Magpul Pmag Problems
- Thread starter Thin Black Line
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gaweidert
Member
PMAG Problems
There is an issue with some Olympic Arms lowers and these mags. I don't know if any Bushmaster lowers were made the same way. Here is a link to a thread on the OA2 website.
http://www.oa2.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5962
I had a similiar problem with regular mags on one of my AR's. It was because I had greased the buffer tube spring in order to get rid of the "sprongggg" sound. The grease dried a bit out which resulted in the bolt carrier slowing down and no longer having enough "oomph" to strip rounds form the magazine. Cleaned out all the grease and solved the problem. If you have done this, the PMAG may be just the most sensitive to this sort of scenario.
There is an issue with some Olympic Arms lowers and these mags. I don't know if any Bushmaster lowers were made the same way. Here is a link to a thread on the OA2 website.
http://www.oa2.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5962
I had a similiar problem with regular mags on one of my AR's. It was because I had greased the buffer tube spring in order to get rid of the "sprongggg" sound. The grease dried a bit out which resulted in the bolt carrier slowing down and no longer having enough "oomph" to strip rounds form the magazine. Cleaned out all the grease and solved the problem. If you have done this, the PMAG may be just the most sensitive to this sort of scenario.
Thin Black Line
Member
I received this info by email as well. G23 is right in that you don't have to
touch those rear feed lips. I think the video was fairly clear on which area to
hit.
I did not use a dremel, but opted for a couple knives (with the second being
the small swiss army blade
), a couple files (flat and oval), and some super duper extra fine sandpaper for final polishing. If you've done any wood carving
projects, these mags will feel very similar and are quite easy. I did smooth
out the final "curves" of the feed lips where they met the slab slides of the
mag. I left the center column that's between the bullet noses of a loaded
mag but made sure the plastic was even with the inside walls of the mags
on both sides of the bullets. This way the tail end of the cartridge when it
gets stripped isn't going to drag on it.
There are a couple other adjustments I made to the mag not on the video
that are hard to explain and I want to finish my own testing with all 4 mags
and a larger assortment of rifles before I comment further. I'd also like to
have the local trainer run them full auto since I don't own an M4. I have
no doubt that M4 feed ramps will help anyway, but the "stickiness" on semi
auto might display some odd behavior (or not) on full.
At this point, I'm not interested in paying shipping back to magpul. The mags
with the mods as exactly per the video, with original factory springs in my
rifle left out on the local frozen tundra would IMHO still most likely fail. However,
I really am interested in making the mags work in the the odd 1% situation
we have.
Maybe magpul will send me an SASE for one of my mags when I have it running
perfectly --I'd be willing to make an even trade, LOL
Thin Black Line
Member
My bushie has the bevel.
Hello, new guy here. I'm a Magpul rep and want to pop in and clarify a few things.
About 90% of PMAG customers are having no problems with the PMAG. That said, the mod that was posted for the PMAG was due to a lot of guys not wanting to wait for production mags. This is a quick fix to cater to those guys. In some cases the fix does not work. This is due to the vast number of configurations that the AR platform has (in house testing was done on about 40 AR configurations). Magpul in no way expects our customers to fix our products, this is a temporary solution. We will accept both altered and unaltered preproduction PMAG's for a one to one exchange for production PMAG's here in about two weeks.
Hope this helps clarify a little.
About 90% of PMAG customers are having no problems with the PMAG. That said, the mod that was posted for the PMAG was due to a lot of guys not wanting to wait for production mags. This is a quick fix to cater to those guys. In some cases the fix does not work. This is due to the vast number of configurations that the AR platform has (in house testing was done on about 40 AR configurations). Magpul in no way expects our customers to fix our products, this is a temporary solution. We will accept both altered and unaltered preproduction PMAG's for a one to one exchange for production PMAG's here in about two weeks.
Hope this helps clarify a little.
Magpul is awesome!!!
Thanks for the info 7kopper.
I have 4 Pmags that have run about 400 rounds through my Sig 556... Never a problem!!! The best mags I have used bar-none. Great product IMO.
I can't wait for some of the upcoming Pmags... Window, and clear!!!
Thanks for the info 7kopper.
I have 4 Pmags that have run about 400 rounds through my Sig 556... Never a problem!!! The best mags I have used bar-none. Great product IMO.
I can't wait for some of the upcoming Pmags... Window, and clear!!!
itgoesboom
member
Only problem I have had with my PMags are when I am dry firing, and I short stroke the charging handle.
They feed everything else fine.
I have had one jam with a reload, but I think that was because I was a little overpressure. Bolt really seemed to be moving, maybe a little too fast......
They feed everything else fine.
I have had one jam with a reload, but I think that was because I was a little overpressure. Bolt really seemed to be moving, maybe a little too fast......
Thin Black Line
Member
And, that said, I bought mine retail and was therefore expecting nothing less
than a finished fully-tested production mag that would work in a rifle that seemed
to work with every other brand out there. There was nothing I saw explaining that
they were limited release, pre-production, prototypes, etc.
In any case good to know you will 100% replace them with a 100% working
product. If I go that route, I can assure you, you'll get your original springs
back as well
I've been shooting AK this week, so nothing new to report on the pmag.....
any plans to do an AK, G3, FAL version of the pmag? Surely, you would want
me to test your prototypes in the future before you do another release?
Thin Black Line
Member
I finally got back around to using the PMAGs post modification as per the
magpul video. I had gone back to the factory springs and left all 4 mags
loaded up with wolf HPs for a few days. Although there had seemed to be
some improvement with the rds rolling back in the mag under thumb pressure,
3 of 4 all had the first round go nose first below the feed ramp area with an
unsatisfying dull "thunk". However, one mag had no problem with digesting
everything I put through it. Of the three mags, two had problems feeding SS109
steel core bullets for the first and second rounds. One pushed a bullet down
into the case and another smashed a cartridge against the feed ramps bending
the case severely. If I only loaded the mags with 28 or fewer rounds they
then fed better with either type of round (HP or SS109). Just to be fair, the
HPs had problems with feeding in 1 out of 3 used orlites that I had left loaded
for a few weeks causing the feed lips to start spreading out --was evern hard
to insert into the rifle. There was no spread with the PMAGs.
The tolerances on these PMAGs are very finicky. It's amazing how the slight
variation in my grinding of the four produced one that worked time after time
and three others that were sporadic. I didn't have any 55g fmjs on hand, but
will see if that makes any difference in the future. The SS109 bullets were
very long (almost didn't fit in this mag or the orlites) and the wolf HPs were
fairly short. Going back to the used orlite springs rather than PMAGs probably
would have improved things as well, but this wasn't the fix recommended in
their video.
I have a feeling these would have still functioned well in my aforementioned
friend's AR15. However, the "fix" as recommended on the website did not solve
my problem. IMHO, going back to a feed area that looks like the common USGI
aluminum style would help a lot. Not being an engineer, though, I would wonder
if this would affect their durability versus trucks running over them repeatedly.
Here's a thought: sacrifice a couple tons of truck pressure for a more universal feed
Well, back to the AK for a while now......
magpul video. I had gone back to the factory springs and left all 4 mags
loaded up with wolf HPs for a few days. Although there had seemed to be
some improvement with the rds rolling back in the mag under thumb pressure,
3 of 4 all had the first round go nose first below the feed ramp area with an
unsatisfying dull "thunk". However, one mag had no problem with digesting
everything I put through it. Of the three mags, two had problems feeding SS109
steel core bullets for the first and second rounds. One pushed a bullet down
into the case and another smashed a cartridge against the feed ramps bending
the case severely. If I only loaded the mags with 28 or fewer rounds they
then fed better with either type of round (HP or SS109). Just to be fair, the
HPs had problems with feeding in 1 out of 3 used orlites that I had left loaded
for a few weeks causing the feed lips to start spreading out --was evern hard
to insert into the rifle. There was no spread with the PMAGs.
The tolerances on these PMAGs are very finicky. It's amazing how the slight
variation in my grinding of the four produced one that worked time after time
and three others that were sporadic. I didn't have any 55g fmjs on hand, but
will see if that makes any difference in the future. The SS109 bullets were
very long (almost didn't fit in this mag or the orlites) and the wolf HPs were
fairly short. Going back to the used orlite springs rather than PMAGs probably
would have improved things as well, but this wasn't the fix recommended in
their video.
I have a feeling these would have still functioned well in my aforementioned
friend's AR15. However, the "fix" as recommended on the website did not solve
my problem. IMHO, going back to a feed area that looks like the common USGI
aluminum style would help a lot. Not being an engineer, though, I would wonder
if this would affect their durability versus trucks running over them repeatedly.
Here's a thought: sacrifice a couple tons of truck pressure for a more universal feed
Well, back to the AK for a while now......
This link should answer everyones Q's. I'll be able to answer your Q's if there are any not covered in the link. Exchanges will begin to ship on May 7th.
EXCHANGE
As a side note, the 04/07 PMAG’s are going to be released to dealers around mid May. We did a significant amount of testing in and out-of-house. A large # of the out-of-house testers for the 04/07 PMAG’s were guys that had malfunctions with the 03/07 PMAG’s. The 04/07 PMAG had zero malfunctions with over 30 out-of-house testers, all using multiple rifles and ammunition in addition to 20+ in-house rifles and multiple ammo with a total of approximately 28,000 rounds. Shoot the PMAG with confidence!
Black non-windowed
Flat Dark Earth non-windowed (start production in 3 weeks)
Olive Drab non-windowed (start production in 5 weeks)
Foliage Green non-windowed (start production in 7 weeks)
Black windowed (start production in 8 weeks)
Flat Dark Earth windowed (start production in 9 weeks)
Olive Drab windowed (start production in 10 weeks)
Foliage Green windowed (start production in 11 weeks)
TPD (smoked) mags are sill undergoing testing and release date is unknown. Release may fall somewhere in the above schedule but also may be 12 weeks out. All of the figures above are ESTIAMTES! I know there are going to be a lot of guys asking when so there you go.
EXCHANGE
As a side note, the 04/07 PMAG’s are going to be released to dealers around mid May. We did a significant amount of testing in and out-of-house. A large # of the out-of-house testers for the 04/07 PMAG’s were guys that had malfunctions with the 03/07 PMAG’s. The 04/07 PMAG had zero malfunctions with over 30 out-of-house testers, all using multiple rifles and ammunition in addition to 20+ in-house rifles and multiple ammo with a total of approximately 28,000 rounds. Shoot the PMAG with confidence!
Black non-windowed
Flat Dark Earth non-windowed (start production in 3 weeks)
Olive Drab non-windowed (start production in 5 weeks)
Foliage Green non-windowed (start production in 7 weeks)
Black windowed (start production in 8 weeks)
Flat Dark Earth windowed (start production in 9 weeks)
Olive Drab windowed (start production in 10 weeks)
Foliage Green windowed (start production in 11 weeks)
TPD (smoked) mags are sill undergoing testing and release date is unknown. Release may fall somewhere in the above schedule but also may be 12 weeks out. All of the figures above are ESTIAMTES! I know there are going to be a lot of guys asking when so there you go.
Last edited by a moderator:
Cool. My shop placed an order for a bunch of these. I'm looking forward to having them.
I tried like crazy to break one at SHOT. Went hog wild jumping up and down on it (and I weigh 310) and the Magpul guy just kept egging me on, "Come on big guy! You can break it! Show that mag who's boss!" Didn't even phase the damn thing.
As for them not working right out of the gate, having been around that rodeo once myself (Saiga .308 20 rounders), designing a mag ain't easy. It takes lots of time and testing, and even then, there are going to be some guns with measurements on the outside edges of the bell curve, where the mag just isn't going to work right.
I tried like crazy to break one at SHOT. Went hog wild jumping up and down on it (and I weigh 310) and the Magpul guy just kept egging me on, "Come on big guy! You can break it! Show that mag who's boss!" Didn't even phase the damn thing.
As for them not working right out of the gate, having been around that rodeo once myself (Saiga .308 20 rounders), designing a mag ain't easy. It takes lots of time and testing, and even then, there are going to be some guns with measurements on the outside edges of the bell curve, where the mag just isn't going to work right.
salty
Member
TBL - How about a followup - are you satisfied with how Magpul treated you or are you still having problems. My mags have all been running fine.
newsavageowner
Member
What were the manufacture dates on your PMags that gave you trouble? The date can be found on one side of the mag, it's a small circle with the year # in the middle (like 07), and and arrow (similar to a clock's arm) pointing to a number on the outside of the circle for the month.
Oohrah
Member
Did you try running the mag with 28 rounds instead of the 30. I always
load two rounds less than capacity to ensure a first round pick up.
load two rounds less than capacity to ensure a first round pick up.
Bartholomew Roberts
Member
The PMAG body is a touch longer so you can actually load 30 rounds and still seat it with a closed bolt. In fact, if you aren't careful you can load it with 31 rounds and create first round feed problems.
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