Quoted:specifically with AR drums.
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Just remember that there are several different manufacturers of Korean magazines, all different factories with similar designs. Retailers in the US for some reason blur the lines between the makers, or don't even list the manufacturers, calling them "Asian military-grade manufacturer", etc.
KCI used to produce both the metal-back and clear-back 75 round drum mags. The metal-back ones were essentially the same as the Chinese design (and the "Romanian" design), but with much smaller spot welds. These came in plain-brown cardboard boxes with brown paper packaging. There are a couple of posters on ARFCOM who have detailed their experiences with these drums; BLUF, under heavy use some of the spot welds have popped.
Old KCI drum in the brown box:
Attached FileKCI USA only makes/sells the clear-back drums currently. They've changed the composition of the plastic back in the last couple years to be more flexible and less prone to cracking/breaking like the earlier versions. I don't have any of these, and I haven't paid attention to if anyone has been torture testing them. I do know that KCI USA was giving away a bunch of these drums to participants at Red October a couple years ago and there were a number of youtube reviews of them, but I don't know of any long-term follow-up reviews or anyone who is using them hard enough to know how durable they really are.
Current-sale KCI USA clear-back 75 round drum:
Attached File Attached FileRed, White, Blue (RWB) also makes a version of the metal-back Chinese/Romainian design drum, both in 75 round and 100 round versions. This is the one that is currently available from places like Classic Firearms and is in a full-color printed box (green colored box for the 75, red colored box for the 100). When comparing the RWB drum to the old KCI drum, it is evident that there are manufacturing differences between them even though it is essentially the same design. The RWB drum seems to have more robust welds than the old KCI metal-back drum, but I haven't seen any evidence of people destruction-testing them.
Current RWB 75-round drum green box:
Attached FileAlthough I own a bunch of the old KCI and new RWB 75 round drums, the only ones I've used are the old KCI metal-back drums. They don't seem as robust as the Chinese/Romanian ("Red Army Standard") drum, but I also haven't broken any of the welds on mine. I damaged the back on one when I dropped it, but I was able to hammer it back into shape with a peen hammer and a little bucking bar.
If I had the choice between the Romanian drum and the Korean drum, I'd take the Romanian. If I had to pick one of the Korean drums, I'd take the RWB.