colt c7a1 magazines?

[brentn]

Whats the deal with these, I have heard a few things. One guy was telling me that they are a superior magazine than the metal ones that we all know, but because of patent/licence issues with the creator and the US they are only made for the canadian market... Don't know if thats true or not.

They look plastic, with ribs on the side I assume for grip/structural integrity? Does anyone sell them?
Do any of you guys use them?
Do any of you guys care to use them?

I have a feeling that many of you are going to say that the standard metal ones work fine for you Still would like to see some other input however

This is the best picture that I can find of the mag, just cut off to the right.

 

[Onmilo]

Canadians had their first production magazines made out of plastic and called them Thermolds.
The company that made them may have also been called Thermold Corporation, not sure on this little detail.
Israeli Military also has or had a magazine called an Orlite.
It too was plastic composition and I don't see many in video reports from that part of the world anymore.

Canadian soldiers call the magazines 'ther-melts' because they have a habit of melting under sustained fire.
Canadian Military has now dropped these magazines in favor of conventional aluminum magazines.
The Israeli's, it seems, have done the same with the Orlite magazines, going back to conventional aluminum body magazines.

The closest current American made magazine is called The MagPul PMag.
These are becoming quite popular.
I just received two yesterday for a test and evaluation.
Overall they seem well made but only time and use will confirm this. HTH

 

[HorseSoldier]

I have no idea about the procurement issues, but they've been issued to me a couple times by the US Army (seems like I saw them more back in the early-mid 90s than now), and seem to work fine when going to the range to qualify and such (never put a lot of rounds through a weapon with them). The only problem I've encountered with them is that they are a bit tighter in the magwell, and so will give you problems if you paint them (which, admittedly, I do not think was a consideration for their designers).

 

[MD_Willington]

Some of the guys I know working for DNDCA said they are crap... They get brittle & have broken in cold environments.

They are available here in the US, there is a dealer nearby that has them for $21 ea. and they are all sitting in a clearance box...

 

[rcmodel]

Plastic M-16 mags in military use were a passing fad it seems.

One problem they may have, with plastic being, well, Plastic, is feed-lip deformation when left fully loaded for extended periods of time.

Even the new Mag-Puls come with a plastic "dust-cover" that takes the pressure off the feed lips when long-term loaded storage is anticipated.

IMO: Just something else to forget to take off that might get you killed in combat.

Metal mags can be left loaded indefinitely without feed-lip damage, and very often are.


rcmodel

 

[Evil Monkey]

The Canadians wanted a pre-packed mag that they would fire once and throw away. Of course, in training you don't throw anything away but keep reloading and using them. The Thermolds started to have problems like cracked lips and similar other problems that affected reliability. So they stopped using them and started using aluminum mags.

 

[rcmodel]

The Canadians wanted a pre-packed mag that they would fire once and throw away.

Gene Stoner designed the aluminum 20-round AR mag for the same thing.
They were supposed to come pre-loaded and thrown away when used once.

Guess that plan didn't work out either!

We are lucky they hold up as well as they do!


rcmodel

 

[Onmilo]

So what happens when you have thrown away all your magazines and there are cases of boxed ammunition or better yet, plenty of belted machinegun ammo and no magazines?

I received my two test MagPul magazines and overall appearance aside, they are not showing promise.
Right off the bat, they rattle when loaded.