Recently I bought four more US made Thermold 30 rounders to bring my Thermold total up to about 20. I was pretty pleased with myself...until I starting reading about them here. Needless to say I wasn't very happy. My father is the chief of a small NH PD and one or both of my preban Colt HBARs are loaned to his department frequently. Because of this I'm now reluctant to loan him the Colts with Thermold mags due to reliability concerns with hard use.

I'd like to buy 20 UK SA80 30 rounders but which ones should I buy? I've looked through the archives here and I see basically two versions-one being a gray parkerized mag and one a black (blued?) mag. It looks like diferent operators have had varied results with each.

Do I need to replace the follower or spring on the "new" English mags, or is the standard follower and spring reliable?

I'm not sure if it matters, but these mags will be used not only in my two preban Colt 6601 Sporter HBARs but also a new postban Colt 6400C M4 carbine as well. The M4 hasn't arrived yet so I don't know if the magwell is going to be tighter or looser than the other two.

Thanks in advance for your help. Until I get this sorted out I'll loan out the ARs with USGI 20 and 30 rounders.

PS-Are my Thermold mags worth anything? I'm thinking about keeping eight for range use and selling off a dozen or so. It kind of ticks me off that I just paid $24.95ea for four new ones-but live and learn I guess.

I only have a couple of Thermolds (literally) and I use them for 'play' down at the range.  If you're paying that much for them, you can easily get new USGI here on the Equipment Exchange for that much (I did).  You could have done a lot worse.  You could have bought the POS USA mags. LOL

The only experience I have with SA80 steel mags are the ones sold by Ammoman.com.  He had them a while back and now they're here again.  I think they are very good mags.  I still like USGI better, but he is selling them for a very reasonable price (?$270 for 20) and I would pick some up over the Thermolds.  I didn't replace the springs, but I replaced all the followers with the (light) green ones.  I'm not certain of the differences between the two types of British mags.  I have a Colt Sporter and an Armalite and the mags fit well in both.

You could try buying 5 first and see if you like the British mags.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  
 
 

Get some real mags!  Get some decent USGI 20rnds!

I do have plenty of 20 rounders. I'm not sure how decent they are though. They say:

COLT AR-15
CAL. 223
COLT'S PT. F.A.MFG. CO. INC
HARTFORD, CONN. U.S.A.

I've got a couple dozen of them. Some of them look like hell but still function perfectly. I need to buy one of those spring/follower/permasilk restoration kits and clean them up. I usually use the 20s for range work, and keep the 30s loaded and stored in ammo cans.

C-4, thank you for sharing your insight [:)]

Edit: I just looked at a few of my 20 rounders and some of them say 5.56mm instead of 223.

Do all of the .223 ones have plastic followers?

Actually they have metal followers. They function fine but after reading through this forum I should probably drop in some green ones.

Standard green followers are for 30 round USGI mags, not 20's (although they can be modified to fit 30's).  There is no need to swap out the alloy followers on your 20 round mags unless they are cracked or damaged in some way.  

Get you some Labelles or Sanchez Aluminum Mags, but for godness sake don't get them Teflon Coated or they will not be Military Spec.[rolleyes]
Ah just kidding the Miltiary Spec. Mags with the Teflon coating will give you a better and longer life. If you get the steel Mags wet or damp you are asking for trouble.
Just my .01 cent worth.[:D]

Oh [:)]

Thanks for saving me some money then. Most of the alloy followers in my 20 rounders look fine, although a couple of them are pretty beat up. Any advice on what I should use to replace them?

Thanks again!! And thank you nwatson for your help too.

I've had absolutely ZERO problems with both Thermolds and the English steel mags.  That said, I'd get the English steel because they hold their shape much better than either the thermolds or the USGI mags, particularly in the feed lips.