2 less than max in an AR mag. Do you?

I download mine 2, makes seating a mag on a closed bolt easier and more secure.

Never had any issues with function with full mags, but if you arent paying attention and making sure its fully seated and secured on a closed bolt, they can and will not lock in, and drop out.

30 rounders arent a problem if you're shooting to empty and locked back and you load on an open bolt.

29 was our magic number on a team for the reason described above.

If out where the wild things are, Maybe.
I have mags (mostly 20 rounders) loaded to 20. But, those springs are sitting in boxes not being "worked" too.
Having strolled where the javelina go, I'd probably drop a couple to be more sure of every loaded mag I had with me.
And, most of that would be in being able to load against a closed bolt to need.
YMMV

daniel craig said:

Is that the idea behind teaching slapping the mag in after insertion?

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I think so. Making sure its seated and locked in. Its what Ive always done anyway.

While I seldom fully load recreational or sporting magazines anymore, I never once in a career saw reason to put less than two full stripper-clips in a 20 or three in a 30 rounder.

I have to guess that part is due to myths about spring fatigue and part to do with lessening the pressure required to seat a loaded mag in a gun that does not already have the bolt to the rear.

Todd.

I wonder with all the different AR mags floating around these days, if by design, some have more room for the spring and follower than others that the "full" mag isn't an issue when you try and load on a closed bolt?

Maybe the followers themselves can solve that too?

I have a number of AR's and a pretty good bunch of all sorts of mags. Some mags work well in all of them(USGI for the most part), some don't seem to want to work at all in some of them (different era PMags). Its just easier to download them all by 2, and not worry about it.

Certain guns, and all my chest bags just get USGI mags in them.

The first round wouldn't load with full 10 rd D&H mag no problems with 20 and 30 rd P Mags

90% of listed capacity was a common precaution with cheap contractor magazines.
The STEN was thought better off when loaded with 30 instead of 32.
In my youth I had a Luger which shot reliably with Canadian surplus in boxes of 64; two nominal STEN loads, but I guess the troops would just pocket the odd four rounds.

Load them full as long as I can seat them on a closed bolt.

Well...I guess as an engineer, I should maybe design 28 or 29 round magazines. But then, people would insist on down-loading them, too, I suppose.

Maybe there's a market for 31 or 32 round magazines for AR-15 platforms. That should solve this problem.


If a magazine is designed to hold X number of rounds, then it's designed to hold that many rounds with no problems. If it CAN'T hold that many rounds without problems, then the magazine is DEFECTIVE and needs to be either repaired or replaced.

I don't down-load my Colt 1991A1 magazines from 7 to 6 rounds. I don't down-load my Baretta 92FS from 15 to 14 rounds. I don't down-load my AMT Automag II from 9 to 8 rounds. I don't down-load my Marlin 783 from 12 to 11 rounds, nor do I down-load the magazines for any of my other guns...including the 30 round magazines for my M&P 15.

Pretty much the ONLY gun I down-load by one round is my Colt SAA...and then that's only when I carry it loaded and for entirely different reasons, what with it not having a magazine at all.

I dont think the 30 round AR mags are functionally a problem (as far as the gun shooting) with 30 rounds in them, the problem seems to pop up when you try and insert a fully loaded mag into a gun with a closed bolt. You usually "can" get the mag into the gun, but it often does usually require a bit of force to make sure that it will lock securely in place. If you arent paying attention its easy to not use enough force for a solid lock up, and you'll get a mag falling out, or one that wont strip a round and the mag falls out.

I would say technically, the mag isn't bad, and its probably more a user error sort of thing, but by downloading a couple of rounds, the reliability goes up, and the error level seems to drop.

In my experience it depends on the individual magazine. And I'm not just talking AR magazines, but any rifle or pistol mag. Some, probably most work just fine loaded all the way up, some work better -1 or -2. All of my hunting rifles with 4-5 round magazines work well loaded full +1 in the chamber. But with my AR's and pistol mags I usually load them full up, but don't try to go +1. Some are hard to insert into the mag well on a closed bolt if fully loaded.

Jim Watson said:

The STEN was thought better off when loaded with 30 instead of 32.

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And giving up at 28 rather than forcing the last four in seems to work well with the STEN. Which can be sensitive to the force the rounds have on the bolt until you get the top five or so squirted out.

Now, with the Sterling? Load 'er up full. Those magazines are gorgeous and feed like they are oiled. It's double-stack and double-feed, so Round 22 and Round 32 load about the same, too.

daniel craig said:

2 less than max in an AR mag. Do you?

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I do.

Seen way too many shooters new to 2 and 3 Gun have the mag fall out.

28/30 for me.

I do 25 or 30 because I'm OCD and it depends on the box of ammo so I can keep the rows even. Normally 25 just to minimize any spring, feeding, seating issues even if rare.

Daniel Defense and Strike Industries make 32 rounders, just to throw a wrench...

I load on an open bolt, but I'm also not an operator operating operationally.

CapnMac said:

And giving up at 28 rather than forcing the last four in seems to work well with the STEN. Which can be sensitive to the force the rounds have on the bolt until you get the top five or so squirted out.

Now, with the Sterling? Load 'er up full. Those magazines are gorgeous and feed like they are oiled. It's double-stack and double-feed, so Round 22 and Round 32 load about the same, too.

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The STEN, the Reising, and the MP38/40 all suffered from long center feed magazines.
The Sterling fixed that and the Berettas had it right from the start.

Depends on the mag. With lancers I can load 30 and reload on a closed bolt no problem, can't do that with magpuls.

RetiredUSNChief said:

Well...I guess as an engineer, I should maybe design 28 or 29 round magazines. But then, people would insist on down-loading them, too, I suppose.

Maybe there's a market for 31 or 32 round magazines for AR-15 platforms. That should solve this problem.


If a magazine is designed to hold X number of rounds, then it's designed to hold that many rounds with no problems. If it CAN'T hold that many rounds without problems, then the magazine is DEFECTIVE and needs to be either repaired or replaced.

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If a magazine is topped off to full with 30 rounds and the springs won’t compress on a closed bolt enough to easily seat the mag, then is the mag defective? I’d say not. But could mag designers add a tad more length to facilitate 30 rounds and still allow spring compression? Sure, but then folks will cram another round in it.

I download by one as needed so I can seat mags easily while under stress without worrying if they will lock in. It’s that simple.

No. Because I don’t think own any 30 round mags. If I do, I don’t use them. My AR’s are used for hunting. 5 and 10 rounds. So I load them full and cycle one in the chamber.