When I bought my first AR in the early 90's I picked up a 30 round mag to go with it.  I knew nothing about mags at the time and I just kind of grabbed one.  After I bought it, I noticed it had a slick finish that other mags I had seen did not.  That mag has always been and continues to be one of my best mags.  After I discovered this forum I learned that it has a Teflon finish.  I also learned that, surprise!  The floorplate says it's one of the dreaded Coopers!

HOWEVER!  Since the mag body has a baked Teflon finish, do I actually have a LaBelle in disguise?  Could it be that before I bought it, someone switched the floorplate?

BTW, before anyone asks, it has six welds on each side, not the notorious three.

probably just a swticharoo on the floorplates

The only Cooper I ever had had a very smooth enamel like finish unlike any other I've seen.  I think it could be described as "eflon like" regardless of its actual finish.  I'm pretty certain it was a Cooper's body because it only had three spot welds and was way too tight in the magazine well of all my AR15s.  I've been told that, despite their reputation and mil spec failures, their finish was second to none.

Quoted: The only Cooper I ever had had a very smooth enamel like finish unlike any other I've seen.  I think it could be described as "eflon like" regardless of its actual finish.  I'm pretty certain it was a Cooper's body because it only had three spot welds and was way too tight in the magazine well of all my AR15s.  I've been told that, despite their reputation and mil spec failures, their finish was second to none.

Cooper mags were good milspec mags. They found out (after Cooper lost their contract) that the follower design was the problem, and that is why mags now come with the green followers.

Quoted: Quoted: Cooper mags were good milspec mags. They found out (after Cooper lost their contract) that the follower design was the problem, and that is why mags now come with the green followers. Cooper made a bunch of crappy mags, including tens of thousands that only had 3 welds per side (vs the normal 6-8), and mags with way out-of-spec mag bodies.  Their own QC rejected the mags, but they sent 'em out anyway 'cause they didn't want to eat all that money.  It ended up costing them their USGI contract and resulted in the military ordering that all Cooper mags were to be turned in and destroyed. What you wrote is correct for SANCHEZ mags, not Coopers. -Troy

hey Troy how do you deal with all of the misinformed knowledge about mags, I cant stand it

Quoted: Quoted: Cooper mags were good milspec mags. They found out (after Cooper lost their contract) that the follower design was the problem, and that is why mags now come with the green followers. Cooper made a bunch of crappy mags, including tens of thousands that only had 3 welds per side (vs the normal 6-8), and mags with way out-of-spec mag bodies.  Their own QC rejected the mags, but they sent 'em out anyway 'cause they didn't want to eat all that money.  It ended up costing them their USGI contract and resulted in the military ordering that all Cooper mags were to be turned in and destroyed. What you wrote is correct for SANCHEZ mags, not Coopers. -Troy

The cooper mags that I've seen (it's only been a few) all had the normal welds, but they could have been any contractors body with a Cooper floorplate.

BTW Troy, if you do go ahead with that Mag FAQ, could you please dispell the rumor that USA mags suck?

Quoted: I know.  Hey, maybe I should write a FAQ about mags!  Yeah, that would solve the problem, dontcha think?   -Troy

maybe you should it would probably reduce the number of repeated questions here all the time