Although I wouldn't consider myself a hard-core "Survivalist," I do tend to keep a little extra food in the house, stock up on water, and I have pre-determined "minimum levels" of ammunition that I keep stocked up. This may be a great idea, but what is the point of an ammo stockpile if it's sitting in boxes in the bottom of the safe? I only had a handful of magazines for my AR-15, which is my go-to weapon for just about any "bump in the night" scenario. It was time to stock up.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. Every once in a great while, I get some great gifts from friends and family, rather than just getting stuck holding the bill for everything. Last year brought a great Christmas, and I became the owner of 10 new 30-round Magpul PMAGs.
Of course, the first thing I did was load an empty magazine into my AR. The fit was great, dropping the mag was easy, it didn't jam itself into the magwell, and the bolt locked to the rear as it should when an empty magazine is loaded and the charging handle pulled rearward.
After the "newness" wore off, I decided it was time to get them ready. The whole reason these were given to me was so I could have enough loaded magazines ready to go in an emergency situation. Between two of us, we were able to load all 10 magazines to capacity quite quickly. Each magazine loaded as smoothly as the last, and they all held exactly 30 rounds. Unlike standard GI magazines, there is no fitting an extra round or two in the PMAGs. This could be simply due to the fact that the GI mags I have are old, have been used and abused for years, and likely have some nicely broken-in follower springs. It could be because Magpul has tighter tolerances, and the design of the anti-tilt follower doesn't allow for any extra rounds. Either way, I digress.
After having owned these magazines for nearly two months, I have had the opportunity to run some rounds through them at the range. Nothing out of the ordinary, and the Magpul name has not been soiled. Magazines are really quite simple devices, it's much less common to have feeding problems with modern magazines than what you would have seen in decades past. Although the mags have all been fully loaded for about 6 weeks, during the last couple of trips to the range, the magazines did not cause any malfunctions. Loading the magazines into the rifle is smooth and easy, and from there, they are no different than the standard aluminum GI magazines many of you are used to. The size and shape is the same, although the PMAG is a little wider at the base, and feels a bit larger. They both weigh about the same. The PMAG is different in appearance, which is not a bad thing.
After the magazine is empty, the bolt locks to the rear, exactly as it should. Even after a couple hundred rounds through one magazine, on top of it having been kept loaded for over a month, the PMAG had no issues. Dropping the magazine from the rifle is also not a surprise. Nothing jams up, the mag drops, no issues whatsoever.
A feature that I have only ever noticed on the PMAG (and a couple of Magpuls competitors' products) is the included "dust cover." While it's a nice feature if you are just keeping the magazines stored somewhere, I find them to be somewhat unnecessary, and nothing more than a distraction if you find yourself in the middle of an emergency situation where you need to reload as quickly as possible. When we carried loaded magazines in the military, we didn't worry about dust getting into them. We kept them loaded, top-down in a load bearing vest or pouches on our body armor. No unnecessary steps, just 1) Remove magazine from pouch 2) Load magazine into rifle 3) Release bolt catch. Too easy. This isn't to say some shooters may not have a use for them, they do snap into place on the bottom side of the magazine when not in use. I simply choose to leave them in the safe. I may use them on unloaded magazines in the future, but I fail to see the necessity.
Overall, 6-8 weeks is not really enough time to put a product like this through it's paces and offer a solid review. I will update this article as I spend more time and put more rounds through these magazines, but I will offer my opinions up to this point.
A magazine is a magazine. It's hard to screw up a design that's been in use for upwards of 40 years (referring to the AR15 only at this point, although PMAGs are available for other rifles and calibers). The folks at Magpul kept to the original design, with a few minor changes. There have been a few variations in the design of the followers used, the most recent referred to as a "true anti-tilt follower." The appearance is different than what you may be used to seeing. The construction is polymer, and the magazines are easily taken down for cleaning, replacing springs/followers, or adding accessories (like ranger floorplates and the like). Overall, I like the aesthetics, they match the color of most AR15s better than the grey GI mags, they go well with all the other polymer accessories you see on ARs these days, and if you decide to buy all Magpul furniture, they compliment each other nicely.
Stay tuned for updates and pictures, as we will be revisiting this post in the future to discuss such topics as long-term storage, excessive use, cycling magazines, and more.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. Every once in a great while, I get some great gifts from friends and family, rather than just getting stuck holding the bill for everything. Last year brought a great Christmas, and I became the owner of 10 new 30-round Magpul PMAGs.
Of course, the first thing I did was load an empty magazine into my AR. The fit was great, dropping the mag was easy, it didn't jam itself into the magwell, and the bolt locked to the rear as it should when an empty magazine is loaded and the charging handle pulled rearward.
After the "newness" wore off, I decided it was time to get them ready. The whole reason these were given to me was so I could have enough loaded magazines ready to go in an emergency situation. Between two of us, we were able to load all 10 magazines to capacity quite quickly. Each magazine loaded as smoothly as the last, and they all held exactly 30 rounds. Unlike standard GI magazines, there is no fitting an extra round or two in the PMAGs. This could be simply due to the fact that the GI mags I have are old, have been used and abused for years, and likely have some nicely broken-in follower springs. It could be because Magpul has tighter tolerances, and the design of the anti-tilt follower doesn't allow for any extra rounds. Either way, I digress.
After having owned these magazines for nearly two months, I have had the opportunity to run some rounds through them at the range. Nothing out of the ordinary, and the Magpul name has not been soiled. Magazines are really quite simple devices, it's much less common to have feeding problems with modern magazines than what you would have seen in decades past. Although the mags have all been fully loaded for about 6 weeks, during the last couple of trips to the range, the magazines did not cause any malfunctions. Loading the magazines into the rifle is smooth and easy, and from there, they are no different than the standard aluminum GI magazines many of you are used to. The size and shape is the same, although the PMAG is a little wider at the base, and feels a bit larger. They both weigh about the same. The PMAG is different in appearance, which is not a bad thing.
After the magazine is empty, the bolt locks to the rear, exactly as it should. Even after a couple hundred rounds through one magazine, on top of it having been kept loaded for over a month, the PMAG had no issues. Dropping the magazine from the rifle is also not a surprise. Nothing jams up, the mag drops, no issues whatsoever.
A feature that I have only ever noticed on the PMAG (and a couple of Magpuls competitors' products) is the included "dust cover." While it's a nice feature if you are just keeping the magazines stored somewhere, I find them to be somewhat unnecessary, and nothing more than a distraction if you find yourself in the middle of an emergency situation where you need to reload as quickly as possible. When we carried loaded magazines in the military, we didn't worry about dust getting into them. We kept them loaded, top-down in a load bearing vest or pouches on our body armor. No unnecessary steps, just 1) Remove magazine from pouch 2) Load magazine into rifle 3) Release bolt catch. Too easy. This isn't to say some shooters may not have a use for them, they do snap into place on the bottom side of the magazine when not in use. I simply choose to leave them in the safe. I may use them on unloaded magazines in the future, but I fail to see the necessity.
Overall, 6-8 weeks is not really enough time to put a product like this through it's paces and offer a solid review. I will update this article as I spend more time and put more rounds through these magazines, but I will offer my opinions up to this point.
A magazine is a magazine. It's hard to screw up a design that's been in use for upwards of 40 years (referring to the AR15 only at this point, although PMAGs are available for other rifles and calibers). The folks at Magpul kept to the original design, with a few minor changes. There have been a few variations in the design of the followers used, the most recent referred to as a "true anti-tilt follower." The appearance is different than what you may be used to seeing. The construction is polymer, and the magazines are easily taken down for cleaning, replacing springs/followers, or adding accessories (like ranger floorplates and the like). Overall, I like the aesthetics, they match the color of most AR15s better than the grey GI mags, they go well with all the other polymer accessories you see on ARs these days, and if you decide to buy all Magpul furniture, they compliment each other nicely.
Stay tuned for updates and pictures, as we will be revisiting this post in the future to discuss such topics as long-term storage, excessive use, cycling magazines, and more.
