Here's a really in-depth review with some expert photography and truly profound insight on my favorite AR-15 magazines. Oh yeah.
First up the Rev-M pmag.
You all know what a PMAG is. About $12 bucks at the cheapest without windows. Magpul, polymer, run over it with a sumo wrestler, last forever, etc. The thing I like about the Rev-M is the dust cover snaps to the bottom, so you don't lose it. The thing I don't like about it is that there's a dust cover that Magpul feels the need to provide you with, to ease pressure on the feed lips and prevent debris from making your ammo all funky. Thing is when I've got my mags stored I don't store them with debris, and in the "tactical" environment where you might get them dirty, who has the time to flip off a cover when you need to re-load? And last and probably least important, I can't seem to get stripper clips to really work with these polymer mags, as the little tool even with modification doesn't want to hold onto the grooves in the polymer and just rips them all up. Anyway besides that they're still pretty sweet.
Now the old regular style windowed Pmag.
This one's in OD-green. Matches my OD magpul furniture, and pretty close to my OD tuff-coat EA lower. Pretty spiffy. Now, this would be a Rev-M pmag, but because Magpul is slow to produce the colors and stores are slow to sell their old stock, when you order a new one you get the old one. That sucks. And the only places that actually ship the new Rev-M window OD pmags charge MSRP or close to it. I pity the fool who pays MSRP. Oh yeah, these dustcovers don't snap to the bottom, so the one for this mag in particular is long gone.
The window itself is pretty small. To me, it's pretty much useful only for seeing if the mag is loaded or not. Magpul put a orange line on one of the springs, which as the mag is unloaded will line up next to a number on the side of the mag (which is the same color as the mag), so you can tell how much is left when you can no longer see the first three or four rounds. I suppose this enables one in a battle to look down at the mag, put his reading glasses on, search for some orange line and try to figure out how much ammo is left. Not terribly useful, but still cooler than the windowless mags. I'm still unsure as to whether or not they're worth the extra four or five bucks per mag vs the standard ones.
Next up is the Lancer L5
Oh yeah Lancer L5. They're not the newest on the block, now replaced by the L5A. The L5 has a big rib on the side of the mag, essentially for structural support from what I can gather, as opposed to the new L5A which has a much flatter side. Supposedly this helps out the folks who put them next to each other in mag pouches and mag carriers. Maybe one day I'll be fancy and have a mag carrier, but now I just pick them up because they're quite a bit cheaper than the new ones.
What I really like about the Lancer is that it's translucent. You can see all of your beautiful ammo inside the mag. Awesome. I know this isn't really all that important, but the cool factor is pretty big in my book. Next up I like the steel feed lips. There's no worry of creep or spreading of weak plastic feed lips, and no need for covers to take the pressure off. The mags themselves feel every bit as durable as the polymer PMAG's, and I have not yet had a malfunction. Some folks are upset that the lancers do not feature an anti-tilt follower, but Lancer says that their mags "don't need anti-tilt followers." However, Lancer tells us that their next mags are going to feature anti-tilt followers. These marketing people really are full of some shits. But it's still a nice product. Oh and stripper clips work out great with these mags, must be the steel feed lips and grooves.
And here's the L5A
L5A, as said above, has a flat side. I'm sure someone could tell you some other great details as well. I notice nothing else except a higher pricetag. Maybe I'll pick some up once the price drops down.
And finally my last favorite mag, the C-products 40 rounder.
Normally I don't like these steel mags. I'm a child of the 80's, so I believe that plastics make it possible. But I picked up a couple of these for ten bucks a pop, they go on sale every once in awhile it seems. They're big and hold 40 rounds. That's a lot of rounds. It looks silly. But it's awesome. Only thing that I don't like about them is that they're pretty ridiculous to load into a magwell on a closed bolt. The PMAG's and Lancers click in with a firm press. These require a hard smack and even then I don't always know they're in there until I tug to check. But 40 rounds is worth it. Sure it's more difficult to "go prone," but who wants to lay down on the ground anyway. Most of y'all old folks might need help getting up after laying on the floor, and the height of these 40 round mags might make that a little bit easier to prop yourself up.
I'm so glad you read my thread and I'm sure you all feel very enlightened.
First up the Rev-M pmag.
You all know what a PMAG is. About $12 bucks at the cheapest without windows. Magpul, polymer, run over it with a sumo wrestler, last forever, etc. The thing I like about the Rev-M is the dust cover snaps to the bottom, so you don't lose it. The thing I don't like about it is that there's a dust cover that Magpul feels the need to provide you with, to ease pressure on the feed lips and prevent debris from making your ammo all funky. Thing is when I've got my mags stored I don't store them with debris, and in the "tactical" environment where you might get them dirty, who has the time to flip off a cover when you need to re-load? And last and probably least important, I can't seem to get stripper clips to really work with these polymer mags, as the little tool even with modification doesn't want to hold onto the grooves in the polymer and just rips them all up. Anyway besides that they're still pretty sweet.
Now the old regular style windowed Pmag.
This one's in OD-green. Matches my OD magpul furniture, and pretty close to my OD tuff-coat EA lower. Pretty spiffy. Now, this would be a Rev-M pmag, but because Magpul is slow to produce the colors and stores are slow to sell their old stock, when you order a new one you get the old one. That sucks. And the only places that actually ship the new Rev-M window OD pmags charge MSRP or close to it. I pity the fool who pays MSRP. Oh yeah, these dustcovers don't snap to the bottom, so the one for this mag in particular is long gone.
The window itself is pretty small. To me, it's pretty much useful only for seeing if the mag is loaded or not. Magpul put a orange line on one of the springs, which as the mag is unloaded will line up next to a number on the side of the mag (which is the same color as the mag), so you can tell how much is left when you can no longer see the first three or four rounds. I suppose this enables one in a battle to look down at the mag, put his reading glasses on, search for some orange line and try to figure out how much ammo is left. Not terribly useful, but still cooler than the windowless mags. I'm still unsure as to whether or not they're worth the extra four or five bucks per mag vs the standard ones.
Next up is the Lancer L5
Oh yeah Lancer L5. They're not the newest on the block, now replaced by the L5A. The L5 has a big rib on the side of the mag, essentially for structural support from what I can gather, as opposed to the new L5A which has a much flatter side. Supposedly this helps out the folks who put them next to each other in mag pouches and mag carriers. Maybe one day I'll be fancy and have a mag carrier, but now I just pick them up because they're quite a bit cheaper than the new ones.
What I really like about the Lancer is that it's translucent. You can see all of your beautiful ammo inside the mag. Awesome. I know this isn't really all that important, but the cool factor is pretty big in my book. Next up I like the steel feed lips. There's no worry of creep or spreading of weak plastic feed lips, and no need for covers to take the pressure off. The mags themselves feel every bit as durable as the polymer PMAG's, and I have not yet had a malfunction. Some folks are upset that the lancers do not feature an anti-tilt follower, but Lancer says that their mags "don't need anti-tilt followers." However, Lancer tells us that their next mags are going to feature anti-tilt followers. These marketing people really are full of some shits. But it's still a nice product. Oh and stripper clips work out great with these mags, must be the steel feed lips and grooves.
And here's the L5A
L5A, as said above, has a flat side. I'm sure someone could tell you some other great details as well. I notice nothing else except a higher pricetag. Maybe I'll pick some up once the price drops down.
And finally my last favorite mag, the C-products 40 rounder.
Normally I don't like these steel mags. I'm a child of the 80's, so I believe that plastics make it possible. But I picked up a couple of these for ten bucks a pop, they go on sale every once in awhile it seems. They're big and hold 40 rounds. That's a lot of rounds. It looks silly. But it's awesome. Only thing that I don't like about them is that they're pretty ridiculous to load into a magwell on a closed bolt. The PMAG's and Lancers click in with a firm press. These require a hard smack and even then I don't always know they're in there until I tug to check. But 40 rounds is worth it. Sure it's more difficult to "go prone," but who wants to lay down on the ground anyway. Most of y'all old folks might need help getting up after laying on the floor, and the height of these 40 round mags might make that a little bit easier to prop yourself up.
I'm so glad you read my thread and I'm sure you all feel very enlightened.
Last edited:
Maybe you should adjust your prefs or something.
