Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Which magazine

I like P-mags 20 rounders, seem just right for my ar's for me, 30's are a bit long even though i have a bunch.
I also like Lancers 20 rounders. Nice looking mag.

"You will strip the feedlips on polymer ones then they are useless

So maybe the imbedded steel lips on Lancers are worth the small difference in price?

You don't know how many thousands of rounds issued military mags have through them. As a civilian, I highly doubt that you don't have to worry about it. As far as evil sand, I live in Michigan, not the Middle East, so I don't worry about it unless I'm planning on getting in a firefight on the beach.

I'd love for someone to explain what the hell "stripping the feedlips" is....

When I was a young kid, I had an uncle come back from the army and he told me his M16 was made by Mattel... doesn’t mean it was true.

Feed lips do wear on any plastic mag. They can also develop cracks, especially at rear. Not a knock. They take a beating, but when symptomatic you get double (live round) feeds, or loose rounds on slight impact. There is a reason P-mags come with covers.

Some are old enough to remember imported Orlites commonly available decades ago. They weren't new. Most were very well used, cleaned up. The sometimes heavy prior use gave them an undeserved bad reputation. But if you had enough examples, you could see it was a matter of heavy use to some of them. My "good" Orlites worked for decades in my 16s. Couldn't kill them. Ended up giving them to a friend "behind enemy lines" so to speak who needed pre-ban mags. My "bad" Orlites were bad right out of the gate. Close inspection with magnifier showed why.

I'll see him on the 1st, and ask him in detail. I know that he used to like PMAGS before he served, so I was surprised to hear that they are considered a no-go for "work" use. I want to say that they were flat out not allowed, but again, I'll ask him in person for more info. And as mentioned above, it is probably not relevant for 99.99% of shooters. We're not talking combat in some foreign land.

My concern, which might be unfounded, is how well the polymer holds up over decades? Probably fine, and I don't worry about Glocks or other polymer pistols. But I still keep a good supply of metal magazines. Why not? Cheap insurance, if we are really "stocking up" for whatever we think is about to come.

Makes sense, thanks for the info. At least one manufacturer has cycle tested their polymer mags (not AR mags), and there are expected life numbers. They are considered a "wear" item, but I don't think any of it gets publicly disclosed though.

I still own PMAGS, along with other brands/designs.

Watched a news feed a couple days ago and noticed a window P Mag in a soldiers M4. He must have missed the memo that they flat out aren't allowed.

Along with the Marines...
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/marines-get-groundbreaking-unstoppable-new-rifle-magazine

Up until around 2008 or so, most branches did not allow PMags. I know my last deployment I carried an M9, but the Army guys I worked with were happy they could carry PMags. I know before, many guys were having their wife, girlfriend, or anyone else that would send them to them. Some of the crappy Colt mags I was issued were so worn out, I was glad I never had to use them. I’m pretty sure PMags are standard issue items for most branches now. Someone like 79S could tell us for sure. I know my son is leaving and he said they can buy their own PMags, but the unit will not provide them.

I want to say it was 2011 time frame uncle sugar pushed a safety message about pmags and only authorized magazines were the Army issued one. I think those pmags were susceptible to cracking.. Before that Army really didn’t care what magazine you carried as long as you didn’t have black follower aluminum mags those were a no go. Green follower only or pmags.. But majority of joes at the time 2001 right up to 2003 Iraq, put a lot of faith into the army issue mags. The pmags has a way better anti tilt followers than the green follower army issued magazines. Then by 2008-2009 the Army had a new and improved follower it was tan and no real need for pmags ... unless you just wanted to look cool, the tan follower army issued mags are a real good magazine.

https://www.military.com/daily-news...d-enhanced-gi-magazine-fielded-2016.html

With all due respect to those who are serving, any time I hear “my buddy who was in the army said....” I immediately ignore whatever follows that.

For starters, most guys in the military have no idea how their rifles actually work or what makes them stop working. Honestly, it’s incredibly rare to even find one who can shoot exceptionally well. If they don’t know how they work, and most are minimally proficient at using them, why should we bother with what they think about them?

Especially when that “insider knowledge” flies in the face of objective, long term, verified testing.

Yeah it’s a miracle the Army could win any battles in Iraq or Afghanistan with as many inept Soldiers as we have..

My buddy was a Grunt, sniper qualified all around good dude. He swears by pmags that’s all he will buy.. Anyhow he was in OP hotel 2005 ol haj even recorded the attack.. It’s a miracle none of them young men died that day including my friend..

Geez J. Are you an "inept" pos? ha ha..

I can barely tie my shoes..

I will also say nothing wrong pmags. I prefer the 20 rounders myself. Has anyone messed with those MFT mags? The only amend 2 mags I have are for G17 I thrown them at the ground the wall at our local range they seem to work just fine. But for a $1 dollar more I can get magpul G17 mags.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vi...me-to-bahgdads-very-own-hotel-california

Right next to hotel California was 1st Armor Division HQ parked out front Division HQ were 2 M1 Abrams tanks, I had friend who was a tanker in 1-32 a tank bn in one 1AD brigades. I asked him about those tanks he told me those 2 tanks had rounds in the tube ready. I was like damn now that’s some security. Lol too be young again and go to
War..