40 Round PMag Test & Review

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

I’ve been using these mags for a couple weeks now and here’s a quick rundown of the new 40 round Gen M3 PMag from Magpul…

Pros:

-100% reliable in all of my riles thus far.
-Compatible with HK 416, SCAR 16, SA80, MK 16, Tavor, ect…
-According to Magpul, more durable than Gen2 MOE PMags
-Same marking system as all Gen M3 PMags
-40 rounds is obviously cooler than 30 rounds
-Compatible with the Maglink
-They survived multiple drop tests fully loaded without issue.

Cons:

-Firing from the prone
-They’re tough to find currently
-Currently only out in black

Here’s a video review with some shooting, a couple drop tests while loaded, and a discussion/demonstration of the pros and cons:

Magpul 40 Round PMag HD Video Review Link

2

I like Magpul and expect their stuff to be 100% reliable, but in a semi-automatic rifle, I prefer the 30 round mag. While I am a chop, I can’t see a scenario where I am using semi-auto suppressing fire in an urban environment. Attempting to put accurate fire on target with a semi, I just don’t think I’d burn through rounds so fast that I’d be willing to give up the pro’s of a 30 round mag for the extra 10 shots. I am not willing to give up shooting prone (without raising up or rolling to the side) for the sake of 10 extra rounds. Then there is the snag/hangup factor if you need to be mobile in/around/through.
I think it’s fine for range use, but 120 rounds means one extra mag change, so I don’t even see it as a huge convenience there.
I would like to see Magpul put their thinking caps on and make a reliable, compact’ish 50 round mag. I don’t need it, but I think it would be nice.

3

Not really many cons per se. I like having a few 40rders just to have and because they piss off the liberals. Don’t like those pesky 30rders, I’ve your remedy, it holds 40. I also have a beta mag as well for these situations. As far as tactical use, few and far between, but still like having the option if I were to ever need it.

That said, I must agree with Tiny Killer Robot, a 50rd quad stack would be the tits.

4

My God, that thing is a monopod! But as long as it works which I have no doubt it does; wouldn’t expect anything less from a Pmag right?

5

Thanks for the review. Sticks out too far IMO. I would rather have several 30 round mags.

6

Thanks for the review… I plan on getting a couple just to have when they are available.

7

I will probably get at least one too just for the Libs.

8

I’ll stick with my surefire 60’s, but thank you for the review.

9

The biiiiiiig pro of these Pmag 40s is also that they are less than 1/5 the price of the Surefire 60.

I snagged 5 of the Pmag 40s ($18.95) for less than the cost of 1 Surefire mag…

That’s nothing but win.

10

That is a big pro. Plus I find PMAG’s a lot easier to manually load (and unload), especially when you’ve lost count.

11

I bought mine back when they were ~$90.

Cash flow (or lack there-of) aside, I really cannot stand having something that ridiculously long and obnoxious hanging out from under my rifle just waiting to bash into and catch on anything it can.

For the same reason (as well as weight) I would never use the surefire 100 rounder.

Not trying to say that no one else should not get these, they’re just not for me.

12

Glad they are working out alright. I may pick up one or two just to have once they come back in stock at all of the big distributors. Sounds like a much more viable option over Surefire 60s or 100s that go for gold and give sub-par performance. I’m still a 30 rounder type of guy by trade, but not saying wouldn’t throw a 40 rounder or two in my patrol bag at work if they work well.

13

Honestly, try one out - they really aren’t as ridiculous as they seem from the pics, unless you do a lot of prone or bench shooting…

You would be hard pressed to tell the difference from the standard 30 from a weight and balance perspective…

Its also nice and convenient to just use two twenty round boxes with nothing left over :slight_smile:

With that that said, I would not buy them if they were more than $30 a pop, but for a tad more than a windowed 30 it’s awesome.

14

The more I look at pics, the more I’d be very interested in seeing a side by side length comparison (free and inserted) of the surefire 60 and pmag 40.

15

.

I wonder how hard they are to load with strippers? Has anyone tried all 40 with strippers?

.

16

I am of the opinion that you should have different mags for different uses. For shooting off a bench or a bi pod on the ground 20 round mags are nice. For most uses 30 rounders work great. For instances where your mainly worried about CQB and don’t need to worry about going prone use the 40’s. For 3 gun we use different mags for the stage and in real life using different tools for different tasks also makes sense. I ordered 10 and they should be here by the end of the week.
Pat

17

Agreed.

18

I agree, I like the 40’s but the 30’s a much more convenient.

19

Kind of funny that some of the same concerns about the new 40 round mags are what people had with 30 round mags when they started to see common use over the 20’s.
Pat

20

Agree, people are skeptical at first and within a year most will own 40 rounder.