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AR-15 magazine life
7.62x39Lover
Member Posts: 3,939 ✭✭✭
Some guy on youtube says that all 30rd AR-15 magazine bodies warp at the top feed lip area after about 30 uses. Thereby, causing misfeeds, double feeds, and difficulty fitting into the rifle. Is this true? If so, are steel magazines any better.
Comments
quote:Originally posted by 7.62x39Lover
Some guy on youtube says that all 30rd AR-15 magazine bodies warp at the top feed lip area after about 30 uses. Thereby, causing misfeeds, double feeds, and difficulty fitting into the rifle. Is this true? If so, are steel magazines any better.
From my mil experiance, How long AR/M4/M16 mags is dependent upon how they are treated. The factor causing the most rejection is the magazine lips. Mag lips are damaged when they hit the well, they are dropped, or not protected in storage. I have never seen one damaged by heat from full auto fire.
IMHO, Magazines will last many hundreds of times as long as they are not abused.
EDIT:
quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
For example, I believe the original (ie Vietnam era) M16 magazines were made of thin aluminum and INTENDED to be disposable. But even those went away fairly quickly...True that it's lightweight magazines were originally viewed as disposable items, but USGI M16 magazine bodies have gone virtually unchanged since the AR10 waffle body design was dropped in the early 1960's.
I recall seeing some of the very early, original ('63-ish) USAF M16 magazines still stored away in their armories. The follower was different and they were only 20 rounders, but other than this and the floorplate stamping they seemed to be the exact same as any other USGI.
Maybe true for some aftermarket aluminum mags, but not the USGI items.
Pmags? Other polymer mags? Pmags have a dust cover that take the pressure off of the feed lips while loaded mag is in storage.
Some guy on youtube says that all 30rd AR-15 magazine bodies warp at the top feed lip area after about 30 uses. Thereby, causing misfeeds, double feeds, and difficulty fitting into the rifle. Is this true? If so, are steel magazines any better.
Wow then how have all mine lasted for over 30 years. Some of the stuff that comes out of peoples mouths is amazing.
Some guy on youtube says ...
Wow then how have all mine lasted for over 30 years. Some of the stuff that comes out of peoples mouths is amazing.
[/quote]
Roger that: YouTube posts are nothing to bank upon.
Some guy on youtube says that all 30rd AR-15 magazine bodies warp at the top feed lip area after about 30 uses. Thereby, causing misfeeds, double feeds, and difficulty fitting into the rifle. Is this true? If so, are steel magazines any better.
Is a "use" one round, one full magazine, or one "in and out" cycle through the gun?
Whichever is supposed to be the case, all three of these are empirically false.
Properly constructed AR-15 mags are like every other detachable semi-auto firearm magazine, and they should last through at LEAST several thousands of rounds, so long as they're not abused.
Obviously, magazines last through more than one loading (duh). They'll also run just fine after being inserted/removed 30 times. I and plenty of others have shot more than 900 rounds through individual AR-15 magazines without issues. The biggest thing is not to abuse the mags.
I don't doubt that there may be *SOME* (crappy) AR15/STANAG mags in the marketplace that may fail before 30 full load/discharge cycles. For example, I believe the original (ie Vietnam era) M16 magazines were made of thin aluminum and INTENDED to be disposable. But even those went away fairly quickly, and fragile mags are simply not the norm. Anyone who is interested in doing so can find quality mags that will last for thousands and thousands of rounds, and they're not even particularly expensive.
I have original colt AR15 mags that are 40 years old that work fine. I have much newer GI contract mags that volcano when you hit the bottom of a loaded mag so the feed lips are bad. As was stated, the treatment of the mags will almost always affect their longevity and there certainly is not a set " X-uses lifespan" of these things. Treat them well and watch for damage, and they will outlast you. Beat them up, drop them on concrete, etc.. and they will be useless the second time you use them.
(I personally don't trust P mags, I have 2 sitting on my desk that have split on the seam during training making them useless. Of course this is merely my experience, yours may vary. )