Friday, March 18, 2005
MWG magazines
As Kevin mentioned a couple of days ago, the guys at MWG magazines are fast! The "blogazines" arrived in today's mail.
MWG 5 round AR-15 magazines
The mags seem to be quite well made. It appears that they are injection molded and then "machined" by hand to the final size. The front and back portions of both magazines show evidence of either a very fine file or a sandpaper block being used to remove excess material.
I tried them in 3 different AR-15's this evening.....one Bushmaster CAR upper / Ameetec lower, one Rock River Arms A2 upper / Ameetec lower, and one Rock River Arms A2 upper / Armalite lower. Both magazines operated the bolt hold open latch properly on all 3 rifles.
Both magazines dropped free of the Ameetec lowers when the mag release button was pressed, but only one mag would drop free from the Armalite lower. The other mag required a slight tug to free it from the Armalite lower after the mag release was pressed. I do not think this the fault of the magazine. The Armalite lower seems to be on the tight end of the scale for magazine well size. I have 40 USGI mags, and over half of them have had to be modified so that they will drop free from that particular lower.
Loading both magazines is a snap. The shells pop into place easily and without any binding of the follower. Unloading is also easy. The mags cannot be used with a GI stripper clip because there are no slots in the sides of the mag body for the stripper clip guide to snap into, but on a 5 round mag it's not that big a deal.
The only complaint so far is a minor cosmetic one: there is a small sprue on the front of each mag left over from the molding process. This sprue does not affect the operation or use of the magazine in any way. It wouldn't take much time to hit that sprue with the file or sandpaper used for the final sizing of the mags, and it would improve the overall look and feel of the unit. I know I'm being nitpicky, but I don't like my mags to snag on my shirt. I'm a "no sharp edges" kind of guy.
I'll take both mags and all 3 AR's to the range tomorrow ( sheesh...the sacrifices I make for you people) and try them out. If tomorrow is a typical range day there will be 10 to 15 other AR's on the line, and I intend to pass the MWG mags around like a sorority chick at a frat party. ( Hey! Watch it! This is a family blog! - Ed.) I'll try to get a list of the firearm manufacturer and type of ammo used by each person who tries the mags and put up a summary table of their reactions later this weekend.
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MWG 5 round AR-15 magazines
The mags seem to be quite well made. It appears that they are injection molded and then "machined" by hand to the final size. The front and back portions of both magazines show evidence of either a very fine file or a sandpaper block being used to remove excess material.
I tried them in 3 different AR-15's this evening.....one Bushmaster CAR upper / Ameetec lower, one Rock River Arms A2 upper / Ameetec lower, and one Rock River Arms A2 upper / Armalite lower. Both magazines operated the bolt hold open latch properly on all 3 rifles.
Both magazines dropped free of the Ameetec lowers when the mag release button was pressed, but only one mag would drop free from the Armalite lower. The other mag required a slight tug to free it from the Armalite lower after the mag release was pressed. I do not think this the fault of the magazine. The Armalite lower seems to be on the tight end of the scale for magazine well size. I have 40 USGI mags, and over half of them have had to be modified so that they will drop free from that particular lower.
Loading both magazines is a snap. The shells pop into place easily and without any binding of the follower. Unloading is also easy. The mags cannot be used with a GI stripper clip because there are no slots in the sides of the mag body for the stripper clip guide to snap into, but on a 5 round mag it's not that big a deal.
The only complaint so far is a minor cosmetic one: there is a small sprue on the front of each mag left over from the molding process. This sprue does not affect the operation or use of the magazine in any way. It wouldn't take much time to hit that sprue with the file or sandpaper used for the final sizing of the mags, and it would improve the overall look and feel of the unit. I know I'm being nitpicky, but I don't like my mags to snag on my shirt. I'm a "no sharp edges" kind of guy.
I'll take both mags and all 3 AR's to the range tomorrow ( sheesh...the sacrifices I make for you people) and try them out. If tomorrow is a typical range day there will be 10 to 15 other AR's on the line, and I intend to pass the MWG mags around like a sorority chick at a frat party. ( Hey! Watch it! This is a family blog! - Ed.) I'll try to get a list of the firearm manufacturer and type of ammo used by each person who tries the mags and put up a summary table of their reactions later this weekend.
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