After much seeking I was finally able to locate some of the new USGI tan magazines with blue followers for use with the new(er) M855A1 EPR. The magazines are made by Center Industries and were manufactured 06/15. The body is an FDE color and features a blue anti-tilt follower. Following the footsteps of their previous magazine boondoggle they are continuing with the reversed follower design. They weren’t exactly cheap, but I wanted them as part of my magazine reference collection. I’ll take some additional pics and post them later.
I’m waiting for an Okay Industries version to come out. I’ve never had trouble with their mags or NHMTG/Colt marked ones (same manufacturer.). I’ve had a few dozen duds from Center and Brownells over the years.
One might wonder when they will realize they are reinventing the wheel and look to COTS purchases as a viable alternative. Why continue to spend money on R&D when civilian companies are doing it for you?
The feed lips have been modified to perform better with M855A1, as far as I can tell by just unscientifically holding them next to each other, the new mags feed lips start slightly to the rear of the previous version, but retain the same geometry. I assume this is to allow the round to have a more upward tilt as it enters the chamber. Our unit received a few boxes of them when we were fielded the M4A1.
Magpul PMAGs already on the market with an NSN, and now manufactured in Tan 499 no less, performed flawlessly with the M855A1 EPR in testing, but that’s neither here nor there…
Center got the contract for the EPR mags!? As I recall their magazines were considered a stop use item for magazines that can’t be used in SOCOM weapons during the GWOT along with 2-3 other mfgs like natchez. Congrats to the army for once again going full retard.
No issues with either of my two (Surefeed versions), though I confess one was smashed in a training incident and I can’t get a good number on how many rounds I have through them before the crunched one. I’m pretty sure the damaged one would have been ugly with a PMAG as well, so I’m not faulting the mag, just keeping everything in the open.
Aha, didn’t realize the user I quoted specified okay industries mags… I was just comparing the EPR mags to the previous generation tan follower mags. The ones we have are from center.
Might be a single run, but the Center Industires Tan body, blue follower mags my Battalion got were junk with M855A1. They attempted to minimize the exposed tip hitting too low during during feeding by angling the cartridge up. This raised the tip, but lowered the base of the cartridge. This then results in the the bolt riding over the back of the cartridge and either causing a malfunction or a click when you want a bang. This happened in at least 3-5 weapons that I know of, in one Infantry company. Could be a combination of wear on the M4A1s, but whatever it was, those with PMAGs did not and have not had a problem with feeding. I wrote memorandum on the subject and its made its way to Ft Benning. It was converted into an article on Primary and Secondary if you are interested. https://primaryandsecondary.com/why-pmags-are-better-than-aluminum-usgi-mags/
