I know the life of a magazine will vary greatly depending on how it’s treated but I assume there has to be some mil requirement as to the performance of a magazine.
Assuming a well treated magazine, will it function for 5000 rnds, 10000 rnds, …
SB
I don’t know if there’s any published data on service life in regards to cycles, etc.
Alot of it depends on the quality of materials and the environment/use and/or abuse it’s subjected to.
I have three G17 mags that easily have 60k or so through them, work 100%.
AR mags, been using Pmags, about 10k through 5 and then a collection of old GI’s that between the 10-15, somewhere over a buttload.
Life has been tuff for them, sand, gravel, concrete, etc
Dropping mags on the ground is a major contributing factor to failure.
Also, slamming them forcefully into the gun Hollywood style is a no-no.
Take care of them and keep them clean, and they should last a long time.
The only ones I’ve ever had fail are the USGI AR-15 mags. They cracked
at the top rear near the feed lips. I have no idea how many rounds were
thru them, but it was a lot.
Silly as it sounds, I still use magazines in my personal ARs that I was given in 1992 by a former Ranger who carried them in Vietnam. Only one of the six didn’t work, and it would be an easy fix if I hadn’t stuffed it away somewhere so many years ago. I have quite a few rounds through them, and no telling how many he put through them in the time he owned them. My newer magazines I probably put 25,000 rounds/year through at work without problems. I’m real impressed lately with the Brownell’s magazines with the Magpul upgrades. I think they will have real staying power in my kit. Just stay away from the HK steel mags!
Slamming the magazine home hard is how you are supposed to load a gun. You won’t break it. IF you don’t slam the mag home what happens is the mag does not get seated properly about half the time under stress. The proper procedure is to slam in hard and pull down to make sure they are seated.
Pat
That is funny because my HK steel mags have held up just fine over the last 4 years. I have heard that the springs get weak but I have not had that problem. In fact I prefer them for wintertime use because P Mags crack in the extreme cold. I use P Mags as summer mags and as range mags.
pat
I guess “push/pull” doesn’t work in Alaska.
Please go back and read by post before posting next time. You will see I mentioned pushing the mag in hard (push) and pulling down on it to make sure its seated (pull). It must be late and you must have missed that part of my post. I have been a firearms instructor for more than 6 years now and the most common human induced malfunction I have seen cops make on the line is failure to seat the magazine.
Pat
You wrote “slam” - not “push.” Two different concepts.
Yes, I know you are a firearms instructor because you say that a lot in defense of many concepts that you post about and get called on.
And don’t talk down your nose to me.
Well its not a gentle push. It is more of a slam. Yes I am a firearms instructor. What do you do for a living?
Pat
Read my bio.
You should contact Pat Rogers and Larry Vickers so you can inform them that they’re doing it wrong.
BTW, slamming the bottom of an AR magazine can cause rounds to jump out the top of the magazine, sometimes dramatically so (“like a volcano”).
Since we’re talking about magazine serviceability, any body know the answers to these questions?
- Aluminum mag body/feed lip thickness
- cproducts steel, british steel, singapore steel, and HK steel mag body/feed lip thickness
- thermold, Pmag, lancaster feed lip thickness
I have some cproduct SS mags that look awfully thin, like I could bend them with my fingers.
BTW, is it possible to bend good quality alum./steel feed lips with your fingers? I’d rather not try. 
I believe the whole “slam” to seat the mag comes from loading 30rds. With a GI mag loaded to 28 it only takes a firm push/pull. Even though they’re designed for 30rds, I download PMAG’s. It takes longer to “slam” mags than it does to push/pull, same goes for slapping the bolt release.
In my experience slamming a magazine into the magazine well, will cause rounds to pop loose (especially in worn GI mags) and will then usually cause a failure to chamber. When most mags to include H/K steel mags are loaded to 28 rounds seating them is usually not an issue even when the bolt is forward. With PMAG’s 30 rounds hasn’t been an issue either.
my caliper reads .0655 on pmags. all my GI mags are boxed up, and i don’t have any other kind for ARs.
i suppose if you really pressed on the fuckers they might bend, but not without real effort, if at all. i’d say the answer is “no.”
Forgive me I should have used the words firmly push in rather than slam.
Pat
I’ve seen PMAGs crack in extreme cold, but always under conditions that would also render a USGI mag inoperable. I hope to have a cold chamber in hand very soon to conduct more thorough first-hand testing.
Since we’re getting to that time again, PM me your address and I’ll send you a few mags to play with this winter. My primary concern is how it functions at those temperatures. Everything has its breaking point - if that so happens to be a -50 degree fully loaded 5 foot drop test on the feed lips, that circumstance may just be rare enough to be inconsequential.
I download all my 30 round mags to 28 even the P mags. Just the way I was trained. I have had the malfunction you state happen with my AR10 and it happens pretty much every time unless I gently insert the mag. I always attributed the problem to faulty mag design by Armalite (M14 mags reworked to be AR10 mags) rather than a technique error.
Pat
I was also trained to slap the bolt release and that is what I train my guys to do. What do you use as an alternative that is reliable when you lose your fine motor skills under stress?
Pat
I agree with the AR-10 mag assessment. We have them here and they are a PITA. As for downloading the PMAG’s to 28 rds. That is how I was trained also until I started using them. There just isn’t a need and I like the extra 2o rds. that it gives me by not doing it.