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Posted: 3/31/2020 9:17:57 AM EDT
Magpul fanboy here that bought my very first Lancer a couple of months ago and loaded it to 28-29 and replaced another mag in my emergency "go to" stack.
I wanted to test the smoothness of feeding and extraction/ejection with hand cycling At 29 rounds, it would barely latch in, took a whack on the bottom but no audible click or feeling locked in. Then first green tp round aimed for the sky and would either drool out or jamming up between leaving the mag (it has a heavy spring so that's not the reason) Even downloaded, its like the lower hated it. In another M&P lower with a lighter S/A bcg in the upper, it feed and extracted/ejected fine, but it still didn't latch/ click right in as easily as Pmags do. Only latched and felt "Good" was with the bolts locked back. I expected more I guess, not for what many act like are royalty of mags when Pmags have never done this. Compared to Pmags, that Lancer fit tight in both magwells but on one, very tight fit, harder to latch in on both, plus those issues. It's like the aluminum portion was scrubbing the magwell walls, thought to lube it. M&P lower. |
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Lancers work 100% in my 6 5.56 AR's. They are my go to mags along with USGI aluminum mags.
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Steel magazines (including feed lips) will flex at a lower rate than polymer, making the polymer magazines seem easier to insert.
That said, have you tried adjusting your magazine catch? |
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Lately there have been several threads on here complaining about Lancers.
Lancer Fanboys are thick here though. I much prefers M3 PMAGs and USGI. |
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Quoted: Lately there have been several threads on here complaining about Lancers. Lancer Fanboys are thick here though. I much prefers M3 PMAGs and USGI. View Quote As someone mentioned, adjusting the mag catch. I may loosen it one turn. Also, I understand the top maybe being swollen. Maybe the inner lips need to be broken in to aid in the aluminum/paint not holding onto the rds so hard. Also, have you heard if it being feeding issues? It's as if the mag sits either too high/low, or not at the proper angle. It was recent and from Midway (or Brownells). FDE kind. |
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No problems here.... I own a dozen or 2 Lancer mags.
I also own 100-200 Pmags ?? |
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Quoted: Magpul fanboy here that bought my very first Lancer a couple of months ago and loaded it to 28-29 and replaced another mag in my emergency "go to" stack. I wanted to test the smoothness of feeding and extraction/ejection with hand cycling At 29 rounds, it would barely latch in, took a whack on the bottom but no audible click or feeling locked in. Then first green tp round aimed for the sky and would either drool out or jamming up between leaving the mag (it has a heavy spring so that's not the reason) Even downloaded, its like the lower hated it. In another M&P lower with a lighter S/A bcg in the upper, it feed and extracted/ejected fine, but it still didn't latch/ click right in as easily as Pmags do. Only latched and felt "Good" was with the bolts locked back. I expected more I guess, not for what many act like are royalty of mags when Pmags have never done this. Compared to Pmags, that Lancer fit tight in both magwells but on one, very tight fit, harder to latch in on both, plus those issues. It's like the aluminum portion was scrubbing the magwell walls, thought to lube it. M&P lower. View Quote I want a couple of the Lancer DPMS/SR25 style mags for my large frame AR because they look cool, but they are really expensive. |
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Quoted: Compared to Pmags, that Lancer fit tight in both magwells but on one, very tight fit, harder to latch in on both, plus those issues.1 View Quote My experience is the opposite. I have a cerakoted lower that won't drop free PMAGs (M3) but will drop Lancers. (It also won't drop HexMags or IMIs.) |
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Quoted: My experience is the opposite. I have a cerakoted lower that won't drop free PMAGs (M3) but will drop Lancers. (It also won't drop HexMags or IMIs.) View Quote My Defender lower has the stingiest magwell of all my guns, I had to weed out like 18 M2 and M3 Pmags in my collection due to mags not dropping free. I have 4 Lancers that fit with room to spare. (Actually, they fit about like USGI mags). |
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Lol,have at least 50 lancer mags,no problems whatsoever. Shoot you’re rifle then report back!
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In this thread I learned that Lancer AWMs have painted aluminum feed lips.
All this time I thought they were steel... I know the first 6 smoke clear Lancer mags that I bought had phosphated feed lips, but the second batch that I bought appear to have nitrided feed lips... Can't do either of those on aluminum I don't think. However, I did note that one of the mags from my newer batch of lancers were harder to get them to lock in on a closed bolt, I don't remember having that issue with the older ones. I couldn't even cycle the bolt back with the magazine locked in. I had to remove the mag, lock the bolt back, reinsert the mag, and send the bolt home with the bolt release. Weirdly the very first round failed to go fully into battery. This was with a Beretta ARX, I'll have to do further testing with this newer batch of Lancers to see if I keep getting the same weird issues. I've only tested one out of six of the newer Lancer mags so far, and I only used it the one time... So I'm not ready to blame the mags yet. |
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Quoted: Magpul fanboy here that bought my very first Lancer a couple of months ago and loaded it to 28-29 and replaced another mag in my emergency "go to" stack. I wanted to test the smoothness of feeding and extraction/ejection with hand cycling At 29 rounds, it would barely latch in, took a whack on the bottom but no audible click or feeling locked in. Then first green tp round aimed for the sky and would either drool out or jamming up between leaving the mag (it has a heavy spring so that's not the reason) Even downloaded, its like the lower hated it. In another M&P lower with a lighter S/A bcg in the upper, it feed and extracted/ejected fine, but it still didn't latch/ click right in as easily as Pmags do. Only latched and felt "Good" was with the bolts locked back. I expected more I guess, not for what many act like are royalty of mags when Pmags have never done this. Compared to Pmags, that Lancer fit tight in both magwells but on one, very tight fit, harder to latch in on both, plus those issues. It's like the aluminum portion was scrubbing the magwell walls, thought to lube it. M&P lower. View Quote It’s funny, all 87 of my lancers work fine. All my p mags too. |
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My Lancers , USGI & Pmags run 100% in
all my AR’s for thousands of rounds. I have had no magazine related issues. All my USGI magazines have Magpul followers I think I prefer my USGI magazines 2nd Lancer 3rd PMAG. All mine are Gen 2 |
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I have 6 of the translucent smoke Lancers. I for one think they are over priced. I prefer Okay Ind USGI mags and the steel Bulgarians. Not a fan of Pmags because I’ve witnessed too many split at the spine. I won’t buy anymore Lancers mainly because I just don’t like them, but I haven’t had the first issue with them. They lock into place with 30rd loaded without much force at all, just as easy as my Pmags, and I’ve not had any issues with feeding. It’s possible your AR is out of spec, or possibly the mag catch is at the very least. Do you have issues with any other types of mags?
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I will say that my sample size of 4 are a bitch to seat on a closed bolt when loaded to 30, same as my E2s.
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Quoted: Quoted: I will say that my sample size of 4 are a bitch to seat on a closed bolt when loaded to 30, same as my E2s. What year are they? Lancers? Early, I'd have to check. Edit: Mine are actually TSD Combat Systems TSD-15 M4 Magazines Look like Lancer L5s. My mistake. |
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Quoted: Lancers? Early, I'd have to check. Edit: Mine are actually TSD Combat Systems TSD-15 M4 Magazines Look like Lancer L5s. My mistake. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I will say that my sample size of 4 are a bitch to seat on a closed bolt when loaded to 30, same as my E2s. What year are they? Lancers? Early, I'd have to check. Edit: Mine are actually TSD Combat Systems TSD-15 M4 Magazines Look like Lancer L5s. My mistake. Interesting, I've never heard of those. They look exactly the same as the Lancers, I wonder how many believe that they have Lancer mags when they actually have the knock off version instead. |
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Quoted: Interesting, I've never heard of those. They look exactly the same as the Lancers, I wonder how many believe that they have Lancer mags when they actually have the knock off version instead. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I will say that my sample size of 4 are a bitch to seat on a closed bolt when loaded to 30, same as my E2s. What year are they? Lancers? Early, I'd have to check. Edit: Mine are actually TSD Combat Systems TSD-15 M4 Magazines Look like Lancer L5s. My mistake. Interesting, I've never heard of those. They look exactly the same as the Lancers, I wonder how many believe that they have Lancer mags when they actually have the knock off version instead. @556Cliff In all honesty I know very little about these. I'd say less "knockoff" and more "tweaked" version? (Although I'm not sure what changes?? Floorplates marked L5AWM. I've run ~100 rds through 2 of them issue free. Loaded them again and stashed them away. Some pics: Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File |
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Quoted: @556Cliff In all honesty I know very little about these. I'd say less "knockoff" and more "tweaked" version? (Although I'm not sure what changes?? Floorplates marked L5AWM. I've run ~100 rds through 2 of them issue free. Loaded them again and stashed them away. Some pics: https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160554_Gallery_jpg-1343817.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160545_Gallery_jpg-1343818.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160534_Gallery_jpg-1343819.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160518_Gallery_jpg-1343822.JPG View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I will say that my sample size of 4 are a bitch to seat on a closed bolt when loaded to 30, same as my E2s. What year are they? Lancers? Early, I'd have to check. Edit: Mine are actually TSD Combat Systems TSD-15 M4 Magazines Look like Lancer L5s. My mistake. Interesting, I've never heard of those. They look exactly the same as the Lancers, I wonder how many believe that they have Lancer mags when they actually have the knock off version instead. @556Cliff In all honesty I know very little about these. I'd say less "knockoff" and more "tweaked" version? (Although I'm not sure what changes?? Floorplates marked L5AWM. I've run ~100 rds through 2 of them issue free. Loaded them again and stashed them away. Some pics: https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160554_Gallery_jpg-1343817.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160545_Gallery_jpg-1343818.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160534_Gallery_jpg-1343819.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160518_Gallery_jpg-1343822.JPG So weird, is Lancer involved somehow with those? |
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Quoted: @556Cliff In all honesty I know very little about these. I'd say less "knockoff" and more "tweaked" version? (Although I'm not sure what changes?? Floorplates marked L5AWM. I've run ~100 rds through 2 of them issue free. Loaded them again and stashed them away. Some pics: https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160554_Gallery_jpg-1343817.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160545_Gallery_jpg-1343818.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160534_Gallery_jpg-1343819.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-160518_Gallery_jpg-1343822.JPG View Quote That’s crazy. Never heard of them. They must’ve subcontracted mags for Lancer at some point. Maybe during the last panic? Edit: looks like Lancer made them for TSD around the 2011-2014 timeframe. Rebranded Lancers. |
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Quoted: So weird, is Lancer involved somehow with those? View Quote Quoted: That’s crazy. Never heard of them. They must’ve subcontracted mags for Lancer at some point. Maybe during the last panic? View Quote Evidently the fruits of Gabe Suarez/TSD. (Doesn't seem to be a lot of love for the poor bastard). All info pretty much reads the same regardless of which board.... Attached File |
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Have you tried actually shooting it? And be sure to not ride the charging handle?
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Quoted: Evidently the fruits of Gabe Suarez/TSD. (Doesn't seem to be a lot of love for the poor bastard). All info pretty much reads the same regardless of which board.... https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200331-192512_Samsung_Inter-1344175.JPG View Quote Odd that I never heard about that, and I thought Lancer AWMs did have anti tilt followers, I never knew that was an issue. |
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Quoted: Odd that I never heard about that, and I thought Lancer AWMs did have anti tilt followers, I never knew that was an issue. View Quote Attached File Pmag follower/spring on left, Lancer on right. Looks anti-tilt to me, although not the "4-way" we are used to. |
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Quoted: https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/img_0216-tm-tfb_jpg-1344740.JPG Pmag follower/spring on left, Lancer on right. Looks anti-tilt to me, although not the "4-way" we are used to. View Quote Thanks for the comparison pic! I'd be interested to see a pic of your TSD magazine's followers. |
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OP here!
My problematic FDE one did fine in an M&P sport, but on a mil-spec spikes middie, it appears that it is sitting a tad too low in the magwell. Unless dropping the bolt onto the top round, when I'm doing fast hand cycling to test, it normally leaves every 3rd round tipping at an upwards angle and the rear of the round still in the mag. OR, Having the nose of a round pressing against an unextracted round in the chamber. I thought it may be the extractor as it hasn't been used much, but wondering if it was due to rearward drag on the top rounds of the mag that mag have kept it from leaving the chamber. When charging, they do not fly out like they should, it just drools them out until a jam happens. Even when only like 15-20 in it. No audible click like with pmags, it just locks by not being able to be pulled down anymore. When the bolt had a round partly leaving the mag, I pushed the bottom of the mag upward, and the bolt flew forward. I cycled after with the bottom being pushed down onto something (making it go in higher), and it did fine and ejected normal. Think I got a bad one, or likely the lower's specs? |
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Quoted: OP here! My problematic FDE one did fine in an M&P sport, but on a mil-spec spikes middie, it appears that it is sitting a tad too low in the magwell. Unless dropping the bolt onto the top round, when I'm doing fast hand cycling to test, it normally leaves every 3rd round tipping at an upwards angle and the rear of the round still in the mag. OR, Having the nose of a round pressing against an unextracted round in the chamber. I thought it may be the extractor as it hasn't been used much, but wondering if it was due to rearward drag on the top rounds of the mag that mag have kept it from leaving the chamber. When charging, they do not fly out like they should, it just drools them out until a jam happens. Even when only like 15-20 in it. No audible click like with pmags, it just locks by not being able to be pulled down anymore. When the bolt had a round partly leaving the mag, I pushed the bottom of the mag upward, and the bolt flew forward. I cycled after with the bottom being pushed down onto something (making it go in higher), and it did fine and ejected normal. Think I got a bad one, or likely the lower's specs? View Quote You should actually shoot with them rather than manually cycling them and guessing. |
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@556Cliff
Pics of the TSD guts. I see zero difference in these vs L5 AWMs other than external texturizing personally. Attached File Attached File Attached File Attached File The anti tilt is achieved via the channels interfacing with the follower. I'm throwing them in rotation with my other range mags and giving them some more love just to see. (I still prefer USGI aluminum above all). |
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Quoted: @556Cliff Pics of the TSD guts. I see zero difference in these vs L5 AWMs other than external texturizing personally. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200401-184617_Gallery_jpg-1345898.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200401-184602_Gallery_jpg-1345899.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200401-184633_Gallery_jpg-1345900.JPG https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/416992/Screenshot_20200401-184650_Gallery_jpg-1345901.JPG The anti tilt is achieved via the channels interfacing with the follower. I'm throwing them in rotation with my other range mags and giving them some more love just to see. (I still prefer USGI aluminum above all). View Quote Thanks for taking the pictures of those! Yep, the followers are the exact same. Really the only reason I like the Lancers is for the transparent mag body... It's just kinda cool. I don't see them as better than PMAGS at all, I really prefer PMAGS first and Okay's second. |
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Quoted: Thanks for taking the pictures of those! Yep, the followers are the exact same. Really the only reason I like the Lancers is for the transparent mag body... It's just kinda cool. I don't see them as better than PMAGS at all, I really prefer PMAGS first and Okay's second. View Quote Happy to share. Oh, and you/I would likely get along famously. Okay are my preferred, PMAGs second. Eta: Well...actually.... Okay Brownells PMAG |
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Quoted: Happy to share. Oh, and you/I would likely get along famously. Okay are my preferred, PMAGs second. Eta: Well...actually.... Okay Brownells PMAG View Quote I wouldn't doubt it, we tend to agree on most things AR related... And to tell the truth, I have more Okay mags than PMAGs. So I think I must like the Okay mags more on a subconscious level. I've never went out on the limb to try the Brownells mags yet. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I've never went out on the limb to try the Brownells mags yet. Great mags in my experience. I've wanted to try their straight 20s to see how they compare to the Okay straight 20s... I might put some of those in my next order with Brownells. I see that they got rid of their chrome silicon spring option, I always prefer stainless anyways. |
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Quoted: OP here! My problematic FDE one did fine in an M&P sport, but on a mil-spec spikes middie, it appears that it is sitting a tad too low in the magwell. Unless dropping the bolt onto the top round, when I'm doing fast hand cycling to test, it normally leaves every 3rd round tipping at an upwards angle and the rear of the round still in the mag. OR, Having the nose of a round pressing against an unextracted round in the chamber. I thought it may be the extractor as it hasn't been used much, but wondering if it was due to rearward drag on the top rounds of the mag that mag have kept it from leaving the chamber. When charging, they do not fly out like they should, it just drools them out until a jam happens. Even when only like 15-20 in it. No audible click like with pmags, it just locks by not being able to be pulled down anymore. When the bolt had a round partly leaving the mag, I pushed the bottom of the mag upward, and the bolt flew forward. I cycled after with the bottom being pushed down onto something (making it go in higher), and it did fine and ejected normal. Think I got a bad one, or likely the lower's specs? View Quote Hand cycling will bring about all sorts of random failures. Live fire will give you completely different results. |
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Quoted: I will say that my sample size of 4 are a bitch to seat on a closed bolt when loaded to 30, same as my E2s. View Quote That's been my experience too, and is my one misgiving about Lancers. They are like brand new GI mags when fully loaded, maybe even a little more difficult to seat. I'm sure they'll break in eventually, but it seems to be taking longer than typical GI mags. When I use the same amount of force that I would with a GI mag or PMAG, they fail to seat and will slide out. Add me to the list of people who had never heard of the TSD Combat Systems / Lancer magazines. Interesting. |
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It sounds like the overpowered spring might be the cause of all of those issues. The top round is being pressed so tightly against the feed lips that the bolt has a hard time overcoming the force of friction to push it out.
If you can, count the total number of spring coils and measure the wire diameter and overall spring length, and compare those figures to a different make. |
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Lancers are the only mags that didn't work well in any of my AR's, plus two random AR's at the gun range. That's a total of at least 6 different rifles these wouldn't function well in....
Four 30 round mags and one 10 round mag. Sent back to Lancer, they said they were just dirty and I need to clean them. Great, but I shoot my other magazines the same way, with the same dirt, never clean them, and they work just fine. My point isn't that Lancers are bad, the point is to check your equipment no matter the pedigree. |
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