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Posted: 5/1/2005 7:52:31 AM EDT
| I want to order some magazines from Ammoman. Is it worth it to pay the extra money for the teflon coating? What does the teflon coating do? |
The teflon coating is supposed to reduce the friction of the follower against the inside of the magazine. I assume it works; haven't compared any of mine against regular old aluminum mags to really know how true this is. In any case, they generally are *not* worth more, since there are tons of them out there; in comparison to USGI aluminum mags, the teflon coating is of dubious worth, i.e., the coating is a solution to a non-existant problem. Anyways, speaking of ammoman, I quit buying magazines from him when the magazine page reads "ON SALE" and he's jacked the price up damn near thirty dollars over the past two months (on Labelle mags)! You can find them way cheaper elsewhere...to teflon or not to teflon? Doesn't much matter either way. From a purely asthetic standpoint, teflon-coated magazines are prettier, though...
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For the most part like dullh said all the teflon coating does is make it a nicer finish. In my opinion you can not find a better mag than a NHMTG (OKAY Industries) mag especialy for how much they cost Eagle sells them for $14.00 here |
I have never heard of such a thing so I can't say if that is true or not, I don't really see how it would make a difference other than being a smoother surface but I don't have any problems wilth. my dry film mags dropping free either. My dry film mags, my painted mags and my teflon mags all drop free without any problems. The teflon making it stay drop free sounds like a BS selling stunt to me. Just out of curiosity, where did you here that? |
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It's about making the gun just a little more reliable. No you don't need it but it's just one more thing to help the overall reliability. If you use logic it would seem that the follower touching a slicker surface would make it drag less making it more reliable...especially if there is dirt inside the mag. |
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Check DSGArms.com Labelle (DH Ind.) Grey Teflon 30 rounders with green followers were $14.50 each for 10 qty. I have 20 of these and have put the magpul Enhanced followers in them (Sold the green ones for $1.25 each) ,and installed Magpul Ranger Plates. Absolutely the best mags available. And yes, anything that adds lubricity will function smoother and eject smoother. IF.....I was going to use them for repeated use, I would replace the springs with Wolffe Springs, but at $9.00 each, it's a little expensive for mags that will be loaded and stored. The factory springs will do just fine in this situation. And no.....leaving mags fully loaded does not shorten the life of the spring. repeated use does. Tack |
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The way I look at the teflon issue, it mostly comes down to aesthetics. I think the finish _might_ hold up a bit longer, but that's really negligible at best. I prefer the teflons because they look better, the finish is a bit nicer, and doesn't seem to stain as easily. Plus, they're so snuggly and smooth! lol. You can get teflons from several places for about the same price as regular USGI... about $12 each. Any place that is trying to charge you more than a few bucks extra just because it's "teflon" is just trying to rip you off. I personally like the D&H Industries grey teflon mags (formerly Labelle, they make mags for Bushmaster, DPMS, etc.) and upgrade them with magpul anti-tilt followers and slip on black magpuls. I actually liked the D&H teflons so much, I recently sold all 30 of my regular USGI mags to buy more D&H grey teflons... just waiting for DSG Arms or Bravo Company to get some back in stock so I can restock my mag supply with about 30 or 40... I feel naked with only 10 magazines, lol. I basically bought the USGI mags, used them for 10 years and sold them for the same price I paid ($10) at the local gunshow. If you aren't buying in bulk and don't care about paying a few bucks more, there are several places that have teflon mags already in stock. CDNN has Parsons grey teflons and black teflons (I am assuming D&H/Labelle/DPMS but they don't say) for $14.99, Copes Dist has some sorta banged up looking D&H black teflon mags for about $16 bucks. Several guys on the Equipment Exchange are selling teflon mags as well... I personally would stick with the grey D&H teflon mags as they seem to be of a bit better quality of late compared with D&H's black teflon. If you want just plain ol USGI mags several places have them for around $10. Ammunition Store has regular USGI mags for $10.95 or 10 or more for $9.95 which isn't bad at all. |
| Thanks for all the info. Those "plain ol USGI mags" that say MFG, how would you rate the quality on those? Do you think that they are as good as the LaBelle mags that ammoman has? Cause they are QUITE a bit cheaper. Then I could afford some stripper clips and bandoleers and ammo cans too, plus a couple more glock mags! |
You're talking about the mags at the link I posted? "MFG: New Military Spec"? Well, if they're milspec USGI manufacture as the website states, they are just as good as the Labelle mags. The teflon mags and regular dry moly mags are both USGI (USGI means US Government Issue), the only difference between the two is the finish. They are both milspec. I would call the Ammunition Store and ask them who makes these mags (Okay Industries, Sanchez, Adventure Line, Parsons, Center Industries, Cooper, Labelle are all USGI contract manufacturers). I have no reason to believe they _aren't_ USGI as they state, but since I have never ordered from them before, I'd prefer you call and verify. Most likely they will be a mix of manufacturers and not just one. Depending on the year made and who made them, some manufacterers are better than others. You should probably take a look at the Mag FAQ if you haven't already, it has some good information. At one point in the late 80s/early 90s some Cooper/Sanchez mags with black followers were recalled, but I haven't heard of anything like that happening since. As long as the USGI mags are new, you shouldn't have any problems. As far as I know, all current USGI contract mags are of good quality. So, unless you're buying used magazines, I wouldn't worry about picking one manufacturer over another. Some people do prefer one manufacturer or another, a lot of people like Okay Industries mags over others, but I never had trouble with any of them. I didn't mean to imply that I liked the D&H teflons so much more than my old USGI for some reliability issue. It's not that I sold my USGI mags because I was unhappy with their fit, function or reliability. I had all the brands I listed above in my collection. Some were even the dreaded old Sanchez/Cooper mags with black followers that I mentioned. I never had a problem with any of them. Even after 10+ years of fairly hard use, all my USGI mags functioned excellently. I just figured since the ban was over and I could get new mags for about the same price that I sold my old mags, I might as well. I had just ordered a set of 10 D&H teflons and decided I would replace my old mags with those. Before I ordered those D&H mags, I was planning on replacing the old mags with new, "plain ol" dry moly USGI from the Ammunition Store. At $9.95 for 10 or more, they are the cheapest I have seen lately. At one point, Tapco had a deal going, $7 each for new bulk packed USGI. Sadly, they no longer are offering it. (lol, at $7 each I would have been replacing my old mags with new _and_ making a $3 dollar profit) It really comes down to price and personal preference... any extra reliability gained from the "slick" coating inside the mag is pretty nominal and certainly not worth going out of your way for or paying anymore than a coupla bucks extra. The teflons _are_ nice, but as I said, I wouldn't go out of my way thinking they are a huge improvement over USGI. Point of fact, a lot of people _prefer_ standard dry moly USGI mags over teflon Labelles/D&H. It's all personal preference, really. So, in summary I would say unless the type of finish is a big deal to you, I wouldn't worry much. The regular USGI mags are very good quality and usually a few bucks cheaper. Just call Ammunition Store and make sure they are one of the manufacturers listed above and scoop up 10 of 'em. :D If you have your heart set on teflon finish mags, I would wait for DSG Arms (Grey D&H 10+ for $13.50each or 20+ for $12each, I believe) or Bravo Company (Grey D&H 10 for $12each) to get some back in stock and buy the teflons at a reasonable price. I don't know what ammoman is charging, but I assume it's not $12 bucks. Whichever type you settle on, teflon or dry moly, I wouldn't pay much more than about $10 or $12 for _any_ USGI mag. If you need the mags right away and don't wanna wait for DSG/Bravo to get some back in stock or plan on purchasing less than 10 mags, I'd go ahead and get the dry moly USGI mags and save the $4 or $5 more you'd pay just to get teflon. It's really not worth that much extra. By the way, I don't know what you are paying for Glock mags, but you should download CDNN's latest catalog. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view it, and you can get it here. They have all their Glock mags on sale starting at $12.99 for normal capacity Full Metal Lined drop free. (or as the liberal socialists like to say, "high" capacity) |
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Hey krdt, I just want to say thank you brother. AR15.com is the greatest thing that has ever happened to my knowledge of my favorite firearms. I think it is awesome how people are so great here and willing to take the time to spread their wisdom like you. Hopefully some day down the road I can help out some newb too. Haha. Thank you for everything. I really do appreciate it. I think that I am going to buy some of each probably, maybe fifteen from the ammunition store and then five or ten more teflons when DSG or Bravo get them in. I will definitely call the ammunition store first and find out who makes theirs. I noticed that they said MFG, I thought that maybe this had something to do with my colt mags which say MFG on them as well. I figured maybe whoever makes the mags that came with my AR in the box makes the ones ammunition store has. I will definitely call them and find out who makes the ones they have though. I bet once I read the mag faq I will know what MFG stands for! Again, thank you VERY MUCH. And thanks for the useful links as well. JC |
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You've definitely got the right idea... why decide between the two when you can get both, lol. As a wise man once told me, you can never have too many mags... or was that a one of the very convincing voices in my head... :\ According to DSG's thread on the EE, they expect to have some D&H grey teflons arriving during May. Hopefully within a week or two. I have my credit card armed and ready to do some damage. Another thing I think you might want to try are Magpul "anti-tilt" followers... which you can get from DSG for cheaper (in bulk) than from www.bizplaces.com/magpul/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=6144. They are an improvement over the standard USGI green followers. Not that the standard green followers are bad per se, not at all. The magpul anti-tilts are designed to extend the MTF (mean time to failure rate) of the standard USGI mag. The magpul anti-tilt design is based on the HK high reliability mags, which, according to Magpul, has an MTF rate roughly twice that of a regular USGI mag. The anti-tilts are designed to achieve nearly (80%) that level of reliability by simply changing the follower, rather than paying the silly high prices for an HK M4/M16 mag. I never had any complaints about the green followers or the old black ones for that matter. However, I have heard of some people getting jams in their D&H teflon mags using the green followers. I don't really know for sure, I swapped out the green followers for Magpul anti-tilts before I ever used my D&H teflon mags. You probably will be fine with the standard USGI green follower in the dry moly mags... I would definitely take them out and shoot them before I spent any extra money on anti-tilt followers. I installed the anti-tilts in my teflon mags because I figured I'd already sprung for the snazzy teflon, I might as well spend a little extra to have some snazzy top 'o line magazines with fancy anti-tilt followers and black magpuls (ranger plates were a bit _too_ fancy/expensive). I wasn't disappointed in the magpul anti-tilts at all... you really can't cause the follower to tilt and get stuck in the mag body and I haven't had a failure... yet. (there, I jinxed myself, lol) And you're welcome, by the by... glad to be of some help. I very much am glad for services like ar15.com, hkpro.com, sigforum.com, and others. In the past, new shooters or even experienced shooters wanting to learn about a new/unfamiliar weapon, were pretty much on their own for finding information. Granted, the majority of shooters are glad to help and I wouldn't say otherwise. On the other hand, many of them seem to forget they weren't born knowing all they know and everyone has been a beginner at some point. A lot of shooters can be very "clannish" and stand offish if someone doesn't fit their idea of what a "shooter" should be. I often wonder how many new shooters have been/are discouraged before they ever even get started. That is what I like about forums like this... people of all skill/knowledge levels can come together from all over the country and the world, and everyone is better for it. Now a new shooter can get online, and in half an hour get dozens of view points and different opinions, learn everything they wish to and more, and perhaps even a few non-shooters or even anti-gunners (yeah, right) will come away with a more informed and less ignorant/biased opinion about guns and gun owners. Well, I can hope, anyway. lol. |
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I'm waiting on the Teflon moly spray from Brownell's to arrive. Gonna re-finish some 20 round Colts. If they turn out nice, I'm thinking about shopping around for some beat up old USGI mag bodies and Teflon coat them as well. Anyone have any experience with Brownell's teflon spray? |
| No, but I had the same idea. As quickly as I sold my used USGI mags at the last gunshow for $10 each, I have no doubt I could sell refinished for $15. Considering what some people are selling for $15 or $20 I'd be doing them a favor. I was reading a refinishing guide the other day and it seems pretty straight forward. Someone was selling some Brownells teflon moly and said they had used it before... you might try asking them. |
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