Is there a difference between the H&K AR-15 magazines that have ‘Restricted Law Enforcement/Government Use Only’ in white lettering and those that have it stamped into the mag?
thanks
I do not know about the LE markings, but early HK mags had chrome followers. Later mags have black followers & the floor plate is attached differently (I believe dealing with a rubber piece on rear bottom of mag). My later generation mags has stamped LE markings.
The difference is the “maritime” finish on the stamped mags.
Thanks, guys.
So is are the mags without the white lettering the more recent ones and better ones to get as opposed to the ones that look like the one below:
The 3rd gen “stamped” mags have a better rust resistant finish. The 2nd gen mags are fine too.
I appreciate the info. I am not trying to be dense, but am I to understand that the ones without the white lettering are newer? I just want to make sure I understand correctly.
thanks again
No problem ED.
The ones with the white (actually more like gold lettering) are the second generation mags.
The mags stamped with all black finish are the “NEWER” (aka 3rd generation, aka Maritine finish) magazines. Both are fine for most applications.
Thanks.
That is exactly what I wanted to know. This is by far the nicest and smoothest magazine I have ever held in my hand.
Yes they are nice. The only complaint most have is the weight of the magazine. Usually I only load out 2 HK mags and the rest of the load out is standard Aluminum GI Mags. With a full kit every ounce counts; especially if you are kitted up for a long duration of time.
I just heard an interesting report from a neighbor on HK mags. He just took a US Gov’t funded shooting course. The instructor watched as many of the students broke out brand new HK mags. He predicted that they would last until Thursday - my neighbor reported that he was correct. After heavy use the feed lips began to bend and caused some nasty double feeds. I like my HK mags and had never heard this about them - he has no reason to make it up so I believe him…
Spooky
The only problem 20K rounds into using HK mags in my 3gun rifle is that after that 4 of my 7 HK mags won’t lock the bolt back when it runs dry any longer. I still use them in competition only as they still allow a ‘reloadable 30 rounds’ when changing mags during a reload with the bolt forward. In competition I never shoot the rifle ‘empty/bolt lock’ so the failure to lock the bolt back isn’t an issue.
Spooky,
I have seen literally hundreds of HK mags (first and second gen) go through “gov funded classes” and the gov funded “GWOT,” and have yet to see the problem you described. Not to say it did not happen, if it did I would have the parties involved return said mags to HK. With that being said they are just “mags” which are IMO a consumable item. If I actually paid out of pocket for my own I would be fine with plain jane GI mags with magpul followers installed.
Mine are pretty well used (about 1/3 finish rubbed off) but still didnt rust or anything during the wet months here, we’ll see how they hold up when I get back to Hawaii. They are the type with the rubber thing that holds in the floorplate, havent seen the follower in a few months but I believe they are black metal.
Have you figured out the cause of this? Spring or follower? And what can be used as replacement springs for the Hk mags?
Springs have just taken a ‘set’ so that they aren’t keeping up with bolt velocity.
Ok, this is all he said/she said but I’ll pass on what I can.
One very large agency has recently issued a memo stating that the HK mags are not as reliable as initially believed and steps were being taken to find a replacement. Now I did not read the memo but the guy that related the info had nothing to gain in doing so. Supposedly the HK mags at that agency are doing the same thing as Spooky described. I do not know what generation these mags are.
My friends at BorTac claim not to have seen any feeding problems with their HK mags but the mag weight seem to be a concern. More than a few related similar thoughts to Rana about an aluminum mag with a MagPul follower being as good as an HK mag but much lighter.
My personal opinion is the HK mag is a great mag but too heavy and too expensive and for my personal consumption they are not worth the money for what they do.
Dave
For me, the PMag answered any decision making I had to do between HK mags and GI mags with Magpul followers.
I’m just passing along what he said. Mine are working fine and I paid for them with my own money. But I haven’t used them very hard either. I agree - they are consumable and if you watch the performance of the mags you can replace them before it becomes a problem.
Spooky
I agree with Hawkeye completely.
But I have some pics:
Here are the Gen 2 mags, look for the BLACK follower, and no white letters, and the rubber on the bottom.
