Now that Lancers have been on the market for some time, what is the verdict on these? Are they comparable to PMAGs when it comes to durability and reliability? Are we seeing Lancers in the hands of the men and women in uniform who are able to acquire personal gear? Bottomline, are they GTG?
I love my Lancers. I shoot in all weather conditions, as I live in Vermont. I don’t suppose I’ll ever go back to using any other mags. 
I wish I had had them back in 03’ and 04’ when I was in Iraq.
What I like about Lancers is the 360’ clear visibility and ability to handle drops very well. Pmags are fine, too, but are not the only game in town. I’m not going to give them DEET baths, and that seems to be the only issue with them. They’re also lighter than Pmags.
I really haven’t heard anything bad about them - other than they melt in DEET.
How have experiences with the 20 rounders been?
I use Lancer magazines exclusively, and have never had any complaints. I stay the hell away from DEET, though…
-C
Great mags. I’d trust them the same as my Pmags or aluminum mags…
Seems there’s a few different ‘revisions’ out there…I had a few about a year ago and they were difficult to seat when loaded to 30…just like GI mags (in fact more difficult, actually…). I can load my Pmags to 30 and seat them just fine with no issues, so I just stuck with my Pmags.
Having picked up another Lancer late last year for free I gave it a go again and it seems to be just as easy to seat when fully loaded as the Pmags now. So it’s ‘in the rotation’ for me and I haven’t had any issues with it yet. I still prefer my Pmags for overall cost and durability, though…hard to argue with a $10 Pmag.
I have one and it functions great. The follower isn’t anti-tilt, but it hasn’t been an issue so far. Apparently they handle drops better than the other polymer mags. Shotgun News had an “AR mag torture test”.
I really like the mag. The two things that have kept me from buying more is the price and they hang up in my mag pouches. I could probably sand it down some to make the ribs less aggressive, but haven’t got around to trying.
I’ve got one. All others I use are pmags except for one arc mag (very well built but doesnt ‘handle’ well in my hands during speed reloads). The arc magazine is too square and is just harder to grip than the more oval shaped pmag and I’ve even got it stippled. Anyway off topic there. I’ve had no issues with the lancer but they just feel fragile too me. Anybody else think the same? I guess this is because the sides are so easily pushed in. But like I said, zero issues with it.
I have a few, 3 or 4. I took them to a few classes last year and will take them to a class this year. No problems and they performed well. I also took a buttload of PMAGs to the classes and they were fine. I am not sure which revision my Lancers are.
I just got 3 TangoDown ARC magazines to try out.
That’s exactly how I felt about them. I’ve never had any problems with them and they’re extremely durable, they just feel really fragile. I always find myself losing time during quick mag changes cause I’ll pull that thing out of my molle vest and for some reason stop because I think I’m gonna brake it or something. It distracts me from what I’m doing and makes me lose a couple seconds reloading. I know it sounds stupid, but it happens everytime I have it in my hand so I’ve just been sticking with my pmags.
Those things are freakin’ expensive to boot.
Edit: Now that I’m looking at prices for them I find that they’re not as expensive as when I bought them. Hmm…
The light weight is definitely a plus. Wear a full load of magazines and the reduced weight across 6-8 mags would be noticeable.
Please note that this is only geared towards those of you who buy your own mags with your own hard-earned money, not those who are issued mags by your employers.
Same here. I have 2 of them that I bought probably a year ago. They haven’t given me any problems, but I haven’t used them very often either. I just don’t like them… at all.
The followers are not anti-tilt, they feel flimsy as hell, and PMAGs are widely available so why buy them? PMAGs are combat proven and then some. No magazine will last forever, as ALL mags out there are disposable after so long. But why not get the one that has the best track record and is also one of the cheapest mags out there?
Pat Rogers sees hundreds of thousands of rounds go downrange each year in his classes, so I trust his word more than most. He recommends and runs PMAGs and Tango Down ARC mags. I personally don’t like the TD mags for the simple reason that it places the 28th round on the left side of the mag, as opposed to the right side. My Marine Corps Infantryman brain can’t handle that drastic change and basically overloads when I see that round on the left side. I also prefer the texture and ergonomics of the PMAG over the TD ARC mag. But both of those are purely personal preference issues, NOT anything to do with the quality of the TD ARC mags themselves, which is top-notch.
GI mags with Magpul followers are good to go as well, if you prefer the GI mags. I’ve got a few of them myself.
This is not a cheap shot at Lancer, either. If you already have some Lancer mags, I’m not saying you should get rid of them or anything. And if you really like them and want to buy more of them, hey more power to you and I think that’s great! I just don’t see a legitimate reason (i.e. function-wise) to buy them if you’re new to ARs and are in need of some magazines for your brand new AR15, when the best mags out there today (PMAGs) are readily available at an awesome price. I also feel that if you already own PMAGs, Tango Down ARC mags, or high-quality GI mags with anti-tilt followers, then you are taking a few steps back and essentially downgrading by purchasing and running Lancers.
Also, while at a Magpul Dynamics Carbine 1 course, Travis Haley was running a PMAG that he used in the first AOTTC DVD set… He told me that it has had over 100,000 rounds put through it. Just some more food for thought.
Semper Fi,
-Paul
I just bought 5 more Lancers from BCM @ 11.95 per about two months ago, so I don’t understand why anyone is avoiding them due to price.
I have 22 of the Lancer mags including 1 48 rounder. I have had zero problems with Lancer mags. Some of them are even the older green follower ones. 2 are 20 rounders. I’ve bought some won some and have been given some. They are good mags.
I use them and have had no problems. I also have a couple of Pmags and a bunch of USGI.
I bought 2 Lancer mags at Bravo about a month or two ago and gave it a try at the range. I ran into a weird “problem”.
I was sitting in a shooting bench sighting in my AR. Since the table platform of the bench was chest level, it was awkward for me to lift up the rifle with my right hand to give the mag a good whack with the left. So instead, I turned the rifle 90 degrees so that now the ejection port was facing down. This is all while I was sitting down.
I inserted the mag with my left hand and gave it a good whack to seat it in. Strangely enough a round popped out of the mag and fell out of the ejection port (bolt was locked back).
Other than that, the mags function.
i got 10 of the 20rdrs awhile back, and have tryed them in about half-dozen different rifles, all with excellent results. never had the first problem with the 30s either. my opinion is positive for lancers
Without having looked for them recently, I do recall retailers wanting ~$18-22 per mag. For this price, I would have went PMAG, but at PMAG price, GI mags were 2:1 over GI…
Checking prices this morning on magazines shows that $11-15 gets you a polymer mag…