I just received my (3) TD ARC 30rd magazines that I ordered from Brownells. These are labeled ARC/L-001C (Commercial), and they do not have the magwell dustcover/o-ring.
Overall they seem to be a very solid, well made magazine. Fully loaded (30 or 28 rds) they seat into the magwell of my Armalite, S&W M&P15, and Territorial Gunsmiths/Defensive Edge SLR-15 lowers perfectly, with no real force or “push” needed. They also drop free from all of my lowers without issue (loaded or unloaded).
They fit perfectly into my preferred belt mounted pouches (Ready Tactical Speed Pouches).
The feedlips on the ARC mags are very thick when compared to my Pmags. I dont know if that translates into being more durable though, as they seem to flex less than the Pmag’s feedlips do.
Im a little dissapointed that the followers are designed to place to top feeding rounds on the opposite side of the mag from all of my other mags (Pmags, USGI, Fusil). When loaded to 28 or 30rds, the top feeding round is on the left side. All of my other mags feed from the right side. I think this is a minor gripe, and I dont really think it will be much of an issue during admin loading procedures, but just thought y’all should know;)
My Mag LULA doesnt work well loading the ARC mags at all. For me it was faster to load the ARC mags by hand than using the LULA loader. Im not quite sure what the issue is, but the rounds need to be manually pushed/seated in-order to get another round into the LULA. So far this is the biggest gripe I have with the TangoDown ARC mags.
No range time yet, I plan to go out on Friday to run a few hundred rounds through 'em.
PICS:
TOP VIEW:
PMAG ON LEFT ARC ON RIGHT/BOTH MAGS LOADED TO 28 ROUNDS:
I just got mine last night and my first impression was that the spring was very stout, second only to the Brownell’s USGI style mag w/ the CS spring. Overall, it’s very good to have another mag supplier. I see no reason to replace my USGI & P-mags with these, but if they are durable and the translucent one comes out I be okay with paying $4-5 more a mag for them vs. a windowed P-mag.
With all due respect that’s not clever. With holes in the follower use on anything but a concrete floor puts a dropped mag in the area of the proverbial sticks and stones with access to the internals of the mag. I’m fairly new to the AR world but I’ve been playing with pistols since 69 and junk gets in mags. If you can’t easily open them to clean them then I have reservations. I’m sure they will work well for many people.
I’ll be interested to see some 3 month, 6 month and year reports on these.
I just can’t warm up to these mags. With the additional cost of these mags, and that wrap around protruding shelf that prevents proper storage in existing mag pouches, I can’t justify in my mind, buying a new type of mag that doesn’t offer any improvement over proven existing mags. I’ll be sticking with pmags, lancers, and bcm/dsg usgi mags with magpul enhanced followers. They do look well constructed though.
Honestly I don’t really see what these mags have going for them that the P-mag does not other than you can get them now from Brownells. Eh, maybe I’ll add a few to my next Brownells order.
Anyone, know WHY the follower is reversed? That just deosn’t make since to me.
I got mine in today too. I expected the serrations on the front and back to be sharper than they are. They otherwise, are pretty well what I expected, and seem durable, although I won’t be able to put some rounds through them for a couple weeks.
Considering the price point, I’m with the rest of y’all in that these will probably be my only two, unless something changes.
Got mine, and found that these mags are incompatible with Gen II POF lower. A seam on the mag engages integral trigger guard preventing mags from seating. I’d assume Gen III POF lower would be a no-go too.
