I did a search but couldn’t find anything to reference the numbers that are stamped on the magazines of my FN SCAR magazines and the “Hour Clock” looking symbol on my FN PS 90 magazines. I’ve noticed them but never thought about them. The SCAR 17’s numbers are stamped onto one side. The PS 90 has what looks like an “clock” on one side of the body. Does anyone know what these number’s or stamping’s represent?
If this has already been asked, I apologize for the question.
Many companies mark magazines with the date of manufacture, primarily for quality control purposes. I know Magpul does this with most Pmags. During the 1994-2004 federal “Assault weapons ban” it was legally required to mark magazines over 10 rds with the date of manufacture. That stopped being required in 2004, but I believe some companies continued doing it anyway. Others may do it solely for QC reasons unrelated to that expired law.
Date of manufacture
Used for quality control purposes to track if a bad lots is discovered, etc. Contains info like manufacture location, line #, shift, etc.
Date stamps are often used on molded products to identify when parts were molded and also the mold number or mold cavity that was used. Primarily a QC identifier for that industry. Most large injection molding companies have multiple dies on high volume parts to allow more than one machine to produce parts or to have a back-up mold if one has to go down for repair or maintenance.
Correct.
Say your mags have a quality issue. They don’t have to recall every mag on the planet. They are going to start right at that mold cavity and work out from there. Might also be a plastics issue, they should be keeping logs that cavities 1-4 used lot 123456 of this plastic during these dates.
Swiss Arms 55X and HK G36 magazines are similarly marked during the injection moulding process.