The Gun Counter

Well, I finally bought an AR, so I need too many magazines now. It came with three: one Magpul and two with slick sides. All seem to work.

The Magpul is more fun to look at, seems sturdy, and can't be inserted upside down.

The slick side ones seem like they'd stack better.

Brownells has some on magazines sale: Magpul and slick side. Both have approximately equivalent ratings.

Which ones do I buy?

The Brownells mags are very good. If I'm correct, Brownells makes/created the current tan follower used by the military. I see these have a Magpul follower, which is just as good, maybe better.

Pick either if you want. Yes, Magpuls are a bit harder to fit in double mag pouches, if that's your thing. I'm becoming a bigger Lancer L5AWM magazine fan recently. Steel feed lips and a polymer body. Slimmer than Magpul. Made in my home state of Pennsylvania.

For the cheapest price, look to DSG Arms, they often go on sale for $89-99 for a 10 pack of Magpul mags.

FYI, most magazine failures that I saw were due to the old green followers. Once those were cycled out, the only danger was cracked welds or very deformed feed lips.

The Magpul mags come with dust covers that allow you to store the magazines loaded, while taking the spring pressure off the feed lips. That's a huge plus in my book for SHTF storage. I also like the windowed P-mags to be able to see how many rounds are left, not that I've ever been in a combat situation where I've needed to do so.

EDIT: note that the one you linked to doesn't come with dust covers. The gen 3 with windows on Brownells does.

If you go slick side, Palmetto State Armory is your friend..

Gunnuts wrote:If you go slick side, Palmetto State Armory is your friend..

I figured I'd better buy 4 of those just on principle.

Lancer.

Yes.

Seriously, they all work. I've broken both.

However, something to consider if you reload.
Heavy bullets seated out may be too long for the PMags.

There is an internal capacity difference. In favor of the GI mags.

Me, I run an old 20 round Colt mag in mine, with a hodgepodge mixture of all kinds to follow, all 30 rounders.

Weetabix wrote:

Gunnuts wrote:If you go slick side, Palmetto State Armory is your friend..

I figured I'd better buy 4 of those just on principle.

I went all out a while back and bought enough to fill an ammo can.

They are nice mags.

I have some PMags, too. Go all out and get a couple 40 rounders with a coupler.

Whirlibird wrote:However, something to consider if you reload.
Heavy bullets seated out may be too long for the PMags.

Any specifics on that? I've been loading nothing but 77gr SMK's to the COL in the Hornady manual (basically Mk262 specs) and never had a problem in my Pmags.

I've become a big fan of the Hexmags. Their first runs had some problems, but those have been worked out.

They are nice and "grippy". https://hexmag.com/