I liked the way the milsurp 20-round mags that I refinished turned out, so I bought a few more.

All of these, like the already refinished ones, have either Simmonds or Colt floorplates, and the UI stamp on the front of the mag body.

All of them, that is, except one. It came with a Simmonds floorplate, but it doesn't have the UI (or CH, depending on how you view it) stamp. Instead, it has a 1 inside a circle on the same side as the latch cutout, near the bottom edge.



I know that Simmonds and Colt are the same mag, made by the same supplier, Universal Industries.

What is the significance of this mark? Who made it and what name should be on the floorplate?

Also, this mag body has a much dark anodize underneath the moly. The UI stamped bodies are bright grey when you remove the moly coat, while this one is dark brown.

ETA: Except for the mark and the color, this mag body is physically indistinguishable from the rest. Looks like it was made on the same machine.

search through the retro forum.

IIRC, the question was asked maybe two weeks ago


found one thread

See page 379 "The Black Rifle"  It's an indicator mark for the 40rd. package coupler that joins 2 USGI 20's end to end.

Thanks for the links and that photo. I've never ventured into the "retro" forum since my rig is anything but.

This brings up another question though. What makes the circled 1 marked mags unique to the tandem clip?

I've looked it over carefully and I can find no physical differences between it and the UI marked bodies. As I said, they look like they were all made on the same machinery. They all have the same spring and follower, and the floorplates are interchangeable.

I can see no obvious reason that the tandem clip wouldn't work on any of the UI mags. Why does it need it's own mag?

Maybe the mark just signifies that they were issued with tandem clips...


Anyway, this is the best mag in the lot that I have, and will get primo status as my "show" mag.

Even though the rest of the refinished 20-rounders are my "bench" mags, they're all are kept loaded and could/would be pressed into service in a SHTF situation.

Thanks again,
Terry

I have no idea.  Good question.  Might have been a project that was never full fullfilled.

I have a bunch of those magazines.  I bet the coupler is very difficult to find!

. . . and a bad idea.

The first time you have one of these in your rifle and have to go prone because someone is shooting at you, the bottom mag, with the feed lips and exposed top (bottom?) round, will get jammed into the ground.  Same with any of these gimmicks.

FWIW; AFAIK; IMHO; YMMV; yadda, yadda, yadda.

Regards, Ed Mann

Bobby Bowden is doing a fine job - just leave him alone.

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