[url]http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3606026719&category=36257[/url]

they were not made in great quantities.  Meaning RARE.  RARE meaning expensive.

I see one bidder whose name is 'raffica'!

I wonder if that's the same 'raffica' as used to write for Machine Gun News?

What was his real name?

Eric The(Inquisitive)Hun[>]:)]

Supply and demand.  They used to be $5 each.  I bought 30 of them at that price in the early 80's when I owned an original Armalite AR-10 that took them.  Up until the SR-25 came out, there wasn't much of a market for them.  The HAC-7 is the only gun I can think of that used it.  

So back when there wasn't much of a market, they were dirt cheap.  The mag ban changed all that quick.  Once anyone with a SR-25 realized that the ONLY hi-caps were going to be the waffles, they got bought up (at the very low prices it was easy to do) and now they are gone. Since there aren't any available, the price has shot up.  The fact that it goes to a high ticket item like an SR-25 seems to add a few bucks to it as well.  If you're willing to spend that kinda dough on a rifle, you'll spend on a magazine as well.

I ran across one of the $5 AR-10 mags I had left over when I sold the Armalite set-up long ago.  I put it on the sale forum over at Knight's website and it was sold for $80 in a day.  

As a magazine, they really aren't all that hot.  They are very thin aluminum, and they break the feed lips pretty easy.  Hey, when they were only $5 it didn't matter, but they are now the perfect example of paying WAY TOO MUCH for what you're getting.  Alas, that's the way pricing works though.  Supply and demand.

Ross

I've bought many eBay "10-rounders" that looked shockingly similar to 30-round USGI magazines. Funny how that is.

That's not an AR10 mag. It's a very early AR15 mag, and I seriously doubt you've ever even seen 30 of them in one place unless you worked at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in the small arms shop in the early 1960's.
Most of these mags were destroyed because they had reliability issues. They are now as rare as the proverbial "hen's teeth".
They are for the rabid collector who simply must have that unobtainable mag. And it's an investment, since there will never be any more made, AWB or not.  No, I won't be bidding!

On another note, if you have one, could you take some good pics of it and send them to Troy for his mag FAQ? I think he needs some good waffle mag pics.

Here's mine- Pic quality is not so good, but you get the idea.

[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/IG_LoadImage.asp?iImageUnq=11591[/img]

[img]http://photos.ar15.com/ImageGallery/IG_LoadImage.asp?iImageUnq=11592[/img]



[8d]

Collectors of authentic early AR15s are not a cheap hobby.

Because there's always a dumbass!!!

... sometimes known as the Greater Fool Theory.

[b]From Troy's Mag FAQ ;[/b]

The original AR-15 magazines were made by ArmaLite, the company responsible for the design of the AR-10 and AR-15 rifles, among others.
They were aluminum, 20-round magazines and had waffle-pattern ridges, though later examples had only the vertical ridges. These mags are very
rare, and are generally collectors' items. Floorplates were stamped:

ArmaLite(r) AR-15
Patents Pending
CAL. 223
COLT'S PT.F.A.MFG.CO.INC.
HARTFORD, CONN.U.S.A.

[b]From Biggerhammer.net ;[/b]

[url=http://www.biggerhammer.net/ar15/magazines/waffle.html]Armalite Waffle Mags[/url]