Argentine mil. contract mags for BHP

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CDNN has them in their latest flier.

They come with two bottom plates...

flat bottom plate has 15 rd capacity.

hollow extended bottom has 17 rd capacity.

Anybody out there have any experience with these?
 
I have three. They're very stiff when you first try to load them. Most people load 12-13 rounds, and leave them overnight, then cram in the rest. After they've been loaded a few times, they're no harder to load that any other mag.

They feed fine in my BHP.
 
The problem I've had with some of these military contract mags (for the BHP) is that their springs seem to be so-so, and when they give up the ghost (which mine have done), I don't know where to find replacements.

I suspect that other BHP mag springs will work, but really haven't gone down that path, yet. (A closer examination of the follower and existing springs might give an answer.)

I now just try to find new Mec-Gar mags...
 
I bought a few when I first got my Kareen.

I could only load 15 rounds in them after deburring the followers and spraying the insides of the bodies with teflon wax.

The big issue though was loaded with 15 rounds, when I would slap the mag in with the slide locked back, the weight of the stack would wedge the top round in the feed lips. The slide would not have the force to strip the round and would not go into battery.

Plus, according to Hipowersandhandguns, they don't last more than a few thousand rounds.
 
Over the decades, I've tried all sorts of magazines in my BHP ... and I've pitched more than one. Now all I have are either Browning or Mec-Gar and then only 13 or 10 round.
 
It sounds like they're about like they were 10 years ago when I bought three. They work, but there were some problems reported here and there.

Scroll down to the KRD section, but remember that this is old info...

www.sff.net/people/pff/oldstuff/magazines/bhpmagfaq.htm#KRD


Fwiw, I also bought 3 stainless mags from Novak's that appear to be the stainless Mec-Gars pictured in the article. They still work just fine.
 
just a follow up....

Everything referenced in JohnBT's link is spot on....

The mags I received from CDNN are indeed the KRD mags....

The springs are made from some very fat wire and are stiff.... no problem there, other than it takes Hercules to load to 17 rounds.

It takes so much pressure in fact that upon the second use, I broke the plastic mag loader.

All of this just annoyance..... but...

The follower on one of the mags binds up and the mag can not be loaded to more than 5 or 6 rounds.

The other one seems just fine.

So it looks like I'm either putzing around with the mild steel followers, in an attempt to get them to work.... or trying to replace them.

Unfortunately, MecGar doesn't appear to sell replacement followers. :(
 
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I suppose I'm lucky. I have a dozen KRD mags, a mix of 15 and 17 rounds. The springs are stiff but I've never had an issue. I've had mine for more than 10 years.
 
I bought some KRD mags (maybe 5? can't remember exactly) back in the mid-90's. They were hit and miss and I never trusted them. After I accumulated a sufficient number of factory and Mecgar's I think I tossed 'em. Can't find them now and I wouldn't try to sell them to anybody if I still had them.
 
I have a bunch of 13 round factory mags, and some Mec-Gars, both of which are flawless, and that is what I use. However, I do have two 17 round KRD mags, and they've also worked fine, although I just don't seem to use them anymore. Have to go dig them out. These were available at reasonable prices during the 1994 - 2004 magazine cap ban, so were quite popular for a while.
 
I hope magazines are better then the guns themselves.:rolleyes: The short slide 'Detective' I owned briefly was a pile of scrap metal.
 
Some of the FM guns -- nearly all -- that are true clones or not far from that design, seem to be pretty good guns. The "Detective" model, cited above, is one I've only seen -- not handled or shot, but I think it was supposed to be a more-compact model with a shorter slide, and think it was a LATER development.

The earliest FMs were very true copies, but over time -- perhaps with the termination of the license agreement -- they started to vary from the original design a bit.

(The FEG BHP pistols seem to be much the same. I've not heard many complaints about any of FEG guns, except that the later ones didn't offer full parts interchangeability with FN BHPs.)
 
Ditto (or quadruplo) on the KRD mags being super stuff at first. I picked up 4 from CDNN for my Kareen.

I also broke a speedloader trying to stuff up to 10 rounds in a 17 round magazine. Followed some advice from this site and loaded a couple more rounds a week until I got to 17. Took a bit over a month as I recall.

Other than the springs, I haven't had any problems I can attribute to the KRD mags. But I only have a few hundred rounds through them. I view them as range magazines. I also have some MecGars that have been 100% from day one.

I got what I paid for: a $269 gun that had multiple FTF's until I replaced springs and the extractor, $14 magazines that took a month of effort to load to capacity, and $35 magazines that worked out of the box.
 
The problem I've had with some of these military contract mags (for the BHP) is that their springs seem to be so-so, and when they give up the ghost (which mine have done), I don't know where to find replacements.
Click to expand...

Wolff springs has replacement BHP magazine springs available.
 
I have two KRDs from CDNN. Mine work, but only after deburring the follower and reshaping the poorly formed body with a hammer and vice. The body was bulged at the top, front so badly they could barely be seated. After banging on them a bit, the went in fine and even dropped free (without a mag disconnect). They function perfectly now, but I only use them at the range. For carry, I use 15 round Mec Gars.

They are what they are. After some work, they can be perfectly fine range mags at a reasonable price. At least they used to be reasonably priced.
 
I bought 4 KRD mags recently. Did not deburr or file the sharp edges. Wanted to see if they would fail somehow. Loaded them to 17 and let them sit for a few days.
Went to the range Monday, went through 150 rounds. No malfunctions.

Will buy more.
 
I actually picked up a pack of three of the Wolff extra power (+10%) springs.

They are the same length as the KRD springs, but not as stiff. They are longer than the Browning factory 13 round mag springs.
 
They are the same length as the KRD springs, but not as stiff. They are longer than the Browning factory 13 round mag springs.
Click to expand...

If NEW Wolff springs are the same length as the used KRD spring, and they're not as stiff, the Wolff springs are arguably too short and too weak and aren't really going to do the job. I suspect they will not work well for very long. You might save them for use in other magazines.

New springs will take a set after you've put them into use, and they'll shorten a good bit...
 
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