Cheap AR magazines...

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strungoutinheaven

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I'm pretty sure I'm ordering a complete Stag upper and lower tomorrow. From what I've read, everybody has good things to say about the lowers, uppers too, however, more people seem to have different uppers. Are there any better values out there for uppers? I also read this upper doesn't have M4 feed ramps. Is that necessarilly a bad thing? What kind of feed ramps does it have? Anybody know anywhere that beats $710 for a complete lower and upper including shipping? And is there anything I'm forgetting to order besides magazines?...which brings me to the point of this post: where's a good place to buy 30 round AR mags for a decent price? Just making sure I have explored all my options before hitting the "Place Order" button. Thanks.
 
I don't know about Stags, but 44mag.com is a good place for magazines.
I wish they sold 10 rounders for those of us trapped by the Caliban.
 
Buy the USGI magazines with the bright green or Magpul followers.

Lack of M4 feed ramps is no big deal. None of my ARs have them - even the one with an M4 feed ramp barrel extension is in a receiver with no M4 feed ramp cut.

All the M4 cut does is improve feeding a bit by lowering the feed ramp a tiny bit. Instead of the feed ramp beginning in the barrel extension, it starts in the upper receiver and extends into the barrel extension. So if you are feeding long rounds or soft points and the mag doesn't push it all the way into the up position before the bolt comes back, it will still feed.

From a practical perspective it won't make much difference anyway unless your cyclic rate is too high (using full auto through a suppressor with a carbine gas system) or your mag springs were shot to begin with.
 
There is a long, long FAQ thread posted on www.ar15.com forums about magazines, and it's pretty much required reading on the subject.
 
I have some standard CProducts mags with the run of the mill green followers and they work perfectly.
I don't understand how a magpul follower can improve on something that already works but I guess some people like them.

One thing to watch out for though...
A couple of the mags I ordered were tight in my Olympic AR.
I called CProducts and spoke to Larry. He told me that they sell about 2K mags to Olympic a month and that although Olympics mag wells are in spec, they are on the tight side of in spec.
A couple of my mags were tight enough to not drop free (although they did fit). He told me that when I order more mags from them (I am planning to when I have more money) to specify that they are for an Olympic rifle so they can make sure that they test them in an Olympic mag well prior to shipping them to me. I was able to exchange the two tight ones for two more and they included two magpul followers free of charge for my trouble.
Definitely a good company to deal with.
Now I just have to get the money together for some of their stainless mags...
 
D&H teflon mags are the best available. Ammoman was kicked off arfcom for ripping of members.
 
Can anyone tell me in general why it is so difficult to find reliable mags? It's just a box with a spring and a follower. How hard can it be? I'm more talking about Mini mags than AR, but I thought I might as well ask the question here.
 
Can anyone tell me in general why it is so difficult to find reliable mags? It's just a box with a spring and a follower. How hard can it be? I'm more talking about Mini mags than AR, but I thought I might as well ask the question here.
Click to expand...
Cost cutting. Poor quality control, cheap,soft metal and sometimes bad design.

If you look at some of the aftermarket SKS mags for eaxample, they aren't really a bad design. They just went about manufacturing them as cheaply as possible.

The cheap mags have improperly formed(or easily bent) feedlips, weak springs, or sticking, rotating or improperly formed followers.

As far as AR mags, the USGI M16 magazine contracts are so large that huge production numbers allow cheap per-item costs for those that manufacture them. The R&D and reliability testing was already paid for by Uncle Sam. Combine that with the surplus market and magazine costs stay low. Same thing with AK mags.

I have no idea why somebody doesn't make some quality aftermarket mini-14 mags. The market is big, and mature. They certainly wouldn't be less than $20-30 each, but many folks would pay for Mini-14 hi-caps if they worked right.
 
I have some of the Brownells mags too. They work well. One fits tight but it still functions reliably.
But they are $18 each.
The CProducts mags are every bit as good from what I have seen and half the cost. As I stated, they also have great customer service.
I can't imagine anyone beating them very easily.

You may check the equipment exchange on AR-15.com to see if maybe you can save 12 cents per mag over CProducts but I think that is about the best anyone could do.
As for me, I will pay the extra 12 cents and know that if I have a problem a replacement is only a phone call away.
YMMV.
 
I am sooo glad I chose an FAL. $45 for 10 mags, shipped.

It's those small thingsin life that makes you the most grateful. :)
 
It's just a box with a spring and a follower. How hard can it be? I'm more talking about Mini mags than AR, but I thought I might as well ask the question here.
Click to expand...

Before I knew any better, I bought a couple of cheap mags (USA Magazaines was the brand name I think). Sure they work, but they fit so tight that they don't eject from the magwell under their own weight. I'm probably lucky that the magazines feed reliably from what I've heard.
 
How would y'all feel about a THR groupbuy for Brownells AR-15 mags?

They're out of stock right now, though. Bummer.
 
One thing to watch out for though...
A couple of the mags I ordered were tight in my Olympic AR.
I called CProducts and spoke to Larry. He told me that they sell about 2K mags to Olympic a month and that although Olympics mag wells are in spec, they are on the tight side of in spec.
A couple of my mags were tight enough to not drop free (although they did fit). He told me that when I order more mags from them (I am planning to when I have more money) to specify that they are for an Olympic rifle so they can make sure that they test them in an Olympic mag well prior to shipping them to me. I was able to exchange the two tight ones for two more and they included two magpul followers free of charge for my trouble.
Definitely a good company to deal with.
Click to expand...

i orders some of these mags for a new bushmaster i have.some were too tight for drop free as well.
the ones that were too tight fit great in my cav arms trooper though.:)
 
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