Colored magazine followers

[milemaker13]

Many mags have colored followers, blue, green, yellow, red, orange...
Some are sold with the color listed like a special feature.
I had a s&w 4596 that had a yellow follower and wording on the mag " this magazine must have a yellow follower". That pistol had a magazine disconnect if that matters...

So my question: What's it all about?? Is one color better than another? For what reason?
Does certain colors make guns 'safer' in liberal states? ( I believe the 4596 was MA compliant, maybe I'm mistaken on that point)

 

[AlexanderA]

The color of the follower in GI M16 30-round magazines is important. The very first ones were dark green with a white number embossed on them. (These are collectors' items.) Then came black followers, then light green, and finally tan. The light green and tan ones are "anti-tilt." Only the tan ones are acceptable for use in combat, while the light green ones can be used in training. Black followers need to be replaced.

Aftermarket mags are a different world altogether.

 

[jmr40]

I'm sure different colors can help identify when they are made, but in most cases when a bright color is used it is a visual clue that the magazine is empty. You not only see them in pistols, but many shotguns and some lever action rifles use them. And in all states, not just some.

It isn't a bad idea, and doesn't cost a dime more. It isn't uncommon at all for a round to be left in a tube magazine with shotguns and lever actions. Especially when unloaded in poor light.

 

[BSA1]

I like how Hexmag shows the color of the follower on the floorplate. It makes it very easy and practical to identify mags that have different ammunition loaded in them.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Yellow, red and orange are the common safety flag colors used at shooting ranges. My Marlin Model 60 tube magazine follower is yellow and if kept clean is a indicator of no ammo in the feedway.
If state law mandates a magazine disconnect safety, and followers re-designed to interface a magazine disconnect safety are color coded separate from non-disconnect followers, I suspect the follower color is just coincidental to the law.

 

[Hypnogator]

Been that way for years. My Nylon 66 from the early '60s has a bright yellow follower that is clearly visible through the ejection port when the magazine is empty.

 

[Jim Watson]

I had a s&w 4596 that had a yellow follower and wording on the mag " this magazine must have a yellow follower".

It sounds to me like the yellow follower is a revised part made to fit a revised magazine tube. There are also orange S&W followers but I don't know whether they pre- or postdate the yellow.

 

[milemaker13]

That 4596 ( I think that m# is correct) was a .45 acp pistol. The question came up reading a description of a new Glock pistol.

 

[CapnMac]

Just looked, not a single colored follower (other than the one on the Nylon 66).

The Army changing the followers for M16 magazines over the last 50 years may be what is driving this "modern" trend.

 

[Good Ol' Boy]

I don't own any personally but don't care either way.

For gun specific situations it makes sense.

For safety reasons it makes no sense to me. It's obvious if there's a round or not in the chamber, unless you're Ray Charles.

More of an issue to me is to remember to check the gun in the first place.

 

[Elkins45]

I seem to recall that S&W changed follower colors when they made engineering changes to their 3rd gen magazines. Unfortunately I don’t remember what the color changes signify.

 

[herrwalther]

Magazine follower color is usually more important to time of manufacture. If they change at all. The magazines that came with my P99 are blue but I have seen the newer ones be orange, modeling after the PPQ.

In military ARs the oldest magazines used black followers if I remember right. Then they were light green. Then yellow. Newer issue magazines use Magpul followers in brown if the unit has the money to buy them for everyone. Those followers cut down weapon malfunctions drastically.

 

[rskent]

I like the idea of bright colored followers. It might help to see if your gun is empty. I don’t think I am going to run out and buy new followers for my mags. But if a manufacturer has to make them, they might as well make them orange. For example.

 

[fastbolt]

Many mags have colored followers, blue, green, yellow, red, orange...
Some are sold with the color listed like a special feature.
I had a s&w 4596 that had a yellow follower and wording on the mag " this magazine must have a yellow follower". That pistol had a magazine disconnect if that matters...

So my question: What's it all about?? Is one color better than another? For what reason?
Does certain colors make guns 'safer' in liberal states? ( I believe the 4596 was MA compliant, maybe I'm mistaken on that point)

Different gun makers choose different colors for different reasons.

In the case of the S&W 3rd gen .45 you mentioned, that was because of a revision for that particular magazine body. As 3rd gen .45 magazines were revised and evolved (think lips and the pressed indentations adopted), the engineers created a revised & improved .45 follower - the black one - that we were told in armorer classes would fit/retrofit all 3rd gen .45 mags (including older ones, as long as they had originally come with plastic followers, meaning they wouldn't work in the 645 mags that came with metal followers).

In other S&W pistols the color of the follower would often denote the caliber in a model line, but any subsequent changes were noted by changes of colors (revisions of the follower, or even just when being supplied by a different vendor, we were told). Sometimes a color might not change, but the shade/tint might, like when the Meg-Gar produced Walther P99/.40 followers changed tones of blue in the Walther P99/.40 magazines, but changed tones of orange in the .40 followers made for the licensed S&W SW99/.40's.

In the latest M series gun (FBI version of the Gen5), they requested a bright colored follower for their own reason (presumably to let agents more readily ID an empty mag). Thus, sometimes a major end user/purchaser might request a specific color for reasons of their won.

 

[Curator]

Followers with different colors help me get the correct magazines with their respective firearms. To be sensitive to others, I do not refer to them as "colored followers." The proper PC term is "followers of color." I appreciate the yellow follower in my Rossi M1892 lever action rifle since I can see it when the action opens and I know it is unloaded, The red followers in My Tanfoglio .45 ACP help keep me from confusing them with the 9mm Beretta magazines.