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Posted: 12/9/2002 4:34:08 AM EDT
| WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS? ARE THEY WORTH $15.00? |
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$15 each? That's a little pricy for Orlites...unless they're completly unused and NIW, that's pricy. You should be able to find them for $10 or so each; I bought a pile a while ago at $10/each. For $15 you should be able to find used alumnium mags for it, old GI contract stuff. They won't be in the best of condition (probably need refinishing, more than likely need a new follower), but they work. |
| I bought up a bunch or Orlites a few years ago for practice and paid less than $10 each. But that was then and this is now. I haven't seen a Orlite for under $14 in a long time. I have had people bad mouth my Orlites and perhaps they are right. But I have never had the slightest problem and use them for practice. I'll save my USGI's with new innards for serious social occasions should they ever arise. A similar clip to the Orlite is the Canadian Thermold but troops call them Thermelts. After a lot of firing and after you have your '16 all hot, the Thermolds can't handle it. Orlites are reinforced up around the lip area with a steel mesh and I hear they do not melt. Orlites were made and used by the Israeli's. They found a problem with their usage under severe circumstances as they too have now switched to USGI mags. |
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I've had trouble with my Orlites - some of them have cracked, and some will not engage the bolt hold (maybe the springs are weak? - I dunno) I actually PREFER Thermold over USGI, and not had any problem (nor heard of any for non full-auto use), but I pretty much avoid Orlite now. |
| i know this is going to freak alot of people out that read this post ,but its the terrible truth. i ran 300 rds of WOLF AMMO thru 5 diffrent ORLITES with 100% reliability. i know that there is quite a few members on this board who will think this will be the heralds call to the end of the world. but facts are facts. |
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I believe the reason they garnered the "thermelt" title was that the canadian government skimped on the $$$ for the mags and a cheaper plastic was used. One that lent itself to melting under high temps. The type of plastic in the american manufactured one is different from the canadian mags. I own 10 Thermolds and have never had a problem with them. Did my reserve two weeks in JAN2001 in Curacao with the Royal Dutch Marines and a det from my unit. For the shooting components of the training we all went through about 14,000 rounds of .223 during CQB, dynamic shooting and the fam fire range in one day. Half of it went through the Dutch C-7s and their Thermold mags. Didn't see any FTFs, failures to snap into the magwell or jams. However, I did see A LOT or cracked feed lips. The effect of the cracked feed lip(s) was that at round 27 or 28 the mag would take no more and pop out the round you just put in. Many of these guys had been using the same 7 mags they were issued for years, under some very hostile field conditions. Their weapons cleaning was somewhat minimal. In the field the C-7s were frequently left on the ground oft times with the ejection port side down and open. Cleaning consisted of a CLP drenching and onto the racks the C-7s went. We cleaned for an hour and the Dutch looked at us like we were dopes. I've got no experience with Orlites, but if they work as well as the thermolds truly do, then i'd buy some too. www.ecis.com/~mraudio/FAQs/Mag_FAQ2.htm#3i |
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