Off Brand Magazines???

[schadenfreude]

I hate going to the range and spending a ton of time reloading my clips fro my Beretta 92 vertec and my glock 17. On the other hand, I can't justify spending a ton of money on additional magazines just because I'm lazy....

I was wondering if any of aftermarket magazine companies produces a good product? I've heard that most have feed problems so i thought I would ask the general public here.

I figure I can buy a bunch of cheap "knock off" mags and use those for the range but make sure a good factory mag is loaded for when it counts. I really don't care if they are 10 rd mags I just want the most total capacity for the dollar but it's not worth it if they are crappy.


Any thoughts on this?


Thanks

 

[James Bondrock]

In general, you want your magazines to be made by the same company that made the gun. But, at the risk of reversing myself, Mec-Gar makes the original equipment mags for several gun makers, including Beretta and even SIG. Some people report good results with Pro-Mags, others do not (I am in the latter camp.) USA mags seem to be a brand to avoid. Definitely do not get those cheap magazines you see in bins at some gun shows with no maker's name on them. For Glocks, you do not want a metal magazine as it might damage the gun's mag catch; metal lined with a plastic outer, as Glock makes them, is OK. I am not so sure about this business of using the cheap magazines for range practice only ... unless you are talking about malfunction clearance drills. IMO, magazine-induced malfunctions reduce your confidence in the gun.

 

[TonyB]

Iwas gonna say that just for range practice and plinking that the cheapies are ok...but James makes a good point about reducing confidence in the gun......I'd tend to spen a little more on good factory mags....some times shops have used ones in good shape.....Also I tried buying a different magazine and modifiying it to fit(Baretta to Taurus) what a PIA......I should've just bought a Tuarus mag in the first place.......

 

[mete]

After market mags, in general should be avoided. I learned my lesson years ago when I threw out new aftermarket mags because they wouldn't fit in the gun! Get originals , even clean and lube them occasionally and don't abuse them.

 

[10-Ring]

I learned to stick w/ factory mags. Lots of guys spend some good money to make there guns reliable, why spend money to go the other way?

 

[CZ52GUY]

I think you'll find many places have competitive prices for Brady-caps for your G17 <$20.

Natchez, CDNN, Kiesler's, even CTD has some good sales on them from time to time.

As has been mentioned, MEC-GAR is a good source for the Beretta...the guys over at the Beretta Forum have good things to say about them. The same on-line retailers often have them (although CDNN & CTD seem to have the steadier supply).

Good luck,

CZ52'

 

[schadenfreude]

All good points. I think I will try to stick with factory mags and get some used ones at the very least. Being fairly new it didnt occur to me about losing confidence int eh gun.


Thanks

 

[Sunray]

"...good factory mag..." All mags are mae in a factory. The question is how good is the QC in that factory?

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Kinda depends on the gun (the manufacturer, etc.) But Mec-Gar, if you can find them for your gun, is always a safe bet. (If they aren't already the OEM maker of your gun's mags, they can be BETTER than factory mags in some cases.)

I've had VERY GOOD service out of a bunch of very inexpensive Ramlines for the CZ-75B/Baby Eagle. Ditto Pro-Mags for the CZ, the S&W 669, S&W 459, and Beretta 96. And I've had good luck with Pro-Mags for the Witness line. (Pro-Mag has been the OEM maker for factory mags for many of the CZ/Clone guns.) I've had good luck with after-market mags for the Browning HP.

Where you run into trouble most often is in mags that can fit several different guns (as with the CZ/Clones). Those mags can take "tweaking."

I've only encountered a few folks who had ANY success with after-market mags for the Glock. Its generally a waste of money to try.

Pro-Mag seems to problems with Quality Control -- sometimes outstandingly good and sometimes outstandingly bad. Don't know if the bad ones are old production or what, but they WILL MAKE THE MAGS GOOD if you contact them about the problems. They often throw in extra stuff when they replace them, too.

Ramline makes some of the Desert Eagle/Baby Eagle factory mags -- with Magnum Research's name on the plastic base plates being the only difference. They seem to work fine in those guns. And I've got a bunch that have worked very well in my CZs. (Some others have had to enlarge the top of the mag release notch on theirs to make them work in the CZs.)

For carry, I'd stick to factory -- but for range use, I'd experiment.

 

[45+]

I agree with James Bondrock and Walt Sherrill about the Mec-Gar mags. I had some for a Sig 220 and they were great. Not so for the other brands I tried. For the Glock, I stay with Glock. They are not expensive.

The point about confidence in the gun is a great point. But what about having one "bum" mag, perhaps spray painted some other color to practice ftf drill...

Safe packin'

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

In my experience with all kinds of aftermarket mags(rifle and pistol):

GOOD:

GI contract AR-15 and M1-A
PMI
Shooting Star(or something like that) .45acp mag
Mec-Gar
Butler Creek


BAD:

USA
Promag
Triple-k
Western
Ram line
John Masen


NEVER TRIED:

Eagle

 

[clubsoda22]

Eagle Mags suck, i bought one for my taurus and it would catch on the mag release when being inserted. Tripple K sucks, had to hammer it to make it fit. Let me say the taurus had no problems feeding from either of them, even though the bullets pointed 10 degrees left of directly facing the feed ramp on one of the mags. Now i own 3 17rd mecgar mags for the taurus. Awesome.

Learning from that experiance, i have 3 factroy mags for my Bersa and shelled out the bucks for full capacity HK factory mags for my USP 40 (good deal, only paid $45/mag, they were used and had serial #'s etched lightly in the base plate, but excellent condition otherwise, better than $90 or more elsewhere.)

 

[DMK]

In general, you want your magazines to be made by the same company that made the gun.

That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to buy them from the manufacturer of the gun. Firearms manufacturers don't make their own magazines. They buy them from subcontractors.

I just bought four stainless steel Officer's sized 1911 mags from CDNN. Two are OEM Colt mags and are labeled COLT with the horse on the base plate. The other two are OEM Springfield ($3 each cheaper I might add) and are labeled Springfield on the base plate.

The interesting thing is that all four followers have McCormick Shooting Star emblems on them. All four magazines are identical in every respect with the exception of the base plate markings. The Colt mags are identical to the Colt mag that came with my Colt CCO. It is clear that these magazines are manufactured by Chip McCormick under contract for both Colt and Springfield.