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Posted: 7/31/2003 5:03:14 PM EDT
[#1]
I'm not sure about your AR(15?), but I had to file the top of the mag catch holes on my grey parked England mags to stop my AR-180B's bolt carrier from ramming into the backs of the feed lips. Upon comparing them to some USGI 30s, I found that the mag catch holes were, on average, about 1mm lower on the Brit mags than on the USGIs.
I removed about 1mm from the top of the mag catch hole, and they work okay now. Only problem is that the overinsertion lip on the bottom of the hole is still too low by about 1mm. Thus, if I rest the rifle on the mag or apply any significant upward pressure, the bolt carrier will once again ram into the back of the feedlips. I am going to try some epoxy to build up the overinsertion lip to try and correct this. I'll post if I'm successful. |
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Posted: 7/31/2003 7:31:06 PM EDT
[#2]
The problem seems to be a follower with a longer center leg than the GF's. Thus they wouldn't engage with a full 30 round load.
Installing a GF (or one of ComputerGuy's Orange Followers) should cure it of this problem. It's the followers problem, not the mag. I would NOT recommend filing on these mags. HTH |
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Posted: 7/31/2003 9:16:04 PM EDT
[#3]
Thanks Corey. I need to get some green followers for some old GI mags I am refurbishing anyway, so I'll just pick up a few extra ones for my Brit mags. I'll see if that helps before making any alterations to the mag bodies.
-Charging Handle |
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Posted: 8/1/2003 1:16:47 PM EDT
[#4]
Some of the mags had out-of-spec mag catch holes. You could SEE the difference when comparing to a USGI aluminum mag. MOST of the Brit mags are fine in this respect, though.
I definitely recommend installing GFs, and buy a few Wolfe replacement springs in the event you have spring issues. I don't recommend replacing the springs "just because", but it's nice to have them on hand if you discover a mag giving you problems. -Troy |
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Posted: 8/1/2003 6:36:32 PM EDT
[#5]
I have about 25 of these mags, the blued ones, and 5 or so of the parked ones.
Ive used them in 3 different ar's with 0 problems. I've been waiting because of some of the posts i've seen here but so far they have worked great. I think I may like'em better than the USGI (Blasphemy, I know) despite the weight. |
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Posted: 8/2/2003 9:10:57 PM EDT
[#6]
I got one and only 29 rounds fit if you want to get it into you rifle. I need to change the follower. Anyway they are ok mags but I think stickinn to USGI is a better idea.
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Posted: 8/3/2003 4:06:46 PM EDT
[#7]
I measured the size of the mag catch holes on the six blued SA-80 mags (Imperial Defense) from CMMG. They are about .002" taller than some of my USGI mags, and the same as other USGI mags. The critical distance, from the top edge of the hole to the top of the feedlips (which detemines how the mags sit in the mag well) was exactly the same as my the USGI mags I was measuring. These are the mags that came with green followers already installed from CMMG.
This is for THESE MAGS ONLY. I have no experience with the parkerized SA-80 mags, those with blue-black followers, etc. Have not shot them at the range, but have filled them with 30 rounds (fine, no problemo), cycled by hand through several of my AR's. No problems. They drop free, also. I have no doubts these will give good performance. |
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Posted: 8/4/2003 8:53:47 PM EDT
[#8]
I have 21 of the steel grey ones,replaced followers to green have had them loaded full the last 4 months and on wed the 13th next week im unloading them by way of the rifle,I want to see how good the springs are that came with the mag see if I get any problems after being loaded this long and I agree they are heavier but tougher than the GI mags,very hard to squeeze the body unlike the aluminum.
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Posted: 8/7/2003 4:38:30 PM EDT
[#9]
I bought some of these back in May at the H-burg show. They seem to fire fine, but the problem I've found is that they will not load from stripper clips. I am going to switch to GF's and hope that cures it.
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Posted: 8/7/2003 8:25:43 PM EDT
[#10]
A_FREE_MAN, mine are all the grey parked mags. All of my mags had mag catch holes that were 1mm (+/- a fractional distance) too low. It may be that all of mine were like this because I bought them from someone on this board and he may have been unloading his 'bad' mags on me. [;)]
My mags no longer hang up the carrier in my AR-180B (which seems to be more sensitive to mag overinsertion than the AR-15) and the epoxy on the overinsertion lip even looks like it may hold up for a while, though I don't trust it yet as a permanent fix. It was worth a shot. Time will tell if it holds up or not. A couple of weld beads would be better, but as I've mentioned before, I don't have access to welding equipment or anyone with it. [:)] I think I may just have to get some of those blued England mags. P.S. Thanks a lot for the measurments! |
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Posted: 8/8/2003 3:27:07 PM EDT
[#11]
Well, AMMOMAN should have them in stock any
day now. Get on his mailing list if you want some. (I bet he beats EVERYBODY on price![:D]) |
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Posted: 8/8/2003 6:38:37 PM EDT
[#12]
FWIW I got a NIW package of 5 mags from Ammoman. They are the parkerized type, so they may not suffer from the non-spec mag catch holes.
I really like them. Particularly with ComputerGuy's pumpkin orange GF-spec followers. I thought it would be a nice touch for these mags. |
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Posted: 8/17/2003 10:07:10 PM EDT
[#13]
I use the SA80 magazines with no modifications and they work fine in my Bushmaster.
I did replace the black plastic followers with the green US type recently, but the stock black followers worked well enough. |
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Posted: 8/18/2003 8:02:47 AM EDT
[#14]
I'd purchased a lot of these 30rd mags, their gray finished.
All fit a function pefectly in my Bushy Ar2 shorty. I also purchsed some green followers, went to install these into my new 30rd mags & noticed the black followers looked exactly like the green followers. Im happy with these mags, fixed to order some more. [;)] TG |
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Posted: 8/18/2003 7:07:59 PM EDT
[#15]
A bunch of the black ones work just fine in my Armalite with no mods at all.
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Posted: 8/18/2003 8:44:53 PM EDT
[#16]
I bought five of the grey not to long ago and can't get three of them to work. I replaced the springs and the followers but I always get the same malfunction. Usually the bolt will run right across the top of the magazine and never pick up a round and if it does manage to pick one up the bolt ends up closing on it. I was just wondering if anyone out there had ever had this same trouble. The holes don't seem to be out of place on these three.
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Posted: 8/20/2003 10:30:58 PM EDT
[#17]
Quoted: I got one and only 29 rounds fit if you want to get it into you rifle. I need to change the follower. Anyway they are ok mags but I think stickinn to USGI is a better idea. My first brit mag did the [b]EXACT[/b] same thing.... It was impossible to load it to 30rnds AND then insert into the mag-well. Good news is, no need to change the follower! Just leave the mag loaded for a while (two days in my case, but others may take weeks), and double check that all of your primers are pushed all the way against the back of the mag as you load them. Keeping them loaded worked for my new brit mag, so I got three more this morning! |
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Posted: 8/21/2003 6:59:46 PM EDT
[#18]
TAKE THE NEW MAGS LOAD THEM WITH 30 ROUNDSAND LEAVE THEM SIT FOR A WEEK OR TWO. THEN BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THEM A THUNDERRANCH FOR A WEEK AND YOUR IN BUSINESS. I DROPED THEM IN THE GRAVEL, WALKED ON THEM, AND BASICLY DID THE COMBAT DEED AND THEY WORK WELL IN MY COLT, PWA, 180B, AND MY BUSHY. THE 180B WAS A CHALLANGE BECAUSE IT WAS NEW. THE COLT AND PWA I BOUGHT IN THE 80'S BEFORE THE BLEEDING HEART A--H---- PLAYED THERE GAMES. THE BUSHY WORKS WITH ANYTHING AMMO MAGS WHATEVER.
THE ENGLISH MAGS ARE SURPLUS COULD HAVE SAT FOR YEARS. COLT OR GI MAGS ARE THE BEST. WHEN YOU DO ALOT OF SHOOTING. SA-80 MAGS WORK GOOD AND AT 13.50 EACH YOU CANT LOOSE. THE MAGS ARE ALOT BETTER IN AR'S THEN THAT MESS THEY CALL AN SA-80 . DO NOT ALTER THEM, BREAK THEM IN |
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Posted: 8/21/2003 11:08:49 PM EDT
[#19]
Quoted: DO NOT ALTER THEM, BREAK THEM IN I will give that a shot then. [:D] |
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Posted: 8/22/2003 8:45:40 AM EDT
[#20]
Quoted: DO NOT ALTER THEM, BREAK THEM IN I second that. People always complain about SA80 Mags. I love them and can't get enough of them. So if you hate yours, please E-mail me to arrange your "donations"[naughty] All you got to do is love your mags back! He is your friend. treat him to a full load and leave him sit, he'll stretch out accordingly. Edited to add: wow! that last paragraph sounds really sick! LOL |
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Posted: 8/23/2003 6:39:09 PM EDT
[#21]
I have several of the royal ordinance grey phosphated ones. when I first started to load some up I could only get about 26rds in them before it became very difficult to load. I changed the followers to USGI GFs. all in all they are in my opinion an awesome deal. All of mine lock up nice and positive, after a few insertions as the finish is rough. The few I used all feed perfect.
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Posted: 9/5/2003 6:03:50 AM EDT
[#22]
I have twelve of the parkerized English mags, and only one would insert and lock in place in my SS DPMS lower with Tromix upper, loaded or empty. I had to remove about 1mm from the top of the mag catch hole in order for them to lock in. Four of the 12 will not drop free and had to have some filing done on the back and front of the mag to make them even think about coming out without a lot of tugging. They still don't drop free, but now only require a slight tug to remove them. All GI 30 mags that I have tried lock and drop free just fine. Two GI Adventureline mags did not drop free but they work fine in the Colt and Armalite, so I must conclude that my mag well is slightly tight. But even the tight mag well had nothing to do with the mags not locking in place.
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Posted: 9/5/2003 10:17:51 AM EDT
[#23]
Quoted: Quoted: DO NOT ALTER THEM, BREAK THEM IN I will give that a shot then. [:D] I just bought six of the blued Imperial Defense SA80 mags from ComputerGuy, with his orange followers installed. Five of them worked perfectly right out of the box. One would not seat & lock in with 30 rounds loaded, and when I ran the first 30 rounds through it I had one FTF. The ammo may have been at fault on the FTF, since it was '67 vintage USGI which had been stored for a long time under some uncertain conditions. The second time I tried that mag, it seated and fed perfectly with 30 rounds. I agree completely with 3GSHOOTER: Break them in and give them a chance before you start working on them. BTW, all of mine looked brand new, in plastic bags when I received them. If ComputerGuy gets some more, I will probably order again.... |
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