One of my fine gun industry friends gave me a Troy Industries BattleMag as a gift. I figured that I would look it over and share what I thought about it. I have noticed that Troy has been developing several new products and I have to say that other than their sights and TRX rails, I am not too familiar with them. I first noticed the packaging. I am kind of fond of the cheaper packaging to keep the price point down but Troy has a detailed instruction "booklet" with the mag so I guess the package has a dual purpose.
I won't get into my evolution of the types of magazines that I now have come to use but I have about 30 Pmags. I prefer to stipple my Pmags and the Troy has a "snakeskin" texture to them so I feel that it is unnecessary to stipple them.
In comparing overall outside attributes of the Troy BattleMag, it is much similar in size and width to a standard metal GI mag. It is definitely a 28 round mag as opposed to the 30 round Pmag.
Troy BattleMag is on the right:
The Troy BattleMag comes with its version of a magpul/bumper on the bottom of it. I think that it is a great idea but the "bumper" wasn't for me.
I changed it out to the standard floor plate and that leads to another difference with this mag. That floor plate is really attached! That was very hard to change so the fear of one of these floor plates coming loose is non existent. I think it is very well put together.
The feed lips are similar to the Pmag and do not have any metal reinforcement like the Lancer. I do not have any Lancer mags so I can't compare the two, but the plastic of the Troy BattleMag is thinner than the Pmag. There are different types and "recipes" for polymer so I can't say that either mag is stronger than the other.
The follower is green but that has nothing to do with the GI green follower. It is Troy's own design. It looks like it was very thought out and reliable.
The internal design of the mag body has a track that goes up the front center of the mag and the follower has a notch that mates with it so it doesn't tilt.
One part of the design that I really like is the plastic block just under the magazine catch area. It is very large and again well thought out. I can't tell you how many Pmags that I have rammed into the magwell and pushed the mag too far into the gun. This almost always results in a broken Pmag. There is no way this can happen with the Troy BattleMag.
I have added this ONE Troy BattleMag into my rotation of magazines for range work. I have used it during two classes that I have taught and several range trips and there has not been a single malfunction. This magazine has been through full 30 cycles, emergency and tactical reloads and set up for malfunction drills. Yes, I only have one and I would say that the one has about 300 rounds through it but it has worked flawlessly so far.
Will I change over all of my Pmags to Troy BattleMags? No.
Will I continue to use the Troy BattleMag and feel confident that it will perform to my expectations? Yes.
I definitely think that the Troy BattleMag is the answer for someone with a mag pouch that will not accommodate anything but metal GI mags. The Troy BattleMags will fit where the Pmags won't.
The Troy BattleMag adds another flavor to the magazine shop and I am confident that they will preform with the big boys.