I bought a metal magazine today. I have heard all the news about these and the supposed worthlessness that comes along with them. It is a 20 round bushmaster brand and has a magpul follower in it. I guess my point is to ask, even through all my searching on here i couldn’t find anything specific about a good reliable metal magazine. I have some magpul 30’s and they are great but IMO dont look as good as the metal mags. Are there any good ones?
Colt, nhmtg, Okay Products, are usually considered best of the aluminum mags. I think nhmtg actually makes the colt mags but you get a lil’ pony on the Colt ones. Steel HK mags are good, but heavy, expensive, and generally not worth the going price.
Leroy,
I know this will hurt your feelings and you will want to send me a nasty PM. But, why?
Why buy a questionable POS when there are plenty of good aluminum magazines and PMAG’s on the market?
You should know that we don’t give a crap about how a magazine looks. We care that it functions and does its’ job.
haha aint gonna hurt my feelings. I welcome the honesty. I understand that also and if it ever went down id go for a PMAG. Just trying to diversify. plus it was only $7 dollars. Aluminum as in what brands?
Take a look at the D&H magazines that BCM sells. 8.99 a piece I believe.
Okay and NHMTG can usually be found as well.
i just ordered a metric ton of the d&h mags to accompany my new training rig… i will put four of them through the ringer and report back.
I have some and have used them here as well. I put Magpul followers in them and they run just fine.
the ones i ordered from palmetto state have the foliage green magpul followers. i expect no problems whatsoever. anyone running a lower with a tight magwell such as a territorial, these might be a good option. the teflon coating seems like a good option. i was wanting to see fail zero coat the inside of a mag just for kicks, but don’t know if it’d really serve a purpose.
Every now and then DSG will have ten packs of their mags with Magpul followers for $80 shipped, keep an eye out.
You’ve never used a USGI magazine before? 
All of my magazines are D&H aluminum, gray teflon, with (“gasp”) green followers.:eek: I own exactly 2 Pmags, and I’ve not used them yet. To be honest, I bought 30 of the D&H a few years back when 44Mag had them for like $6 ea. I’ve never had a single issue with them. Granted, the only thing I’ve done with them besides a static range is a carbine match of about 200rdns, and a Vickers class of 400 rnds, but like I said, they’ve worked for me.
IG, Stick, anyone else with high usage:
Any reason I need to dump the Green Followers (since they seem to be working?)
First don’t buy gear based upon looks… Its a nice byproduct sometimes, but should not be a factor in deciding what to buy.
As far as your question, I have had great luck with Colt USGI mags for years and still run them without reservation. Pmags are great but certainly not the only magazine that will perform properly in a AR…
I have a bunch of Bushmaster marked mags from back in the day and they were nicely black teflon coated USGI mags. I think I remember someone saying they were Labelle? Regardless, they were definitely USGI just with a Bushmaster floorplate and were good to go.
Dennis.
Check the side for a cage code. Bushmaster mags used to be made by Labelle and then D&H, CAGE code 04TQ4. But recent mags are made by C Products which I believe have had major QC issues in the past. They may be good by now, but why take the risk?
The Bravo company mags (D&H manufacture) with the magpul followers have worked well for me. I have a bunch of them along with my PMAGs, and I believe they cost around $9. They are a USGI aluminum 30 round mag with a grey teflon coating and you can order them with a magpul follower for a little extra. The ones I use in training I put some ranger plates on to protect from impacts on concrete decks, the rest are socked away for bad law insurance.
I don’t know that I would worry too much about it. You can check the reviews at Midway and see that they are pretty highly rated for feed and function. I have 2 of them and a bunch of P-Mags. They all feed well and I have had 0 problems with any of them in my to AR’s. They are aluminum and will not tolerate the abuse that the P-Mags will but other than that, no issues. Some days I actually prefer them because they are easier to load. Good luck.
.
FWIW, For over a year, I’ve been logging down Cage Codes on any “new” 30-round mag I’ve come across. I’ve been able to cross-reference several different vendors to different makers, some of which have been listed in this Thread.
It seems the USGI mags that are generally rated gtg are:
Center
NHMTG
D&H
Brownell
Now, of these 4 makers, it appears that Center & Brownell make only their own mags and don’t seem to contract out to anyone else. If they do contract out, I haven’t seen them with other names on them.
Recent Brownell mags have the new USGI Tan Followers that seem to be a Magpul knockoff. They seem to function as well as the Magpul’s.
D&H is the most prolific maker. They make mags for DSG, Bravo Company, Tapco, Sabre Defence, and DPMS.
The D&H mags I have seen with these other company’s floorplates were all 30-rounders. I’m not insinuating that D&H makes (or has made) every mag for these other companies but I have seen at least one new example of each.
(Corrections Italicized) Okay makes Colt and NHMTG. These have all appeared to be recent manufacture.
NHMTG mags are the ones I’ve acquired the most…if I can find them cheap enough. Last month, I bought 10 Colt (Okay) mags at a gun show for $100, that the best I’ve seen for a good USGI mag since PSA had NHMTG’s on sale last year for $7 each.
But maybe it’s just me…
.
interesting! thanks!
I have more than my share of Pmags but honestly I have gone back to the Colt USGI type mags. I do use a Magpul follower and ranger plate, so they aren’t the most economical option but that isn’t my concern.
I run these, because quite frankly I prefer the way that they draw from all of my different mag holders / pouches and how they drop from all of my weapons. I know the differences are very small, but I am the type of person / shooter where I tweak the fine details to suit my needs / wants.
Same here. I am migrating back to USGI’s with Magpul followers and the original magpul’s on them (I love the “loop”).
Wrong…
Okay makes NHMTG and Colt! 