Battle Packs

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Redfisher60

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Looking at some on Ammunition Depot. Are they worth it? Pmags pre loaded with Lake City M855.
 
If you use a general Pmag price of 12 bucks you are paying 191 dollars for 420 rounds of M855. That's roughly 45 cents a round. They have M855 listed for $330 for a case, so 33 cents a round. So you are paying roughly 30 extra bucks to have the mags pre loaded.

***Note this math was done quickly off the top of my head, might not be 100 percent accurate.
 
Redfisher60 wrote:
...Pmags pre loaded with Lake City M855.
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How long do you anticipate storing these "battle packs" before using them? The reason I ask is that all plastics placed under a constant tensile force will experience a dimensional change known as "creep". In time, this dimensional change will become permanent and could render the magazines unreliable. I have some P-mags and they have worked flawlessly so far, but I do not load them and keep them loaded. For that task, I use blackened stainless steel magazines since they are not subject to the same degree of dimensional change.
 
After doing the math, I went with 420 rds on stripper clips and the 10 Pmag special.
Plus a $21 rebate on the ammo.

I think I'll get one of those Lula loaders.
 
Redfisher60 said:
After doing the math, I went with 420 rds on stripper clips and the 10 Pmag special.
Plus a $21 rebate on the ammo.

I think I'll get one of those Lula loaders.
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Why AR magazines are about the easiest magazines to load just push straight down on the case
 
Well I'm new to AR's. I haven't loaded any yet, and hope to be on the range soon with mine!
 
When I was in the service we had a very special reloading tool we used with M-16A1 magazines and stripper clips. It was called the edge of a table or in the field the top of an ammo can. We attached the mag feeder stripper clip guide to the target magazine, inserted a stripper clip of ten rounds, inverted the assemblage, place the top round fully on the table top or ammo can with only the last quarter inch or so over hanging space and pressed the magazine down.

Fast and neat.

"Don't ferrgit to turn the magazine spine down and give it a wack on a hard surface to seat every round to the rear between stripper clips and after the last" said the Old Sarge.

Not having the vast knowledge of the internet at hand to tell us it was unnecessary we did pull two rounds from one stripper if loading a 20 rounder (to give us 18) and three rounds if loading a 30 (to give us 27 rounds). All we had to go on was our own experience and the experience of our comrades of actually having first and early round malfunctions in the field, so we wasted those slots for more ammo.

-kBob
 
I like my AR food on stripper clips. I save these after use and spend the extra time putting my reloads back on the clips for storage in 30 cal ammo cans. I have a few issue "spoons" I keep in my range bag, plus one of those after market stripper clip loading do-hickys. Zip-Zip-Zip and I have a 30 round mag ready to go.

Why? Who the hell knows. That's just the way I like to do it
 
hdwhit said:
How long do you anticipate storing these "battle packs" before using them? The reason I ask is that all plastics placed under a constant tensile force will experience a dimensional change known as "creep". In time, this dimensional change will become permanent and could render the magazines unreliable.
Click to expand...

Interesting claim. Do you have something to support your claim other than reading it on the Internet?

The Marine Corp adopted PMAG GEN 3 magazines recently. In view of the Marine Corp doctrine that every Marine is a rifleman I find it hard to believe that they would choose a magazine that will "creep" when kept fully loaded.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/01...dbreaking-unstoppable-new-rifle-magazine.html
 
Because the Marine Corp does not keep them loaded for years like the OP was considering. They are issued ammo before an op, load mags then and only then.
 
Unless the military has change I'm not aware of any branch storing caches of loaded magazines. However, might be a good "extra duties as assigned" task for 92 Romeos (USA parachute riggers). :D
 
if you are out for 12 month or 6 month or whatever in between. you will want to take some of your mags apart and relieve the spring tension for awhile, i lightly stretch them and put them back. same reasons for loading 27/28 rounds instead of all 30. If you are not as kinetic then load before ops. that is just mags in general.
As far a creep in the mag lips, from some guys that were testing out their capabilities before the IAR was adopted, shared with me that it was the temperature that would warp the lips while under spring tension. Made sense to me. If mags are in storage in a temp controlled storage then, i dont see the issue. ive had mine from anywhere from a 130 to 15 degree out and they work aiigt.
 
Klint Beastwood said:
if you are out for 12 month or 6 month or whatever in between. you will want to take some of your mags apart and relieve the spring tension for awhile, i lightly stretch them and put them back. same reasons for loading 27/28 rounds instead of all 30. If you are not as kinetic then load before ops. that is just mags in general.
As far a creep in the mag lips, from some guys that were testing out their capabilities before the IAR was adopted, shared with me that it was the temperature that would warp the lips while under spring tension. Made sense to me. If mags are in storage in a temp controlled storage then, i dont see the issue. ive had mine from anywhere from a 130 to 15 degree out and they work aiigt.
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springs get weak from use not from being compressed leaving a magazine loaded will not make it weak leaving one or two bullets out will may help in feeding
 
true, it turned out to be almost myth a learned years later. but the superstition is still there for a reason. that whole process had to do with preventing failure to feeds..six months or over a year is a long time for a spring to be compressed. you do not have the ability to keep them unloaded, you are accountable for your ammo. especially the older mags didnt have the 4 way anti tilt followers.
ive had brand new guns like the shield .45 that had some issues because the spring tension was to good...remedy...keep loading ammo, shooting and keeping them loaded down. it would weaken the spring down so the mag wasnt disconnecting while shooting. havent had an issue in over a year now.
 
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The Magpul gen 3 have impact/dustcover mag caps that help with the lip dispersion if you store them loaded. You can retrofit Magpul gen 2 with these as well for not much money.
 
The dust cover itself is one clue that a PMag might deform.

When FRN - fiberglass reinforced nylon - first came out in use for knife handles, I bought some. One came with an integral clip for pocket carry. At first it was sufficiently tight enough to stay in my pocket. Nine months later in daily carry it was loose, and the scales on the knife collapsed enough to pinch the blade. I made note of it on a knife forum and was roundly criticized for reporting it - but no one could explain why.

Fairly soon after that the maker switched to stainless liners and a metal clip.

FRN was also widely used for molding pickup tool boxes, and after a year or so of them being retailed, it was rare to see one that wasn't propped up in the middle with a concrete block.

Because of the hundreds of thousands of anecdotal observations like this, and the makers backing off from using the material under continuous load, there is a general perception that plastics won't take it well when loaded - they deform. We have seen it, experienced it, and even discontinued using some products because of it. PMag may not be getting a fair shake on this, but the shooting community is severely conservative about it and failure is not an option. So much so that it took 20 years for the public to finally accept polymer lowers in handguns.

The bias is there and plastics at this point are guilty until proven innocent, if your's is working, great. There are others who won't take the chance, however small.

As to the OP's point - fully loaded mags held in long term storage - there's your best example of worst case thinking. Posters have revealed in other threads of having thousands of rounds of ammo, some hundreds of magazines fully loaded. I can understand having 2-5 for a handgun, or a chest rig of 6-10 for an AR - but 50? 100? That is some really earnest preparation.

I don't know to be either jealous or ??
 
Springs weaken from being pushed past their design limits, or from repeated use, but not from being compressed, unless they are compressed beyond their deign limits. Most magazines do nor over compress springs, by design.
 
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