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Posted: 4/4/2009 1:28:23 PM EDT
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I got my first Lancer L5 today. I must say, it has been an "interesting" experience. My first reaction was "OMG OMG OMG It's a Lancer! Finally!" (I have been looking for a Lancer locally for some time now...) I then noticed the price... $22usd. Good price... considering shipping, a wait, etc. I might as well get it here. I then noticed the black followers... I thought Lancer had changed them to green to make people happy? Oh, well... I don't care what color the follower is. (My understanding is that they changed the color, since people have been trained not to get magazines with black followers...) I buy it. Upon inspection, I am quite pleased. It is not very "floppy" like I had heard... pretty sturdy, really. The rubberized floor plate is nice. It has a hole in it, which I assume is to allow water to escape. I start messing with the feed lips. They are rock solid on there... In addition, the thing looks good. It is much darker polymer than it appears to be in the pictures... I like that. I get the thing home and start to play around with it. The magazine fits into the magazine well, and drops free very nicely (Double Star Lower). The flange does not interfere at all. I then take it apart... disassembly confuses me at first... but when I figure it out, it is really easy. I had seen the date stamp earlier... a 2/09 production date. There is a second stamp though... It is a wheel, like the date stamp.... with numerical marking every 5 ticks for a 360 degree revolution of 30 ticks. Mine is one tick past the 15 mark... so "16". I don't know what this means. Upon inspection of the internal parts... I notice that the follower and floor plate also have date stamps... and they do not match the body. One is 1/09, the other is 12/08.... So this magazine has parts from a 3 months window... Peculiar, but no big deal. So, I reassemble the magazine, and decide to load it up. I get to 29 rounds.... and then have to push very hard to get number 30 to go in. I try to insert the fully loaded magazine into the rifle with closed bolt. It WILL NOT LOCK IN. I have the rifle upside down on the floor, the magazine in the well, and all of my weight trying to get it in... impossible to lock the magazine in the rifle. I remove the rifle and investigate.... the spring is not all the way compressed... I unload the magazine (which is very easy.... very smooth) and disassemble it again. I look at the parts, and conclude that the follower has been made too long. That central rod that is on USGI 30 round followers is the culprit... the thing is just too long, it won't let the cartridge stack compress against the bolt carrier. I get out a file... and file it down. I put it in the rifle... and with a bit of effort, it locks in place. I continue this until the stump is no longer making contact with the floor plate when fully loaded. (as best I can tell) It is still tough to lock in... harder than I would like. I conclude that in addition to the improperly made follower, the spring they use is quite a bit over-powered. I replace it with a worn USGI SS spring. Now it inserts with an acceptable amount of force... not too difficult. I load up the magazine again... and I get 29 round in.... and number 30 will not fit... can't force the thing in. I look at the spring... and it is gapping really funny. Normally, they are not fully compressed at the top... this spring has a gap in the middle... ? I take it apart after unloading. There is some sort of 3rd stump a normal USGI 30 rounder follower doesn't have... and the spring is catching on it. I get out the trusty file, and round ity off (it was quite square)... Now.... the magazine function perfectly.... after 3 modifications. My excitement has turned to disappointment. I will keep this... I like how it looks, and it works fine now from what I can tell. Aside from the minor modifications, it is a great magazine. Better than I had anticipated in many ways. |
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wow i have a bunch of these and can get all 30 in without a prob and while they are sometimes hard to seat in the rifle it is nothing a good hard whack wont solve
plus $22 iis a little bit much i was paying $17 and found them on other sites for $18 or so and i heard that the black follower is the newer style |
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Quoted:
So based on finger fucking it alone and not testing it by using it to feed and fire ammunition to break it in, you made it "work" by chopping on it and putting a lesser spring in it. Good job! C'mon, Lumpy. He wasn't just finger fucking, he was trying to load it and fit it into a rifle. Let's see . . . scary looking photo, dick in a land of pussies epigram . . . all that equals ATTITUDE! |
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Quoted: So based on finger fucking it alone and not testing it by using it to feed and fire ammunition to break it in, you made it "work" by chopping on it and putting a lesser spring in it. Good job! WTF?!?! The magazine would not fit in the rifle due to the follower being made too long.... the bottom of the follower is not even a wear point... how is it going to break in?  The follower design is such that it is very easy for the spring to become caught, and not allow a full 30 rounds to be loaded... should I have expected this thing to just "break in". True... the spring would likely wear down eventually... but why would I want to wait for that, when I could put in a spring now that will make it function how I want it to? I made no modification to either spring, so I can change it back later if this one is not strong enough. Freak out all over me why don't you? |
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Why would you not just down load one round and use the damn thing? I do that with every single USGI mag I own. Most folks do. My 4 lancers with black followers need to be downloaded by one as well. Not a big enough deal to start chopping on the mag.
This is the only major weakness I have found with this brand of mags. |
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Quoted: Why would you not just down load one round and use the damn thing? I do that with every single USGI mag I own. Most folks do. My 4 lancers with black followers need to be downloaded by one as well. Not a big enough deal to start chopping on the mag. This is the only major weakness I have found with this brand of mags. Because it is then an odd number of rounds.... and not even a good odd number like "25". "28" is also unacceptable... because it, too, is a funky number. It gets my OCD going really bad...  I have since converted it to a 31 round magazine, and download it by one... thus giving me a 30 round magazine that locks nicely. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Why would you not just down load one round and use the damn thing? I do that with every single USGI mag I own. Most folks do. My 4 lancers with black followers need to be downloaded by one as well. Not a big enough deal to start chopping on the mag. This is the only major weakness I have found with this brand of mags. Because it is then an odd number of rounds.... and not even a good odd number like "25". "28" is also unacceptable... because it, too, is a funky number. It gets my OCD going really bad...
I have since converted it to a 31 round magazine, and download it by one... thus giving me a 30 round magazine that locks nicely. Is it bad that I totally understand? All of my lancers will take 30 rds., but will not insert with the bolt closed. |
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