Got my first order of L5 AWMs today from Botach so I thought Id give a quick review and compare them to a L5 and a Pmag.

Compared to the L5 I like that it has a more robust set of feedlips, polymer feels harder and doesnt give when pressing in the center of the mag, follower doesnt tilt, and the floorplate is easier to remove. But I dont like that they went to a hard polymer floorplate not the hard rubbery one.

Compared to the Pmag it feels just a tiny tiny bit more firm when pressing in the center of a empty mag. and the steel feedlips trump polymer. The floorplate on the Pmag has a larger button to be pushed in to take it off which is a plus in my book. The Pmag dust cover is also a plus to keep junk out of the mag. when not in use.

Some other things to note are that I had no issues locking the mag in with a closed bolt. Wasnt hard at all. I even loaded 31 rounds into one with the Striplula while loading and watching TV. Some idiot on Youtube has a video of the L5 angling the nose of the  bullet up when drawing the bolt back and saying how it would malfunction "every time" well he never let the bolt fly because yes they did that but the round would still feed! Anyway the AWM does not have that non issue. Nor does my L5 or AWMs let rounds fall out when smacking the bottom of the mag while upside down.

The only thing Im not sure about is how it will function really dirty. The follower is pretty tight in the mag body and Im not sure if this helps or hurts the mag. Either its good and wont allow junk to slip down into the mag body or its bad because junk could wedge the follower easier...thoughts?

IMHO.......Pmag=L5 but L5 AWM beats em both.

Thanks for the review. I've been wanting to get some of these and this put me over the edge to order some to try.

uh oh, now you've done it.  The PMAG fanatics are gonna chew this one up.

I agree with your opinion of the AMW though, I purchased a lot of them this year and my experience with them was pretty much exactly the same as yours.  I prefer the polymer bottom myself, as rubber tends to snag on things.  As such, the AMWs have become my favorite mag.

I've dirtied some of mine up pretty good, didn't have any issues with the follower binding, so I wouldn't worry about that.  I've abused some of mine pretty bad, and haven't had any problems out of them.

Good to know. I was going to to some testing on this but the soil here is red clay and wont be a problem for me. My wife probably has some potting soil I could put one in.

I am impressed with the 8 i have.  The new feed lips are more robust for sure.  The BOTACH deal of buy 3 get one did me in.  The have ran flawless in SCAR 16 without filing the rectangle out like original L5's.

I love Magpul gear, but the PMAG is outclassed by the AWM.

Thank you for posting, I picked up some (AWM) recently but have not made it to the range.

I recently saw a fail test in one of the publications on the new L5s, PMAGs, the Troy mags and the standard mil-spec mags. After literally being beat to Hell for a few hours, only the L5s and the PMAGs still functioned.  Personally, I have four PMAGs and nine of the new L5s.  I always questioned the stregnth of the L5s given how the polymer felt, especially compared to that of the PMAGs, but after that test I was pleasantly surprised. I love them. Never had an issue, except when trying to slap one in on a SCAR without locking back the bolt.  That said, the PMAGs won't lock either.

love my Lancer L5AWM.

dont worry about crud, if it will stop the AWM it will stop any other magazine for the AR-15 as well. also while the Pmag may have a bigger button on the floorplate the AWM can still be used with a bullet tip or shell.

one good thing is the new AWM wrap around steel feedlips, this will keep the back from splitting which happens in frozen and older PMAGS

Just went to put some of the AWM mags into a standard issue 3 mag shingle and the tops wont snap shut. The AWM is about 1/4" longer than a GI mag. Im gonna hit up a craft store for some bungie cord to install and cut the flaps off.

Got my second shipment from those who shall not be named.  There are 6 more in my vest that I didnt bother bringing out.

I just used 2 of the 8 AWM's I bought this morning.  One of the small square tabs that form the top-front of the magazine (by the tip of the cartridges) broke off.

This worries me because the piece is large enough to tie up the action.  The magazine did work perfecty with the piece missing though.

This has caused me enough concern that I would have trouble using these for anything but practice mags.

What were you doing? I just smacked one of mine on my vise 4 hard times with nothing but a dent in the molding?

That being said I dont see a purpose for the tab so you could hit it on a grinding wheel to knock it off.

Yeah I do like the Lancer mags the best so far. I'm glad someone finally came out with reliable clear mags for the M-16/AR-15 weapon family. I recently just started using 300BLK and the Lancer mags work great for it, while my P-mags are having issues with this new caliber... Of course both the Lancer and P-mags are both very reliable in 5.56mm and a great improvement over the older aluminum mags which were hit and miss on reliability. I mainly just like the ability to see how many rounds are in the mag easy like my Steyr AUG mags, very handy. The little P-mag windows just don't give you that instant ability to see exactly how many rounds are in there. And yeah the steel feed lips are a great design, no worries about leaving them fully loaded. I really don't care for the P-mag covers which I keep loosing.

I agree with that, the plastic is small and weaker than the rest of the top of the mag covered with steel.  It seems to serve no purpose and could be eliminated in future revisions.

I was simply handling the mag at the time the piece fell off.  Im sure it was a fluke since I see no history of this occuring.  I have a total of two hours experience training with these mags.

that little tab guides and helps kick up the round as its being stripped from the magazine, this helps with feeding. that said I have no idea how you noticed yours off. I have dropped multiple fully loaded mags on that part as well as several empty ones and ill I have gotten was some slight scratches there

Wile I have more P-mags then Lancers I greatly prefer the Lancer over the p-mag any day.  I only wish I had looked into them sooner, but I have no problem with the P-mags.  Price on the AWM is a bit high to get me to convert back over though.