Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Detachable Mags

My wife also likes detachable magazines because she has enough arthritis in her hands to make top-loading a rifle magazine something of a pain in cold weather--which we get here. She really liked the system the Browning A-Bolt uses--a detachable magazine that snaps INSIDE a hinged floorplate, so it can't fall out during hunting.

Of interest, the Lee Enfield rifle featured a 10 rd. detachable magazine, but it was not to be removed. The rifle was originally single loaded and volley fired to control the fire sequencing to prevent troops from wasting ammunition. Magazine cutoffs were part of the design. Oxymoronic by today's thinking, but the generals of the day came from musket backgrounds, so the old fashioned thinking stuck around for awhile.

This is one area where I think the European manufacturers are ahead of American rifle makers, for two reasons. First, legal magazine capacity can vary from country to country over there, so detachable magazines are standard in many rifles, to make it easy to comply.

Second, hunters often have more income than the average citizen, because hunting over there tends to be more expensive, due to game usually being legally owned by the landowner. So essentially a hunter is buying the game. Because the typical hunter has more disposable income, they often demand better performance from their firearms then the average American--so won't put up with magazines that don't stay in place.

That said, the price of many European rifles is coming down, partly because the American rifle market is the largest in the world. Consequently they're started making rifles that can at least compete with the higher-priced range of "affordable" American rifles. Have tested several of these models, and overall their detachable magazines work very well. One good example is the magazine in my 7mm Remington Magnum Mauser M18, another polymer magazine, appropriate because the M18 is a polymer-stocked rifle.It not only stays firmly in place and works very well, but holds 5 rounds yet fits flush with the bottom of the stock--and can be reloaded from the top.

Have tested several so-called long-range hunting rifles (often pretty pricey) made by American companies that, of course, had detachable magazines that didn't always stay in place, often because the release lever jutted way below the magazine, which also jutted way below the stock. Many of those magazines did not feed very well, either, either right from the get-go or after a few dozen rounds, because they were made of relatively flimsy stampings. Which of course was often a problem with Remington's detachable magazines for the 760/7600/740/7400.

I like clips......

Actually, the British generals of the day often came from backgrounds in campaigning in various small wars, and the experience of the massive difficulties of maintaining supply to the troops. There are any number of examples of the massive logistical issues inherent to keeping a force supplied on campaign, especially when relying on bullock carts on unmade tracks. A concern about keeping ammunition up to the blokes at the pointy end, and hence ammunition expenditure, was therefore by no means irrational at the time the first .303 repeaters were adopted.

Gee, I guess that's why fire sequencing and ammunition waste were a concern. Oxymoronic by today's thinking. Wait a minute, I already said that...

Is it just me, or are detachable mags are an unnecessary PIA?....

Am in my 80's and during my career I have owned quite a few rifles having detachable magazines. I have never lost a magazine nor found it necessary to carry more than one magazine when hunting. The only thing I have lost was the front sight hood from a Browning semi-auto. When considering the purchase of a new rifle the presence or absence of a DBM has never been one of my considerations. Had I lost a magazine then I would have to have continued the hunt with a single shot rifle. If anything this would just have made me more thoughtful before I pulled the trigger.

I guess some people are just ham fisted or unaware of their surroundings which allows them to lose parts of their equipment. I also guess these types are the ones who feel they need to be able to unleash a barrage of rounds in order to bring down a deer or other animal.

Jim