I recently bought three 25 round aluminium (or aluminum if you prefer) magazines for my SIG 522. The reason is I want durable magazines that can be dropped on the ground if necessary.
I will tell you my first impressions...
Firstly, these are heavy mags. I don't know how much they weigh, but all I can tell you is that they are solid magazines and I like the weight of them. My magazines each arrived with a protective rubber cover over the top of the magazine:
All the components of the magazine are metal, except for the follower, spring retention plug and magazine floor plate. These are plastic, as in previous versions of Black Dog mags and magazines that are SIG branded and indeed CMMG magazines also.
The new Al mags can be taken apart for detailed cleaning or you can take out just the spring and follower as before, by removing the plastic base plate. There are 6 nice meaty screws holding the new mags together. In addition, there are two stainless steel registering pins keeping the magazine halves aligned during fastening. If you take the magazine apart, be sure to lift the top and bottom half equally or you will likely struggle to get the mag apart. Here is the mag opened:
As you can see above, these are solid, well machined mags with no burrs inside.
I have to confess that when I first inspected the new Al mags, I thought they might not work in my SIG 522 because the shape of the mags up top is markedly different from the other three magazines I have tried (the original SIG, the original Black Dog plastic mags and the plastic CMMG mags).
Here is a composite photo of the four different mags:
Notice how the magazine shoulder is a different shape (and rises taller) and how the follower does not protrude as much on the new mag.
However, I tried one of the mags today and it works. I fired 50 rounds of CCI Mini-mag through it and there was not one hiccup. It fits the SIG522 snuggly and works fine even when firing rapidly.
There is one difference though: because the follower sits lower, the bolt does not hold open on the magazine as before.
At first I was disappointed with this, but on second thought I don't see how this is a big disadvantage because regardless, I would have to pull the bolt back and use the bolt catch to secure it before changing mags.
I guess one thing you lose is the ability to see whether a round is chambered after you have pulled the trigger the last time and got just a click.
The followers appear to be the same dimensions except the new mags have an extended surface on the back of the follower.
The narrower shoulder of the new mag must be catching the follower lower down, hence it doesn't protrude as much. The followers look interchangeable but I haven't tested that yet.
Anyway, my first impression is these are quality magazines that will last much longer than the plastic ones.
I must also say that if you are not keen on buying the new Al mags (they are around $65 each) then the CMMG mags are a better choice than either the original SIG mags or the original Black Dog mags (I believe they are made in the same factory anyway) because the CMMG mags are not made from a brittle plastic and are more likely to survive a drop on a hard surface. I have two of the CMMG mags and have been running them quite hard and I haven't had any complaints yet.
I would say if you are going to go for a mag with metal feed lips, you should skip the half plastic and half metal mags from Black Dog (I haven't tried them) and go straight for the Al mags.
I'll update this thread when I have fired a few thousand rounds from these mags...
I will tell you my first impressions...
Firstly, these are heavy mags. I don't know how much they weigh, but all I can tell you is that they are solid magazines and I like the weight of them. My magazines each arrived with a protective rubber cover over the top of the magazine:
All the components of the magazine are metal, except for the follower, spring retention plug and magazine floor plate. These are plastic, as in previous versions of Black Dog mags and magazines that are SIG branded and indeed CMMG magazines also.
The new Al mags can be taken apart for detailed cleaning or you can take out just the spring and follower as before, by removing the plastic base plate. There are 6 nice meaty screws holding the new mags together. In addition, there are two stainless steel registering pins keeping the magazine halves aligned during fastening. If you take the magazine apart, be sure to lift the top and bottom half equally or you will likely struggle to get the mag apart. Here is the mag opened:
As you can see above, these are solid, well machined mags with no burrs inside.
I have to confess that when I first inspected the new Al mags, I thought they might not work in my SIG 522 because the shape of the mags up top is markedly different from the other three magazines I have tried (the original SIG, the original Black Dog plastic mags and the plastic CMMG mags).
Here is a composite photo of the four different mags:
Notice how the magazine shoulder is a different shape (and rises taller) and how the follower does not protrude as much on the new mag.
However, I tried one of the mags today and it works. I fired 50 rounds of CCI Mini-mag through it and there was not one hiccup. It fits the SIG522 snuggly and works fine even when firing rapidly.
There is one difference though: because the follower sits lower, the bolt does not hold open on the magazine as before.
At first I was disappointed with this, but on second thought I don't see how this is a big disadvantage because regardless, I would have to pull the bolt back and use the bolt catch to secure it before changing mags.
I guess one thing you lose is the ability to see whether a round is chambered after you have pulled the trigger the last time and got just a click.
The followers appear to be the same dimensions except the new mags have an extended surface on the back of the follower.
The narrower shoulder of the new mag must be catching the follower lower down, hence it doesn't protrude as much. The followers look interchangeable but I haven't tested that yet.
Anyway, my first impression is these are quality magazines that will last much longer than the plastic ones.
I must also say that if you are not keen on buying the new Al mags (they are around $65 each) then the CMMG mags are a better choice than either the original SIG mags or the original Black Dog mags (I believe they are made in the same factory anyway) because the CMMG mags are not made from a brittle plastic and are more likely to survive a drop on a hard surface. I have two of the CMMG mags and have been running them quite hard and I haven't had any complaints yet.
I would say if you are going to go for a mag with metal feed lips, you should skip the half plastic and half metal mags from Black Dog (I haven't tried them) and go straight for the Al mags.
I'll update this thread when I have fired a few thousand rounds from these mags...
