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Posted: 5/10/2025 3:42:45 PM EDT
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I'm sure this question has been asked and answered before (I've been out of the loop for a while) and I went back all three pages to check if there was a recent one on the subject. So what might be the minimum round count through a mag to be 'reasonably' sure it's GTG for any upcoming apocalypse ? do a 5 round test when it's empty, and 5-10 when full ? run just 10 rounds through it a few times ? Load the full 30 through it one time ? It will be mostly 'generic' USGI mags, both aluminum and steel that I got some 20 years ago, and few gen 1 Pmags, and not so long ago I got a gen 3 40 round Pmag and a D60 (and I even have a Beta mag I never shot  )As the title says I don't want to spend a shit ton doing this (even 55 cents a round adds up) nor do I have much free time to just hang out at the range doing it. |
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| Like said above, get good mags, especially if you want to store them long term without testing. I'll buy other newer mags just to see what I think of them, but as for the bulk of my long term SHTF & pass down to kids mags, I stick with Lancer, Okay Surefeed (can still be found but not so cheap) or something similar then I also have a lot of the SHK steel Korean mfg. mags that Global Ordnance sells. The SHK don't come wrapped, but I have been gradually building up a stock of those along with Lancers & Okay's that I left in the wrappers. There are other companies that make good aluminum GI mags like C-Products, D&H, Brownell's, etc. So those are a good option too. I've always had problems with P-mags not being drop free, some people that doesn't bother them, but I just prefer one that will, so I don't buy them anymore. Otherwise I think they generally work fine & could be stored with confidence too. |
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| As said above just buy quality mags and give them a quick once over before putting into service. I have 25 or so Okay in service with about 100 in backup. I’ve built my kids to about the same. We will be fine. |
I can explain it to you but I cannot understand it for you.
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At the very least, I will check the mags follower for no binding ( from burrs or such internally ) A 1gal wooden paint stir stick, pushing the follower up and down... will show how smooth that function is. If desired a rattle can of DriFilm lube sprayed on the inside of the mag body and on the spring / follower... will make for smoother function. As for feeding... there is no better way to test them, than firing a full mag worth of your chosen ammo in your firearm. While it is time consuming... ( and costly ) consider it money and time well spent. You will be happy , you did so if they are ever needed. And as mentioned, don't cheap out on mags. |
*Hold on to your AR-15s. Their magic must be very powerful, or they wouldn’t want them.*
JAFOM.... Just another fat old man.
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TOGC,IADC
JAFOM.... Just another fat old man.
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TOGC,IADC
Joined:
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ND, USA
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Originally Posted By bfoosh06: At the very least, I will check the mags follower for no binding ( from burrs or such internally ) A 1gal wooden paint stir stick, pushing the follower up and down... will show how smooth that function is. If desired a rattle can of DriFilm lube sprayed on the inside of the mag body and on the spring / follower... will make for smoother function. As for feeding... there is no better way to test them, than firing a full mag worth of your chosen ammo in your firearm. While it is time consuming... ( and costly ) consider it money and time well spent. You will be happy , you did so if they are ever needed. And as mentioned, don't cheap out on mags. I've found the green GI toothbrush type cleaning brush works good for testing follower function too. I started using one for that as I was in when the army was starting to change out the black followers with the green (yeah I'm old) & wanted to see how they compared.
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Just a thought that popped into my head .... I've had mags that seemed to feed brass case ammo ok at first, but choked on steel case right away. I've never seen a mag that feeds steel case well, but chokes on brass case stuff. Maybe test with steel case ammo to try to see if there are any issues sooner. |
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Originally Posted By bfoosh06: As for feeding... there is no better way to test them, than firing a full mag worth of your chosen ammo in your firearm. While it is time consuming... ( and costly ) consider it money and time well spent. You will be happy , you did so if they are ever needed. And as mentioned, don't cheap out on mags. So here's a couple 'AAR's'. None of the mags I got are "cheep", they're all the big names/popular in the 2007-ish time frame (just bought a shit ton and stored them, the ban had recently lifted, and wasn't going through that shit again). Range trip one- Had my go-to mags fully loaded, and just shot 10 rounds from each (was also rechecking zero on my aimpoint) zero issues, but.... turns out the ones with ranger tabs would not seat on a closed bolt at all!!  They will seat with 28 rounds, so.....Range trip two- took just half my mags and ran them through with the full 30 rounds, zero issues, and proceeded to load with different amounts, again, no issues. In the mean time, while going through all my shit, I found the article I though I lost which was the genesis of this thread, it's from 12/31/2005 posted in the AR discussions forum titled How to function test mags and the question being--"Is there any reliable way to tell if a mag is going to function properly without actually shooting with it?" You can pretty much guess the replies, but one member did repost 'Armalite tech note #41, field testing a M16 rifle mags', in which part of the procedure was loading 4 rounds in the mag, shooting them, and repeating 9 more times. I do agree that you should at least test them fully loaded, but the amout I spent on ammo doing what I did was still holy shit batman level of 
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Gee.... From the instructions I was told here back in mid-April (about issues I was having with NEW Brownell Mags) ALL of you are.... incorrect. Seems that the in the know types do a complete tear down, inspection and reassembly of any/all (new/used) magazines prior to their use. Apparently that's the method of our military. |
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