretta mags top them all. Unbelievable build quality. If I had to choose only one, it would be the Beretta magazines.

 

Pretty much.
Theres more than one choice which is good btw so it can come down to a personal choice.

 

I have a good variety and I can honestly say they're all about the same.

I have a good stock of Okay Ind. and Duramag USGI's for retro builds and other STANAG rifles.

I have a mountain of Gen 2 and 3 P-mags cause they're cheaper in bulk. These are my go to's but that's simply because I have the most of them sitting around in my range stuff.

I also recently started getting into the Lancers and I really like those as well.

But I have dropped, banged, tossed, mag-dumped, and generally beat every one of the mags I have with no problem. I could go on about ****ty mags for a while but the quality stuff all sits on par with each other IMO.

 

My mags are mostly D&H mags along with some gray finished usgi that might be d&h as there made the same way have a few of brownels that also run well . all look to have magpull followers of different colors , yellow gray and green . I have a few 10 rounds and 20 rounders but mostly 30 round mags . Never tried a polymer mag