Aluminum Mags

I disagree. I have been using the same Okay mags for about 12 years now, and they look and work like new. I can also drop them without rounds spitting out. I stopped using the two PMags after the first starting getting scratched up on the feedlips from reloads, and the Gen1 20 round mags just didn't work right. Factory ammo is fine, but the gouges in the rim of reloaded rounds are rough on plastic mags. I ended up with a few PMags for 300 AAC, because they feed a little better with short bullets. In the roughly 28,000 rounds I have fired through AR's, I have experienced 3 feed stopages in aluminum mags. All of those were in the same 10.5" PSA pistol, never one in a 16-20. Never had a crack, or warp issue. They are also smaller, weight less and cost less. PMags hold up fine though, no reason not to use them, but I like the aluminum far more.

I find Pmags do not lock into the gun as reliably as my aluminum ones, especially when reloading fast under pressure. I use Pmag some but for competition I pretty much stick with aluminum from GI contractor sources.

357smallbore said:

... Buddy told me to ditch the aluminum and stick with the Magpul because they will last longer and feed better. Thoughts appreciated.

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Poppycock!

Nothing wrong with the Aluminum ones. Use them till they don't work any more. I haven't worn one out yet.

WB

Only thing I dont like about the PMAGs is youre supposed to use the snap-on covers to prevent feed lip warpage if they are stored loaded. Ive never used them, but the Lancer mags are a hybrid design with steel lips to avoid that problem.

The GI aluminum mags have always worked for me, but then I only load all my 30-rounders to 25.

I actually like the H&K steel mags, though I understand they werent very successful in the sandbox. The blackened stainless C-products mags have worked well too.

Honestly, the only really bad AR mags Ive ever seen were some old Federal Ordnance steelies from the 80s.

I have both and use both. I do have an old 20 round aluminum Colt mag that is dying but it's at least 40 years old, and I doubt the feed lips on Pmags are going to last that long.

Pmags are supposedly stronger if you run over them, and may hold up better if dropped on concrete, but I've never really tried to find out.

Don't get rid of GI mags.

I use liberal amounts of both aluminum and polymer. If one stops working I just grab another. They all seem to work just fine for me.

Well I wouldn't ditch any mags if they are reliable but I very much doubt the PMag is going to outlast the aluminum ones. One does not feed better than the other, they either feed right or they don't.

Just ordered some more aluminum C-Products mags today.

Quality aluminum mags will last a long time. Consider Surefeed ( old name was Okay Ind. )

Aluminum mags will fit USGI web gear readily, allowing smooth draw and insertion.

MagPuls are fine mags, and are well designed, but part of me says I trust the aluminum mags more.

Lancers are a great compromise.

My only experience with Magpul mags has been at the local range. They work just fine. I have used aluminum GI mags in some pretty harsh environments ranging from extreme cold to tropical jungle to the Middle East and they have never let me down.

just a thought, the 727 has been flying since 1964, and there are year 1 models out there still flying. The AR itself is proof that 1950's aluminum technology worked. Those mags have credibility.

Were they cheap?

I've a few 20s that are over 50 years old. They're marked .223. They still are chugging along.

When you start getting feeding issues, then you replace em with another quality mag.

I have been using both for almost 15 years. Both types have been flawless. The only thing i found better on the Pmag is that is wont get deformed from running it over where a steel/aluminum mag would. And yes, i tried it. The magpul mag still works today where the steel ones had to be scraped.

357smallbore said:

Buddy told me to ditch the aluminum and stick with the Magpul because they will last longer. . .

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Buddy doesn't do much material modeling does he?

MagPul is either the leader, or close to the leader, for expertise in polymer design (formulation and mold) for mechanical parts. That said, I don't think it's realistic to presume that a plastic part will outlast an aluminum part. Polymer exhibits plastic deformation at very low stress; excellent chemical and mechanical design can extend the time, but you'll never catch up with aluminum.

PMags are probably more robust against drop damage, but I doubt they'll outlast an aluminum mag that isn't dropped, loaded, onto the feedlips. I can buy twice as many DH aluminum mags as PMags, so I did.

If you never had an AR magazine that was not any good ... you never saw the bins of sub $10 "MFT" plastic magazines at Rural King and tried one.

The do LOOK sharp. I only bought one, but it spit out rounds just sitting on the night stand over night. Dropping it produced as many as three rounds on the carpet with one drop. I really wanted to like it as they look neat. I currently use it with an old Japanese plastic 1:1 scale model of a Colt Commando that has suffered the abuse of several moves to hold its few remaining rounds of solid plastic cartridges.

it continues to look nice in that job and has not spit out any of those rounds yet.

Maybe I just got the bad one....

Rural King had a bin of sale priced Gen II PMAGs about three weeks back and I considered (but did not) pick up a couple just to have and for possible conversion to 9x19 mm if I ever get a 9x19 upper.

-kBob

I have a couple of GI aluminum 20 rounders from 1973 that are still in the mix and still chugging along.

I did have an ancient aluminum 20 dropped loaded on concrete that hit lips first that I then had malfs with in a class. I stripped it to take out the follower and spring and base plate then flattened the body with a hammer and tossed it in the aluminum can recycle bucket.

Oddly every year or so in the service we would get a case of new magazines in individual plastic bags and the Armorer was supposed to replace an equal number of magazines in use by picking the worst ones in service and then to "dispose of locally". This last meant toss in the trash, so dumpster diving got popular among the unit Gun Cranks when this happened. Many of us then kept a few extra mags (we normally turned them in with the rifle after cleaning, this allowed the armorer to inspect them as he put them away, an additional duty for folks on punishment often included cleaning the communal magazines, some of us preferred or own maintained trash can survivors over prison labor cleaned "new" magazines) with our gear and some boxed them up and shipped them home.

-kBob

PMAGs should be able to take more abuse without the feed lips deforming. But once they are damaged, they are worthless.

Aluminum mags have feed lips that will deform easier (which is not to say they deform easily), but normally you can coax them back into place and continue to use them as long as they aren't bent too badly. There's even tools to do this.

https://masterpiecearms.com/shop/mpa-mag-feed-lip-adjustment-tool/

One is not necessarily better than the other, but it is important to understand the differences.

Ive got a big box of GI mags I got back in the early 70's, another box thats a mix of steel and aluminum mags Ive picked up over the years, as well as a bunch of Pmags too.

They all seem to work fine, but the PMags dont fit in all my guns. Ive got a couple of Armalites that just refuse to take a PMags for some reason. GI mags, or those built to that spec, work fine.

The only thing Ive done with some of the older GI mags, has been to replace the old followers with Magpul anti tilt followers. Havent noticed any difference in how they work, but it seemed like a good idea a the time.