Can anyone tell me more about the old Ramline mags from the early 1990's? One came with a 1988 W. German P226 I bought. It was really light and held 18 vs 15rds, so I took it apart and noticed it uses a coil-style spring that unravels thus freeing up the space taken up by a coil-style spring allowing those three extra rounds to fit the body. I've never seen this design before and I'm curious why it isn't more popular (no I haven't shot the mag yet.)

More prone to kinking than a straight spring, which is supported everywhere by the walls of the magazine.

I never used one I would buy again.

I have two for my Browning HP, circa 1986 or so.
I never had any problems with them, but I don't run that gun very hard.

Have one for my Beretta 92.  It seems to work.  As I recall they had a spotty reputation but in the ban era any high cap was a good high cap.

I had a couple that I bought for my Ruger P89DC. When I bought them, I didn't know they had the clock work spring, I only knew that they advertised 18 rds and flush fit. IIRC, I bought them right before the "hi-cap mag ban" went into effect but after we all knew it was going into effect.

Overall, pure junk. I can't remember any time I actually got through a full magazine with them without some sort of malfunction. Put Ruger factory or MecGar mags in it and it was flawless. Put the Ram Line mags back in, malfs. I sold them later in the ban era to someone who wanted to tinker, fully disclosing the malf issues.

I also had a couple of polymer Ram Line AR15 mags that had the clock work spring that I bought the same time as the P89 mags. As with the P89 mags, pure junk and nothing but malfs. As with the Ruger, put in some good aluminum GI surplus mags, perfect reliability. Put the Ram Line mags in, malfs. These I still have, somewhere.

Give yours a try, what can it hurt? I'm thinking that mine were rushed to make the deadline for the mag ban, so maybe that's why they were junk. I have read that they work well for some, but poorly for most. Maybe you got a good one. Based on my experience and most of the things I have read, I wouldn't use them for serious work, but if it works, should make a decent range mag.

Bub75

Only Ramline mag I've ever had sucess with was for a 10/22.

My experiences with aftermarket in the run-up and ban era have made me the mag whore I am today.  I've got an 17rd Glock 17 mag in my safe with a 125$ pricetag on it... it was used at that price.
In handguns, the only 'aftermarket' brand I'll consider for anything but Glock and 1911's are Mec-Gar.  They're the OEM supplier for many different companies and I've never run across a useless Mec-Gar.

In Glock, I've had good luck with ETS and Magpul... but factory mags are cheap on sale, so I have a good pile of factory with a sprinkling of ETS and Magpul for giggles.
In 1911... each gun is somewhat particular.  I tend toward Chip McCormick and Wilson for 1911 mags as they work with my 1911's better than other makers I've tried.

Since the AWB sunset, I've stocked up.  I keep at least 10 factory mags for each pistol I own.  30 mags for each rifle minimum... with a pile of AR's in the safe you can imagine the AR mag bin I have.  I intend to never be in a position of lacking mags again... or paying through the nose for used mags.

Same story here.  S&W 6906, Taurus, and SIG 266 (all during the ban era).  Not my go-to mags but I've never had any trouble with them.  Prefer MEC-GAR in most instances today.

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like they are range-only mags. Still, they are a neat concept, and just for the fact they are lightweight and fit several more rounds in the magwell I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for cheap ramlines locally for my 9mm glocks, p226's and beretta 92fs.

Like another member has said, Mec-Gar is the only after market mag I would buy and they are pretty much making OEM mags for a lot of handgun makers now. I am of the mindset now of buy once,cry once. For me, I don't see the benefit of saving a few dollars for something that might work,unless your state has some kinf of limit to what you can own. I don't see a need for an aftermarket mag, besides Mec-Gar, for training only as I only train with what I am going to be carrying. But that is just me. I want to be able to train with what I carry so I know they should work.