My bud who is a Marine Reservist is going back to Iraq sometime this summer and he wanted me to ask around about Beta mags. Some of the guys in his unit were talking about buying some for their deployment and he wanted to get some no B.S. info.

1. Have you had or do you know anyone who has had any experiences with beta mags in Iraq or A-stan? If so what make and model?

2. Are these things just for fun at the range or are there any that can actually take a beating and keep feeding?

I have never used one and I told him that I have never heard many good things about them i.e. jamming and high maintenance, but I told him I would look into it anyway.

He will be reading this thread so any help will be appreciated.

They dont hold up well to rugged/abuse use and fully loaded are heavy if dismounted. Also expensive, go by some good 30rd mags get the new brown anti-tilt followers and high strength springs, better investment.

One need not subject them to rough handling in exotic vacation spots to know that they are toys.

The Army Safety Center sent out a "Safety of Use" message about 2-3 years ago that directed Army personnel to stop using all Beta mags including the "Improved" version as the "mean time between failure" rate was way to high. This includes stop using it in training as well. Meaning it failed to fire or broke way to often during Army testing.

I'll post the message if I can remember where I saved it.

I have no experience with Beta mags, however I do wonder why the U.S. military has such a problem with them if they were going to include them as a main part of the XM8 system and Germany and Spain and other users of the G36 use them as part of the LMG set up for that particular weapon.

I also remember the Army memorandum regarding their use, probly best to just buy good HK mags or stell mags with Mgpul followers and new springs rather than taking your chances on a Beta.

Steve

Quoted: 1. Have you had or do you know anyone who has had any experiences with beta mags in Iraq or A-stan? If so what make and model?

Only know of one person who used them in Iraq. It lasted less than four days for various reasons:
Too heavy for dismounted ops...
Must be unloaded, stripped down and cleaned daily or it turns into a jam-o-matic.....
The drum easily separates from the feed clip during anything that remotely resembles abuse (banging it against an object, jumping off a Hummer, etc..)

2. Are these things just for fun at the range or are there any that can actually take a beating and keep feeding?

They are a novelty, a toy to piss away rounds with at the range. There's a reason they are not used in combat.

I have never used one and I told him that I have never heard many good things about them i.e. jamming and high maintenance, but I told him I would look into it anyway.

I would highly recommend that he stick with the tried and true plain old 30rd magazine. Don't bet your life on a novelty item.....

Tell your  friend to learn how to reload quickly. What unit is he with? Does he need over 30 rounds at a time? Some guys in my unit have 40 round mags, they look like AK mags sort of. They seem to work fine and are not that much heavier fully loaded.

My experience has been with 2 seperate betas; both were less than stellar during ideal conditions.  No way I'd run one out here in the desert.

tag

i'm deployed to iraq right now and there is rarely a time you are ever gonna need to carry that big of a mag.  i'd say keep the beta mag back home and use the standard 30 rd mags, they'll do just fine

If you need that many rounds available in one mag, go req a SAW or a 240.

My friend says thanks for all the info. He said that he did not know anything about them and just wanted to know if anyone was using them or not.