Anybody here do a lot of AR shooting?

[Jamisjockey]

I'm in for the pass  around, and I'll even do some torture testing (dropping full mag, etc) with it for grins.

[cordex]

Dick,
Besides the testing units do you have any for sale?

[mangle]

For the pass around, would you each mind keeping a rough tally of how many rounds through each one?  Perhaps number them to keep them separate?

As to the loaded dropping on the feed lips... If you do it enough times and just right, they'll eventually develop a crack along the spine (I'd be happy to explain why if there's interest), but they'll feed fine as long as you can insert it in the mag well before rounds pop out (with a really really big crack).

[Monkeyleg]

Will do, Mangle. This should be interesting. I'll get them out this week.

Cordex, I don't have any yet to sell. Just the samples that Mangle sent.

[freakazoid]

Are there 10 rounders for those of us stuck in California?

[MikeB]

...  I'd be very curious to see what happens with 300 blk.  ...

I have an upper for 300blk, for some reason ($$$ to smiles didn't quite seem worth it for the cost of 300blk) haven't put in on the lower with the fun switch yet. This sounds like a good reason to try that. 

[Boomhauer]

For the pass around, would you each mind keeping a rough tally of how many rounds through each one?  Perhaps number them to keep them separate?

As to the loaded dropping on the feed lips... If you do it enough times and just right, they'll eventually develop a crack along the spine (I'd be happy to explain why if there's interest), but they'll feed fine as long as you can insert it in the mag well before rounds pop out (with a really really big crack).

Yes, I'm going to keep a round count and we're going to mark the mags to keep them separate.

[Gewehr98]

I'm curious to see how they'll handle the sub-zero temps in my neck of the woods.

We're forecast for -11 degrees this coming Thursday.  Stuff likes to break at those temperatures, whether plastic or metal.  

[mangle]

No 10 rounders yet, unfortunately.  We'll start looking at that as well as 20s when the industry picks up again, but we have something completely different occupying our attention at the moment.

For 300BLK, I'm a little concerned about space in the front on the sides... There's a lot of margin there for a .223/5.56, but we didn't look at 300BLK when doing the initial design.  If they fit, I have little doubt they'll work.  

My little brother had them out in sub-zero temps a few days ago in Wisconsin and didn't have problems with a few hundred rounds, but I'd like to hear other reports.  We've left them loaded in trunks at temps between 105 and -15 without problems.

I'm quite excited to hear how they do when passed around.

*edit* People have had success shooting 5 rounds of 6.8 SPC at a time out of them, but I really can't recommend doing that, as the case is different.

[41magsnub]

We should try some 6.8 SPC too!

[Gewehr98]

Or 6.5 Grendel.

(Supposed to work fine with standard 5.56mm NATO mags)

[bedlamite]

Or 6.5 Grendel.

(Supposed to work fine with standard 5.56mm NATO mags)

You might want to double check that. You can only load a couple before it starts to jam. CPD makes Grendel specific mags if you need them.

[41magsnub]

Or 6.5 Grendel.

(Supposed to work fine with standard 5.56mm NATO mags)

[Gewehr98]

Poopstains.

I thought only the 6.8 SPC had to have special magazines, hence my tooling up for a 6.5 Grendel. 

Bummer.

[bedlamite]

Poopstains.

I thought only the 6.8 SPC had to have special magazines, hence my tooling up for a 6.5 Grendel. 

Bummer.

Nope, if you want a larger bullet in standard mags, check out the 6x45, 6.5TCU,or 300BO.

[RevDisk]

Recommended testing procedures:

1) Lead Cloud Tests- Fire lots of bullets, record results
2) Drop Tests - Loaded, unloaded dropping of magazines from recorded heights, and then fire.
3) Destructive Tests - Hit with a hammer, hit with a mallet, run over with a car, bullet through magazine, static weight on magazine, intentional cracking in various locations, etc
4) Heat Tests - Heat and fire until destruction
5) Cold Tests - Chill and fire until destruction

[lupinus]

I just aquired an AR earlier today. I'll be happy to add my name to the list and give them the FNG test 

[MechAg94]

I used one of those mags doing 5 shot groups Sunday.  No issues feeding.  It wasn't exactly a torture test though.  A couple weird things: it as a squared off follow on top and the first time I loaded it the first couple rounds didn't want to slide over to the correct side for staggered loading.  Just had to help it along a little.  Not an issue after first two rounds, just never noticed that before with other mags.  The other item is that back wall of the mag is a bit thick and I had to make sure to load the round forward and drag it back to the back of the mag as I loaded.  Neither issue is significant I felt, just different.  No feeding issues with light duty.  I coun't that as good for mags that were a good bit cheaper than magpul. 

[freakazoid]

No 10 rounders yet, unfortunately.  We'll start looking at that as well as 20s when the industry picks up again, but we have something completely different occupying our attention at the moment.

If possible it would be nice to have the 30 round bodies offered but have them converted on the inside to 10 rounds, and offer replacement springs to convert them back to standard size. That way people like me, I'm in the Navy and stationed in California, can use them legally here but when we travel back home to a free state or get stationed somewhere else we can turn them back into being able to hold 30 rounds. I believe the mag parts kits are no longer able to be sold here with everything together but you can simply order them seperately just fine.

[MechAg94]

I just like 20's because they are shorter and easier to shoot off a rest.  Reliable 40 rounders would be great also.

Thankfully, I don't have any legal issues to deal with here.

[mangle]

I used one of those mags doing 5 shot groups Sunday.  No issues feeding.  It wasn't exactly a torture test though.  A couple weird things: it as a squared off follow on top and the first time I loaded it the first couple rounds didn't want to slide over to the correct side for staggered loading.  Just had to help it along a little.  Not an issue after first two rounds, just never noticed that before with other mags. 
Something we'll look at.  I've never had the problem, but to be honest, most of the time I load them with a lula speed loader.

The other item is that back wall of the mag is a bit thick and I had to make sure to load the round forward and drag it back to the back of the mag as I loaded. 
Interesting.  I'm in the habit of tapping the mag on the spine after loading it with the speed loader, but we've tested extensively with the rounds pushed as far forward as they go with no effect on feeding.

Neither issue is significant I felt, just different.  No feeding issues with light duty.  I coun't that as good for mags that were a good bit cheaper than magpul. 

Awesome!  Thanks!  Please let me know if you ever do have a malfunction.

[MechAg94]

Take it for what it is worth.  I figured you would want to hear picky feedback.  Your mags functioned well.

I would buy your mag any day over the likes of Pro-Mag.  They set the bar pretty low IMO.  I still can't believe stores like Academy stock mags from that company.

[mangle]

Take it for what it is worth.  I figured you would want to hear picky feedback.  Your mags functioned well.

I would buy your mag any day over the likes of Pro-Mag.  They set the bar pretty low IMO.  I still can't believe stores like Academy stock mags from that company.

We're very happy to receive picky feedback.  Thanks for posting it.  The part about being able to capture the first round on either side is the kind of thing we'll make sure to address. 

And really... If you ever have a malfunction of any sort related to the magazine, a report on that would be quite valuable to me.

[Balog]

I'm in for the pass around, and I can do a .300blk test on it.

[41magsnub]

Update on my testing.

A couple of weeks ago I put 2 magazines of plain Jane knock off M193 through the loaner magazine Monkeyleg sent me and it worked fine.  The cold drove me away from the range.

Heading out tomorrow and will do a little more shooting.  Figured I'd try some 5.45x39.  I'm loading the magazine now, but was only able to get 21 rounds into it and the last 5 were very hard to load.  Feels like the magazine is trying to bulge a little, but it still fits in the magazine well.  Of course, it is not made for commie ammo so that is not a gig.

I'll shoot off the 21 rounds loaded, but probably won't try 5.45 again.  I have a bunch more .223 and 5.56 to take tomorrow.

Ultimately it will be tested through 3 different AR's - Stock Stag Arms, mix master lower with a BCM middy LW upper, and a mix master lower and a spikes 5.45 upper.