Update

Link fixed

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Combat lube, motor oil was the only lube used during the testing, straight from the engine.




6) Submurged for 2 mins. in muddy water then fired in M16A2. To replicate dropping a magazine
in muddy water and picking it up after engagment.




Multiple FTF here.
ELander- Flawless


USGI- Flawless


Gen3- (1) One FTF
The Gen3 had to be washed out multiple times so we could continue the testing because the follower would not load the rounds.

Gen2- Flawless



Troy- Multiple FTF, After second FTF, Oil was again added to rifle, and Troy was rinsed in
water multiple times to try and clear any dirt or mud out. After oil was added Troy
did not want to seat into the magwell. Countless FTF throughout test.



Lancer- Started fine, then FTF and follower got stuck in magazine. Follower fixed and GTG.

7) (25) Twenty Five foot toss followed by another (25) Twenty Five foot toss. Then test fired in M16A2.
To replicate tossing a magazine to a battle who is pinned down.Then fired from M16A2.

The Mapgul Gen2 w/ Window ejected (3) three rounds after landing on the ground after the
second throw.
No noticable new damage to any of the magazines.





8) Pressure test, pushing (220) Two Hundred and twenty pounds of body weight onto the magazine
while firing from an M16A2. To replicate firing from the hood of the USGI M1025 HMMWV while putting
your whole body weight into the magazine.


No, jams, or FTF for any magazine. GTG

9) The crush test with USGI M1025 HMMWV - Gross Vehicle Weight 10,300 pounds (4,672 kg), then test
fire in M16A2.To replicate dropping a magazine under fire while moving next to vehicle,
then picking magazine up and firing it.









Magpul Gen3:
No Damage

ELander suffered catastrophic damage. The steel bent in and only (4) rounds could be loaded into
the magazine. ELander was difficult to load, but once seated the ELander fed all (4) four rounds
from the magazine. The ELander had to be ripped free from the mag well.





The Troy Battlemag suffered a large crack in the side of the magazine, but fed all rounds and
functioned fine.





The USGI magazine suffered a small dent and fired all rounds except for the last (4) four
in the magazine.




The Magpul Gen2 with window suffered no noticable damage.




The Magpul Gen3 suffered no noticable damage.




The Lancer suffered no noticable damage.

All magazines were then loaded into the M249 SAW and test fired.
All magazines loaded into the M249 SAW fine but every magazine suffered a double feed.
The M249 SAW test was done just for jollies. I was always told the M249 would not
feed from a magazine loaded with blanks. This test was not part of the judging process.





All magazines were taken apart afterwords and inspected.

The ELander follower and spring could not be removed because of the dent in the side of the
magazine.

We couldnt get the Troy Battlemag disassembled..

All others were disassembled and no noticable damage inside the magazines, just extremely dirty.

First soldier's rating after the tests were completed.
1) Magpul Gen2
2) Lancer
3) Magpul Gen3
4) Brownells USGI with Tan follower
5) Troy
6) ELander


Second Soldier's Rating:
1) Magpul Gen2
2) Magpul Gen3
3) Lancer
4) Brownells USGI with Tan follower
5) ELander
6) Troy


Third Soldier's Rating:
1) Magpul Gen2
2) Lancer
3) Brownells USGI with Tan follower
4) Magpul Gen3
5) Troy
6) ELander


Final Evaluation:

The Magpul Gen2 Magazine was the unanimous winner after all the tests were said and done.
Collectivly the final determination was decided by these factors:

The Magpul Gen2 had the strenth, it felt solid, it past the muddy water test with no
need for another rinse to function, it had smooth magwell operation for seating loaded
and unloaded, and it was easy to take apart and clean. There was no major issues concerning
the Magpul Gen2's fuction and reliability throughout the tests.
The only issue brought up by the soldier's was better drainage for water.

ELander:
All Soldier's were suprised by the ELander during the tests. At the beginning of the test all
Soldier's were impressed by the overall quality of the ELander magazine. The strength of the
ELander turned out to be its downfall on the final test. Once dented by the M1025 there was no
saving the ELander. Prior to the final test the ELander was a top contender. The concern with
the ELander is the weight. Carrying (7) Seven fully loaded ELander magazines would start to
wear on any soldier after a while in full gear on multiple missions a day.

Lancer AWM:
All Solider's like the design and function of the Lancer AWM. We were a little turned off by the
quick damage, (bent and cracked the plastic infront of the metal feed lips) After the empty
drop test. But the crack didnt hinder the function of the magazine one bit. It held throughout
the tests and didnt crack anymore or break off. The Soldier's would like to see the metal wrapped
completely around the top of the magazine instead of stopping 3/4 of the way. This magazine was
also a top contender and probably would of edged out the Magpul Gen2 but the damage to the lip
kept it from doing so.

Brownells USGI w/ Tan Follwer:
You cant go wrong with the USGI magazines. They have withstood the test of time and multiple wars.
These magazines are simply awesome for what they are, a simple, cheap and affordable tough magazine.
All Soldier's agreed that these magazines need grip like the Lancer and Pmags.
Once wet these magazines get slick. Overall, these magazines are very good,

The Magpul Gen3:
This magazine had some trouble during the muddy water test where its older brother the Gen2 passed
with flying colors. The Gen3 had to be washed out multiple times so we could continue the testing.
All Soldier's liked the improved grip and texture. They liked the beefiness and toughness of
the Gen3, all Soldier's would of liked the Gen3 to stick with the longer follower the Gen2 had.


Troy Battlemag:
All Soldier's were pretty disappointed in this magazine. All agreed it felt cheap, like they were
going to break it. They didnt like the fact that to quickly take apart the magazine a tool was available
to buy extra. All other magazines disassembled quickly and easily. On the other hand we were all suprised that the Troy
Battlemag recieved quite a large crack in the side of the magazine during the crush test and fired
flawlessly afterwords.


Hope you all enjoyed the tests.

iasc300ia

Awesome Job. Thanks!

Nicely done.

Just curious, the brownells USGI mags usually say "brownells,Montezuma, IA on the side, and a date and cage code on the bottom side.  Can't seem to see those on the mag in your picture.

Thanks for the info

Lots of work, big props for that.

But blanks are know to cause failures. So the failure to feed or related faults i would not really blame the magazine.

Here is some better pictures for you. I didn't post all the pictures because there was over 400. I just picked the ones that worked best for detailing the test.
Let me know if you want to see any others.

Nice. I'm amazed the USGI mag held up to the running over when I've seen them turn to tin scrap ftom an F150 that probably weighs a third of that.

Thanks for the info!

Not sure what effect the blanks had on this test.  

Also, the ELander v the go mag dent when being run over seems to be more random chance than repeatable.

Thanks for doing this as its always entertaining to see how mags perform.

I agree.

anyway, thanks for sharing is always nice to see tests, pics and vids

I hope your chain of command is cool about this when they see it if they were't there

Nice, thanks for sharing.
 

Gosh, my chain of command would of thrown a shit fit if I did this. Especially if there aren't any NCOIC around. I'm only assuming since the shooter was E4.

Anyways, superb job! I kind of wish I saw this a day earlier when I bought me a Troy battlemag. Kind of dissapointed it didn't do well on your test. But like someone said earlier, blanks might of played a factor for the FTF. I hope so!

Solid review, thanks!

ATTN: <Edit. Bama> ever heard of Fruad, Waste, and Abuse? I'm guessing the 186th doesn't know about this...? Blurr your info out next time.

Awesome test! Reaffirmed what I thought about those magazines. Great Job!

???  My entire unit got stuck at Dix for 4 months 10 years ago at the start of OIF.  We spent a week at BAF coming home in NOV 2011.  The military pisses away more money in 1/1000th of a  second that this test will ever cost.

Great test, thanks!  For the truck/crush test, were the mags in the same spot for every test or were they lined up like in the picture?  Curious if there could have been a rock or harder spot or something under the mags that failed vs. the ones that didn't.  
On the Troy, it looks like the crimp was hanging up on the feed ramp.  I don't feel that would have happened if an actual bullet was seated in the mag.
I have also wondered about the little plastic piece on the Lancer.  I think it's designed in for a reason but feel it could have been less obtrusive.  It keeps the front of the follower from popping up too high out of the mag.  If there was less material, it might not be as strong and not able to absorb an impact as the one in your test did.  Good to know it didn't cause any problems though.

First of all, I am the Platoon Sergeant of the soldier's shown and I conducted the tests. As far as the threats and comments about the chain of command, and other things. Feel free to make assumptions and if you have any further issues with the tests I conducted feel free to PM me so I can set you straight.

These tests were conducted to push the magazines limits, not just do to the range and shoot rounds, but throw them around and abuse them.
All the magazines were owned and purchased by me, but I thought that was obvious.

I posted this information on here to assist others looking at these magazines and also because I thought it was interesting.

Quit dirtying up the thread with your bullshit about the Military, if you don't like or respect the Armed Forces, good for you.

The magazines were lined up in different spots in front of the tire. All larger rocks were moved prior to the test, but smaller ones remained. We were going to conduct the crush test with fully loaded magazines and empty magazines, but we figured the magazines would be fine fully loaded, so we went straight to the empty crush test.

Great review.

Excellent post, and thank you for commenting!

I completely agree on all the points you made and the previous post made about the Elander and the crush test. I have no doubts that if there were multiple Elander magazines available for the test that there would of been very minimal damage on the remaining Elander's like the others. Its was probably just a fluke rock that dented the Elander magazine, but unfortunately we only had one of each magazine to test. The Elander was a fantastic magazine, and like my previous comment said, it was a top contender and the only reason it scored so low was that it dented and we could only load 4 round, BUT those four rounds fed the rifle even with catastrophic damage, which is a big testament to the quality of the magazine!!!!

HUGE PROPS to Mako for providing a replacement Elander magazine!!!!

Thank you

Guys, please remember, take this test objectively!

We only had one of each magazine available for the test. If there was multiple magazine available. I have no doubt the results would of been different.

This was done with blanks as well, we all know that blanks function differently than live rounds, please take that into effect as well.

This test was done to TRY and replicate an engagement overseas, AND WE ALL KNOW that can not be replicated in the states.

These are all excellent magazines, and it took a lot of work to develop these magazines.

Maybe in Chicago.     Except the mags are probably banned there

Sir, thank you for your work - and service!

I find it ironic that some of the enlisted men's "top mag choices" were mags that had failure to feed issues from very basic realistic tests like the submerged test.

How do we know that???  I spent a year in Afghanistan.  Nothing special about there that can't be replicated here plus since this board is obsessed with "scientific" testing keep in mind that it is tough to be "scientific" when you are trying to not get killed. Yes combat is the ultimate proving ground but you are testing a box with a spring inside-hardly rocket science.

In my limited experience (15-20 mags) with a 249 every type of ammo and mag we had caused some sort of malfunction.

Awesome review, thanks so much for sharing guys.

I will post this for the people that have their panties in a twist about our test.

We did the tests we wanted to do and made our own choices and decisions about those tests we conducted.



We never once stated that any of these tests were scientific and that's quite obvious from the tests we conducted.

We did these test and decided to post on here, like I said because it was interesting, and because we wanted to share because we thought everyone would be interested in it. Should of figured some magazine fanboys would post, but that's ok.  



If you don't agree with our choices that fine, we made the choices because we wanted too from what we witnessed first hand.
You don't agree? Do your own tests.




I have spent over 26 months overseas in war zones as well, like my comment above said, when did I ever once say anything was scientific?

I think I made it quite clear why we did the tests.

That's why it says:
"All magazines were then loaded into the M249 SAW and test fired.
All magazines loaded into the M249 SAW fine but every magazine suffered a double feed.
The M249 SAW test was done just for jollies. I was always told the M249 would not
feed from a magazine loaded with blanks. This test was not part of the judging process."

Before the M249 pictures.

Thankyou for the great service to our country & thankyou for an awesome post on ar15.com

You didn't say it was scientific or not scientific.  I was simply referring to the criticism leveled at other similar tests on this board. All of the other similar tests here were attacked for being "unscientific" My point is that testing things here in the boring US of A is just as valid if not more so than "overseas" testing.

You did a good job.  Sorry some people try to elevate themselves by doing nothing, other then criticize the work you spent time and money to do and share.   I am smart enough to come to my own conclusions based on ALL info you provided, directly or indirectly.  I don't feel any need to point out the weakest or strongest points of your work to make myself feel important.  Furthermore, I'll admit like most other posters in this thread, I am sitting here in my undies (boxer briefs) and  have done nothing today.

Thank you for all that you do.

lol thanks buddy

I'm kinda confused.

This is the only negative thing I could find about the gen3 pmag during the entire test (after the water soak) was this fail to feed or fail to fire? Was it ammo related or gun related?

and yet it was rated lower than the gen2 by 2 or 3 spots at the end when the gen2 released live rounds everytime it was dropped?

Is there something I am missing?

Thats a good queston and I can see why you asked that after I reread what I typed under the muddy water test. I added in that comment what I typed in the Final Evaluation comments. So it is easier to understand.
Thank you for pointing that out.

The (1) FTF was Failure to Feed, and the Gen3 had to be washed out multiple times so we could continue the testing because the follower would not load the rounds. It was too gritty and a tiny rock was stopping the follower from raising.

The Gen2 was choosen over the Gen 3 because the Gen2 not once had a Failure to feed or jam in any way, we made the determination that we would rather lose 2-3 rounds if dropped to having to strip the mag and lose 30 rounds doing a magazine change.

Thats basicly the reason why.

Like the post above said, it would of been awesome to have more that one of each magazine to do the tests. I am sure the ELander would of been fine and the Gen3.

But from the tests conducted, with the magazines we had on hand, thats how our decisions were made.  

Thank you for the reply, that makes sense.

edit: I'm guessing that a pebble could get into the gen2 pmag just as easily and jam it up. The followers are pretty dang close to the same size.

Thanks for beating them up! Wanting to buy some lancers but might just buy more gen 2 pmags!

Jeez, no need to get all defensive.  I have done my own tests and have drawn my own conclusions.  I appreciate the tests you guys did, was just puzzled by their conclusions.