I’ve been using the C Products Defense Stainless Steel 30 rounders, and haven’t been highly impressed with them. They run fine, but compared to 2 NHMTG mags I own, they feel flimsy. You can squeeze the bottom of the mag with your hand, and the sides will flex in towards the middle, such that the angle between the side of the mag and the floorplate becomes non-right angle. I’m not sure if it’s an issue or not, but it feels flimsy to me. The sides pop right back out, but compared to the NHMTG, when you squeeze them, the NHMTG mags don’t flex period. Also used one NHMTG and one C-Prod Def in a lesson this week, doing the box drill and shooting on the move. When dropping the mags free onto the epoxied concrete deck, the NHMTG seemed no worse for the wear, but the base-plate on the C-Prod Def popped off twice and looked AFU (all fked up).
Ideally, I would buy all NHMTG, but I just saw a deal at Brownell’s for 10 Brownell’s USGI, with magpul follower and ranger plates, for $127. I went ahead and ordered 10 of them. Probably against better judgement, as I know nothing about them…just seemed like an awesome deal. I can find NHMTG for about $11 a piece online, but that’s without Ranger Plates, which adds $6 to the mag. I like the Ranger Plates, as they protect the mags from damage when dropping free…I know mags are disposable, but i want my dollar to go as far as it can. No sense in damaging mags if I can avoid it.
So my question to you all is this: how do Brownell’s mags stack up against OK/NHMTG/Colt? Are they tough and reliable, like NHMTG? Has anyone used them overseas or in extended, high-volume-of fire training or courses?
Mags will be used for plinking, indoor training/lessons, and a carbine class in July (3 day/1800 rounds, in the NM desert).
I’ve got quite a few Brownells magazines. I haven’t used in a number of years, but they never gave me any problems when I did use them though. Just a standard aluminum Ar-15 magazine in my opinion.
Brownells look fugly, but damn they’re tough. Took all 28 last night, loaded with 28 rounds of M193 each, and dropped from 6 feet high, 10 times each. Zero baseplate failures or feed-lip bending. Then I took 3 random mags and laid them in my driveway. They actually survived being run over 3x, then backed over 3x, then driven over again, stopping with front tire on mag, and turning the wheel several times to grind into pavement. None of them died, all they fit and dropped free after the test.
I’ve heard positive things about them and should be great for your use. I’m sure brownells will take care of you if you have issues. I’d say you’re good to go.
