DPB
02-14-2009, 22:07
This is purely for information. I have absolutely no connection to this or any other magazine manufacturer.
About two weeks ago, the manager of a local gun shop handed me a Lancer L5 magazine that he had been sent for T&E. Along with it, he said something to the effect of “next time you’re at the range, see if you can destroy this, we’re thinking of carrying them.”
So, last weekend, I and some similarly evil minded folks took the mag to the range and ran the following tests:
1. Mag was loaded with 30 rounds and all thirty were fired with no malfunctions. Fully loaded, the magazine could be inserted in all of the test rifles without excessive force.
2. Mag was loaded and dropped on the floorplate, on asphalt, ten times. Almost every time, one or two rounds popped out of the top, so we reinserted them and continued dropping. After ten drops, the mag was inserted into a rifle and fired with no malfunctions.
3. Mag was fully loaded and dropped on the feed lips ten times on asphalt. About drop five or six, the top rounds started to go parallel to each other. After the ten drops, this situation was fixed by pressing down on the rounds until they were back into their correct staggered position. The mag was loaded into a rifle and fired, again with no malfunctions.
4. Mag was again fully loaded, and placed under the right rear tire of my truck. I backed over it then pulled forward over it (again, on the asphalt.) The mag was picked up, put in a rifle, and, again, fired 30 times with no malfunctions. Granted, I have a Tacoma, and not an F350 or an H2, but we still ran over it.
5. Having failed to make the mag malfunction, and having failed to inflict any permanent damage except for some very minor cosmetic scratches, we loaded it up again. One of my fellow shooters went to the top of the old railroad cut that makes up the backstop for the range, and is about 60-70 feet high. He threw the magazine off the hill, probably another 10-15 feet into the air. The magazine hit the range surface, which is 4-6 inches of top soil over slate.
On hitting, the floorplate shot about eight feet away from the mag. The spring and follower popped out, and were a couple of inches away from the mag body. Four of the thirty rounds came out of the mag, and we found three of them.
We gathered up the pieces, and wiped off the rounds (and replaced the one we couldn’t find.) I took the parts of the magazine, rinsed them off in a puddle, and put them back together. We reloaded the mag, put in a rifle, and (wait for it) fired thirty rounds with no problems.
The magazine still has only very minor cosmetic damage, and I’m still using it as a training mag.
In the process of doing this, we used four different rifles, two LMTs, a Colt 6920, and a Colt SBR. Ammo was all new production (black box) Federal XM193 or ’90 head stamp Royal Arsenal Radway Green SS109 (Brit surplus).
Again, I have no affiliation with the Lancer company, and I understand that performing tests on a single magazine does not necessarily predict the performance of a larger test sample size. Based on these admittedly limited tests, if these mags are available at a competitive price, I believe that they are a viable alternative to others in current production, especially in light of the current availability issues with Pmags.
About two weeks ago, the manager of a local gun shop handed me a Lancer L5 magazine that he had been sent for T&E. Along with it, he said something to the effect of “next time you’re at the range, see if you can destroy this, we’re thinking of carrying them.”
So, last weekend, I and some similarly evil minded folks took the mag to the range and ran the following tests:
1. Mag was loaded with 30 rounds and all thirty were fired with no malfunctions. Fully loaded, the magazine could be inserted in all of the test rifles without excessive force.
2. Mag was loaded and dropped on the floorplate, on asphalt, ten times. Almost every time, one or two rounds popped out of the top, so we reinserted them and continued dropping. After ten drops, the mag was inserted into a rifle and fired with no malfunctions.
3. Mag was fully loaded and dropped on the feed lips ten times on asphalt. About drop five or six, the top rounds started to go parallel to each other. After the ten drops, this situation was fixed by pressing down on the rounds until they were back into their correct staggered position. The mag was loaded into a rifle and fired, again with no malfunctions.
4. Mag was again fully loaded, and placed under the right rear tire of my truck. I backed over it then pulled forward over it (again, on the asphalt.) The mag was picked up, put in a rifle, and, again, fired 30 times with no malfunctions. Granted, I have a Tacoma, and not an F350 or an H2, but we still ran over it.
5. Having failed to make the mag malfunction, and having failed to inflict any permanent damage except for some very minor cosmetic scratches, we loaded it up again. One of my fellow shooters went to the top of the old railroad cut that makes up the backstop for the range, and is about 60-70 feet high. He threw the magazine off the hill, probably another 10-15 feet into the air. The magazine hit the range surface, which is 4-6 inches of top soil over slate.
On hitting, the floorplate shot about eight feet away from the mag. The spring and follower popped out, and were a couple of inches away from the mag body. Four of the thirty rounds came out of the mag, and we found three of them.
We gathered up the pieces, and wiped off the rounds (and replaced the one we couldn’t find.) I took the parts of the magazine, rinsed them off in a puddle, and put them back together. We reloaded the mag, put in a rifle, and (wait for it) fired thirty rounds with no problems.
The magazine still has only very minor cosmetic damage, and I’m still using it as a training mag.
In the process of doing this, we used four different rifles, two LMTs, a Colt 6920, and a Colt SBR. Ammo was all new production (black box) Federal XM193 or ’90 head stamp Royal Arsenal Radway Green SS109 (Brit surplus).
Again, I have no affiliation with the Lancer company, and I understand that performing tests on a single magazine does not necessarily predict the performance of a larger test sample size. Based on these admittedly limited tests, if these mags are available at a competitive price, I believe that they are a viable alternative to others in current production, especially in light of the current availability issues with Pmags.