A noob wonders....

What is the consensus on steel vs. aluminum mags?

Is steel worth the ~50% higher price due to added durability?

Or is it better to buy 50% more of the relatively disposable aluminum mags?

Steel adds too much weight when you are carrying a full load.

That said, I have a few SA80 steel mags that make good range mags.
But for serious use, the NIW Aluminum USGIs get unwrapped and loaded.

The old "English" steel mags are considerably more heavy than C Products and so are the HK mags. With the C Products stainless mags you can tell the difference empty compared with empty aluminum, but it's very hard to tell the weight difference when both are loaded.  I'm still abusing my first production run C Products stainless mags and they're still problem free.  I'd say those first two early production ones have over a thousand rounds through them...


TS

My SA80 mags are very heavy.

I'll see if I can get them on a digital scale and see what the difference actually is.