I recently purchased a few Gen5 G19 mags for out of state travel to states with hi-cap mag laws. I haven’t seen much traffic regarding the Gen5 10 rounders, so I thought I’d share my testing results, given the spotty history of OEM Glock 10 round G19 mags.
The magazines sport the Gen5 base plate, with an orange colored 2183-2 follower. Witness holes indicate the rounds accurately, in the magazine tube. I was able easily load 10 rounds into each magazine without the need for a loading tool. The fully loaded magazines were easy to seat into my pistol with the slide forward. Given the reported issues some have had in the past, with Gen 3/4 G19 10 round mags, specifically with flat-nose profile ammo, I began my testing with (4) loads that I carry/shoot regularly. I utilized a Gen5 Glock 19 MOS, with EPS Carry RDS and TLR-7A.
Zero malfunctions/and or failures to feed with any of the rounds tested. I will continue to use the magazines in future testing and training, but so far so good.
That was I thought initially about OEM Glock 10 round magazines… that they were inherently unreliable with certain bullet profiles, namely wide-mouthed/flat profile JHPs. This belief was based solely on what I had read on Internet forums, with many simply discrediting them without providing any research or facts.
I wanted to see for myself, and test them with as many different JHPs that I could get my hands on… in order to prove or disprove the reliability claims.
As far as what has been changed… it appears that Glock is utilizing a different follower (orange 2183-2) and the larger base plate in the Gen5 10 round Glock 19 magazine.
The problem with the Glock ban mags was not just random internet talk. LE in California who did a lot of HP shooting were the main source of validation that there was a problem. The failure rate was enough to cause concern but not enough to be immediately obvious.
As I recall it took a large sample size and lot of rounds to confirm it was a systemic problem with HP. I’d say a few hundred rounds in testing is just a good start.
That’s pretty interesting… I wonder why an LE agency would test 10 round mags, seeing that they were exempt through the 94’ mag-ban and the CA state 2000 mag-ban… I’m curious as to the agencies and more specifically the date/years that the testing took place… perhaps if these tests occurred years ago, it could explain why the older Gen3 or Gen4 Glock 19 ten-round mags had certain issues… I intentionally selected the Gen5 10 round mags because they’re Glock’s latest iteration of this product.
On that note….
I tested the following loads through my Gen5 19 MOS, using the same (2) test sample Gen 5 G19 10 round magazines (w/ 2183-2 Orange followers):
50 rounds Speer 147gr G2
50 rounds Hornady Critical Duty 135gr Flex Lock
50 rounds Federal 124gr HST
200 rounds Winchester 115gr FMJ White Box the HST by far, had the largest diameter hollow-point of any rounds fired to date
ZERO malfunctions/or failure to feed stoppages with any rounds today.
This has always been news to me! Everyone talks about how “bad” the 10rd mags are, well myself and countless fellow NYers have used them forever and put 1000+++++ rds down range and never had what appeared to be a magazine issue. Maybe we are just lucky ! I have a 19X with the 3 mags that came with it and countless other Glock 10 rd mags, no problems. But I guess if it’s on the internet then it’s gotta be true,LOL
Most people don’t shoot enough HP to really find problems you don’t get with ball ammo. I know it’s never happened with 1911’s… I also know a local department that had a few fail to feed in testing the Kahr for BUG approval. But only one brand of 147gr and after several hundred rounds of testing.
Same kind of thing happened with Glock .40 cal with weapon lights malfunctions. It’s rare enough for many to discount it.
I do hope Glock improved their ban mags with the Gen5. Or courts tell ban States to F off with mag bans.
While I have shot many JHP through my earlier Glocks and my current 19X I fully understand that Defensive JHP ammo varies widely depending on the weight of the bullets & yes that could prove to be an issue I would say. And yea, I also am waiting for the day that I can use “Standard” cap mags and not the 10 rd ones,seems closer now at least.
I was in a discussion with another guy on a separate forum, who mentioned the following:
“I don’t know when Glock made these changes, but they did update their 10 round mags, at least the ones for the 19. The new magazines are marked 2274-02 on the rear of the body. The new magazine bodies are longer, closer to the same length of the standard 15 round magazine. These new mags also fit 19s with a magwell, unlike the older ones.
I haven’t had any trouble with them, but if you do, you can drop in a 9mm7 follower and they work without modification. You used to have to file either the follower or mag body for them to fit.”
