It is a bold statement, yet it is an entirely accurate statement.
5.56 magazine vs 5.56 magazine, the AUG mag is indisputably superior to every 5.56 magazine ever made including the lauded magpul offerings.
If an AUG magazine could fit in an AR magwell, AUG mags would be the ONLY magazine governments and civilians would want and buy.
I’d be interested in hearing how you arrived at that conclusion concerning Swiss SAN magazines vs. AUG magazines, also like to see your findings for 416 vs. AUG magazines.
I have a few HK maritime mags, and while they are decent magazines they do have inherit problems. Reported problems with the maritime mags are weak springs not holding the bolt open, bent feedlips, magazine failure after being dropped, catastrophic failure after being run over by any vehicle…
"I have alot of experience with HK M16 mags and can no longer recommend them due to some issues the current version has - particularly at the price they sell at
I have been using some PMAGS with good results - my recommendation is buy a few (for the price of one HK mag) and try them
Good luck
Larry Vickers"
Concerning the Sig 550 type magazines, I don’t have any reason to believe that they are better than the AUG mag. Will they withstand being run over by an armored vehicle?
My experience leads me to believe that the AUG magazine is the most reliable, dependable, and functional magazine made for any firearm that uses 5.56.
AUG mags are virtually indestructible, they are smooth as silk to load, they are anti-tilt and do not jam, they are translucent, the outer surface aids in magazine manipulation, the baseplates are a great design and will withstand drops/falls/abuse, the feedlips won’t suddenly bend, open, crack, or split (but may wear out over time), seams of the magazine will not magically split or crack, the mag bodies are sound and will take all the abuse you can give them.
For those who do not know the magpul “drive over the mag” test was originally done by Steyr with the AUG mag back in the 70’s. The design never changed, the mags are the same; there was never a need for a generation change or improvements. AUG mags from the late 70’s are identical to AUG mags you find today.
I have AUG mags from earlier than 1982 all the way up until today. I have no “range” mags nor do I have “bad” mags. My AUG mags just work, period.
Always loved AUG.
Price is very reasonable to me, under 2K.
I am very interested.
only thing different between regular A3 and NATO is magazine well?
length wise all same? isn’t it better to buy NATO stock for cheaper mags?
Only if you managed to completely miss the discussion about how AUG mags are better-suited to the gun in every possible respect, and (currently) only if you wish to limit the configuration of your rifle to right-hand ejection.
The NATO stock isn’t a bad idea, but it is a compromise. Although Austria often works in close cooperation with NATO, it not a member state; as such, there were no nagging cross-compatibility issues to contend with when the rifle was originally designed. The highly-optimized magazines that Steyr developed for the gun have stood the test of time, and although they are proprietary, pricing and availability are not significant obstacles in the US market.
AC
very nicely built rifles!those butt stocks need a side panel,so you can store something in them, like say a ham and cheese sandwich since there is so damn much room in there.but really the space could be used for something like a gps or an extra 20round magazine!
It was mentioned earlier that PMags dont function properly in the NATO stock. Why is that, when they function fine in the MSAR STG-556? What is different?
Interesting - I hadn’t heard that about PMAGs. Considering that Steyr currently has these pictures splashed on their Facebook page, I’m not sure they consider it a problem.
Obscure firearms trivia: Steyr actually manufactured a version of the FN FAL for the Austrian Army called the STG 58 starting in 1958. The Austrian Army replaced the STG 58 with the Steyr AUG in 1977. Later, the Steyr AUG magazine was actually used in an Argentine 5.56mm variant of the FN FAL called the FALMP III.
Thanks AC and STG77. I’m interested in adding a bullpup design to my stable of AR’s, but I’m very much a novice when it comes to weapons outside of the US inventory. So, it is advice like this that will keep me from cutting corners and making a $2K mistake. I was trying to rationalize a NATO stock since I’ve got more STANAG mags than I can count.
Right now, I’m undecided between the Tavor and the AUG A3 CQC configuration. I’m going to wait an lay hands on both before I make a final decision.
I’ve never been a bullpup fan. The usually feel all goofy to me. But…I’ve only held an AUG perhaps five times ever, and every single time, I am surprised all over again at how good the AUG feels.
I never let myself get too carried away by it because by the time I started taking AUGs seriously, they brought too much money for me to take seriously.
The last time I was tempted was by one of the somewhat goofed-up USRs back whenever they were made (10 years ago? longer?), and while I don’t recall the price, it was a lot. It might have cost at least what these new ones cost.
So I emailed Pete a couple of days ago and got on the list.
I’m not missing the chance again.
And if I end up hating the thing, well, it’s not like they don’t hold their value.
I have a NATO stock which I may have used once. If I remember correctly (which I am not sure that I do) the mags will not lock back on the last shot with the NATO stock.
The AUG magazines are superior in every way to a USGI, Lancer, or PMAG. Buying an AUG to use with USGI mags is like buying a porsche and putting geo metro tires on it. An AUG with inferior USGI type mags is not going to give you the reliability and dependability as with using the original magazines.
From everything I am gathering you are better off using a standard AUG stock with standard AUG mags. This is how I’ve run mine.
As someone who has close to 10K rounds through the AUG platform, I have to disagree about AUG mags being better than AR mags when comparing magazines to magazines.
Take a loaded metal AR MAG, a PMAG, and an AUG mag and give each a light wack on the bottom and increase the force of the wacks and see which one sends the top round flying out. That is their one drawback.
Don’t get me wrong, my AUG and AUG mags are fine and I have run the AUG in 3 carbine classes: 1 Pat Rogers, 1 Larry Vickers, & 1 Spartan Tactical.
When you consider all of the info in this thread, it sounds like you would be much better getting the AUG and running AUG mags.
I did have encounter an issue with the new US made AUG mags with an AUGa3 that I got to T&E.
As soon as I tried these magazines in the gun I noticed that they would not lock into the magwell without a hard whap on the bottom. The result was the same in my own Austrian built AUG A2.
This is a problem because slapping the bottom of a magazine can make the top round pop out into the open chamber and cause a doublefeed when the bolt is released and it picks up an additional round from the magazine. AUG mags are far more vulnerable to this than AR mags. This is why it’s always best practice to tilt the AUG to the side so that its ejection port faces the ground before releasing the charging handle. This allows any loose rounds in the chamber to fall out. The Australian Army Manual of Land Warfare (Volume 4, Small Arms) emphasizes this point.
I seem to recall that the first batch of US mags assembled by Sabre had out of spec springs.
I think it was the magazine bodies or the feed lips that were a tiny bit thicker that caused this issue. I am not sure that the springs would do that. Whatever it was, the mags did not slide in as easily as European AUG mags, which could be an issue for the reasons I described.
If they recognized it and changed the mags back to the Europen dimensions that would be fantastic, since I never had an issue with them.
I just placed an order with Pete for a standard model and the big selling point to me was that it could be configured for the left handed bolt while a NATO model cannot (currently)
I also like the standard model (non extended rail). How much did you pay?
He priced them to me at:
$1950 with one 30-rd mag, or:
$2000 with 2 mags, case, cleaning kit, muzzle cap, and sling
I went with the package deal.
This is the standard AUG A3 btw, not the NATO or CQC he is also getting.
Not to be a party pooper, but don’t these have about a 10 lb trigger pull? The couple I played with decades ago sure did.
package deal sound better, what is the standard a3 look like? just top rail right? no extended front rail.