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Murooka
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Posted: 6/21/2012 2:20:15 AM

THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Took the Hadar out today for zeroing and some range time. Had a chance to test out 2 mags I ordered from CTD. They are the 20 round .308 Galil magazines made by Promag. I think I paid $40-45 for each.

Out of the package they looked good. The body and floorplates themselves seem to be made from a standard milspec M14 magazine. It is all steel construction, and nicely powder coated or anodized flat black. There is a front lip and rear mag catch welded solidly on them, and when inserted into the magazine well they lock up tight with no play. The magazine lips have no sharp edges, and are shaped correctly. No markings are present anywhere.

I also own a converted M14 IMI mag. I compared the two, and other than the slightly different front lip and rear catch style, they are almost identical, and quality is comparable.

Loading it was relatively easy. No binding or tilt was present. It will actually hold 21 rounds, but I imagine if you want to load it into your Galil on a closed bolt, you'll have to keep it to 20. While firing both mags fully loaded on slow and rapid fire, I experienced no malfuctions due to the magazine whatsoever.

I did experience a disturbing amount of failure to fire malfunctions, and I believe it was due to improper storage and age of the ammuntion I was using. I think with the headstamp (TZ) it is Israeli. Dates were 80-82. Bullet is 150 gr. FMJBT. Many rounds displayed signs of tarnishing and discoloration, and in some cases cracked necks (did not fire those) or corrosion near the primer. Out of 45 rounds, I had about 9 that did not go off. To make sure it wasn't light primer strikes, I loaded them up again and tested each one a second time, still nothing. Don't know if it's just crap ammo, or improper storage before I bought it. It was purchased about 2 years ago on a gunbroker.com auction.

Hope this helps anyone who was thinking about pulling the trigger on the Promag Galil magazines. I was a bit skeptical at first that I would get much quality out of the brand, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised.
I got to jack off the dog just feed the goddamn cat, yep.
atblis
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Posted: 6/24/2012 8:20:49 AM
I would pull a bullet and see what the powder looks like. Perhaps it is starting to breakdown. I think Nitric acid is one of the byproducts.
sawed12
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Posted: 6/24/2012 2:49:37 PM
thanks for the info on the mags
flyer
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Posted: 7/9/2012 11:10:51 AM
I seem to remember reading that the 80s TZ ammo was dangerous to shoot. I think in either the m14 or FAL forums that it was one of the loadings listed not to use?
ARJ
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Posted: 7/24/2012 10:12:01 PM
I know the 1982 vintage is dangerous to shoot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/gunnerm1a/IMG_1298.jpg
Murooka
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Posted: 7/25/2012 9:29:40 PM
Originally Posted By ARJ:
I know the 1982 vintage is dangerous to shoot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/gunnerm1a/IMG_1298.jpg


Damn. Just read up on the TZ80, seems like bad juju. Looks like I'll be culling the TZ82 out of the batch too. Luckily, most of it is 79 and 81.
I suspect I had a ruptured case at the range a few weeks ago shooting it out of the 331. Lots of smoke coming out of the receiver, no damage or blowouts. I'm done shooting this stuff in my Galils. Feed it to my heathen M1A.
I got to jack off the dog just feed the goddamn cat, yep.