Recently I went to the range in order to do some shooting at 100-200 yards without an optic and the first time I went to insert a MOE PMAG it didn’t want to seat with the push/pull method. At first I thought I just needed to be a bit less dainty when I inserted the mag, so I gave it a slight slap on the baseplate and tried to pull it out. The PMAG didn’t budge and I then pulled back on the charging handle and noticed that it failed to chamber a round, all visible through the ejection port. At this point my dad and I were starting to scratch our heads. I yanked on the charging handle again and the rifle chambered just fine. No further malfunctions for that entire mag and at that point I just figured one of us had lost count when we were loading up the mags; so, I didn’t think anything of it when the second mag also needed a pat in order to seat properly.
It was when I loaded a third MOE PMAG with twenty rounds of Federal branded Israeli made ammo that I became concerned when it didn’t seat properly via push/pull. I thought that this was odd and at that point I began to wonder whether or not something is wrong with either my mags or my lower. Since the third mag was a windowed PMAG I was able to tell that when the orange marker had reached the number 15 or so that the mag could be seated on a closed bolt via push/pull.
On a similar note this same rifle had trouble seating an M3 PMAG loaded with… Herters the day I bought the rifle. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I’m pretty sure that my god brother loaded it past 28 rounds and I’m not sure if this has any relevance to the current issue since this happened once before the incident above.
Based on this above experience I’m concerned that something may be not be right with either my lower or my PMAGs. I can’t imagine that something has gone wrong with them since the rifle is fairly new and hasn’t had too many mags through it and these particular PMAGs have only had about 60 rounds through each of them so I’d hope they aren’t worn out or anything of that nature. I typically make sure they aren’t loaded past 28 rounds since I’ve learned from reading and a friend who’s ex-ROK special ops that mags work best when downloaded.
Just to be clear, the rifle is entirely factory built by DD so I am pretty sure that it was built correctly when I got it. The gun doesn’t seem to have any issues cycling and I haven’t added any kind of aftermarket mag catches, bolt catches, etc to the lower. I’m not sure if this is just because I’ve left the rifle in storage for a few months before hand without cleaning it first or if there is some kind of issue that I might need to use the warranty on.
Does anyone have an idea as to what might be going on with my rifle or mags?
Get some USGI aluminum magazines and see if you have the same issues. If you do then most likely your magazine well is out of spec. Some people have had issues with PMAGs but its not very common.
Have you ever fired the rifle without having mag issues since the Day you bought it? From your original post it seems you only shot it once and had problems at that time also.
I agree with IG that you should try USGI mags but the chances that you will have the same issue with several different PMags is very slim. DD is a solid brand but as had been said in other threads, they are made by humans and mistakes are possible.
Lock the bolt back. Insert magazine. Release bolt. Problem solved?
I’d say give it some time, you’ll get used to inserting loaded mags into the AR. Mags are more difficult to insert with a closed bolt fully loaded than with an empty or partial mag. Yes, even with 28 rounds it’s more difficult.
I’ll see if I can find some GI mags and try them out. The only thing that’s got me concerned is that these same mags and the rifle have worked fine in other outings when I was certain that the PMAGs were loaded to 28. Could it be that my magwell area is just dirty and needs some kind of cleaning?
They all work fine unloaded and that’s why I was surprised to see them seat when loaded to only 20 rounds. I’m in the process of finding some GI mags to try out in the rifle.
It happened with three different MOE PMAGs and the incident with the M3 happened last April. Previous outings did not have these same problems and I’ve had the rifle out before once I was able to find some ammo. The weird thing was that it wasn’t consistent, as in one mag did work with push pull after it didn’t work previously. My guess is that the second time it wasn’t loaded with as many rounds and that’s why it was easier to seat on a closed bolt.
The reason why this happens is because with pmags it’s possible for the bullet portion of the Round to pop over the feed lips and the rim is still in the magazine. So when you are putting it in the mag well the magazine gets slightly stretched out because the round may have slipped over the feed lips. It’s possible with the first and second round. With the second round it will slip over the first round and make the magazine wider.
Hmm, this might be the issue since I remember seeing a round pointing skyward in a mag that wouldn’t seat easily, once I set it flat the mag went in properly. I’ll try and see if these three mags work while watching out for this. Chalk one up to the bronies I guess.
Just like this? Happens to me all the time. Its more repeatable when I push the mag in quickly and the rounds hit harder on the bottom of the carrier. If I slide the mag in more gently until the rounds just touch the carrier then exert pressure to to lock it in place it doesn’t happen.
If the rounds are not loaded in the mag properly to begin with, then obviously you are going to have mag seating problems. When you finish loading rounds in a mag, push them down and let them come up to make sure they are straight and free.
Downloading to 28 rounds is not necessary with any quality mag, like Pmags, made in the last 30 years or so.
The rounds were loaded properly before I tried to insert the mags, only one started sticking up into the air after I tried to get it in on a closed bolt.
Hmm best way to prevent this issues is the dust cover for the magazines it just sucks that you can’t store them on the bottom for gen 3 mags. And when you load up the mag just squeeze the lips together and insert it, if the rounds pop up you will have to push them down and if this is happening to much. I would get new mags unfortunately I do not like bad mags either and getting rid of nice pmags suck.
