Hey, just snagged one of those british mags at my local dealer today.  It's the one with the 'england' sticker on it, the finish is a gray parkarizing (<-sp?)I think.  Weren't there two types of these steel mags imported?  Which one do I have and what's the difference?  Do you have any, if so how well do they work?  I figued I'd just get one to see if my rifles liked it, maybe get a few more later.  Thanks for the info/opinions.

edit:
**why did they make theirs out of steel instead of aluminum??**

you are going to buy more of them...trust me...

I have four of the ENGLAND mags and three USGI.  The ENGLAND mag fit and feed better than my USGI.  Nuff said.

Those are the steel ones. I have 2 they work great. Also they have a blue new design mag follower in them, no need to invest in green mag followers!

Our shop just got a case of England black aluminum(sp) 30 rd mags in. The floor plate & the sticker says England. But I swear the mag body looks & feels like a USA brand mag.

Haven't tried them out yet myself though.  

A blue follower eh?  This one has a black follower, maybe I'll upgrade it to a green one.  What's the story on the blue ones?

The follower on my english mag looked black too until I put some rounds through it and wiped it down. Chances are yours is blue too.

Here's my experience with the British SA80 mags

There were some of the black blued mags and grey parkerized ones at Bulletfest I picked up two of the grey ones and one black one. On the firing line I quickly realized these mags were not in spec with USGIs when my Spoon fit really loosely on top. Then when I popped my L.U.L.A on it the same, it was very hard to get on, then when it was loaded with the L.U.L.A the Bullet noses would drag on the mag body decreasing the force behind it causing the rounds to be snagged in the mag. I even smacked the back of the mag trying to push the rounds back in the mag to no avail.

I really don't like them.

Nuff' said, they're not cheap enough to warrant the purchase IMHO

The black ones did function a little better then the grey ones.

20 grey ones...three bushmasters...many thousands of rounds...flawless!  Go get a dozen more while the dealer still has them.

lol...i have access to bout 30 of the parkarized ones, they are okay, they work, but i already got tons of GIs. [:)]

What does "parkarized" mean?

I just now came back from a local pawn shop who sells those for 15 bucks each. I got myself one, and i'm going back on saturday. Is that a good deal?
How can you pick out the best magazine a dealer has to offer (i.e. what to look for)?
Also, mine had the England sticker on it but it had nothing written on the bottom plate. is that normal?

Nothing on the bottom plate is the way they all are. $15 is about all they are worth, and Parkerizing is the trade name of the company that first started applying that gray phosphate finish on steel things about 90 years ago[:D]

Re earlier comments on the mags not being in spec, I've got 4 of them. Even though they all appear to be the same size, one of them does the same dragging of the buillet noses described earlier. The other three are just fine. I have also found that the magazine catch slot  is narrower, and lifts the mag higher in the action than GI or other mags; so that the mag lips drag on the underside of the carrier. Opening up the slot cured the problem.  They're workable, and if they were 9 or 10 bucks apiece I'd buy more.  For $15 to $20, I'll pass on buying any more though[:D]

Mine came from CMMG.  They were blued, not parkerized.  Lokedon, a "blued" finish is a black to deep blue finish, but has a lustre to it.  Parkerizing is a phosphate finish.  It has anywhere from deep gray to medium gray, or even a slate or green tinge to it, on many firearms. It has a fuzzy, flat texture that holds oil very well, like a sponge, which is an important facet to its corrosion resistance.

Some of the SA-80 import mags are parkerized, some blue.  Some have had problems with the mag catch hole, and followers with too long legs on them.  So, there are several different batches floating around.

As I said, I have some from [url]www.cmmginc.com[/url], which are blued, and came already equipped with USGI green followers.  They had the little "England" sticker on the side, and the floorplate is stamped "Imperial Defense".

The springs in the mags seemed entirely adequate, but CMMG tossed in the box some spare springs, their chrome silicon springs.  These are even stronger than the springs in the mag.  Though the CMMG mags are $25 each, from the inclusion of the stronger springs and green followers, plus the fact that they fit and fall free well, latch up correctly, will hold the full 30 rounds, and are indistinguishable in shape from USGI's (I measured with a dial caliper to compare), I think they are well worth the price.

Thanks for the reply.
Are these reliable after being kept fully loaded for an extended period of time?

OK now i'm mad!
well not really, but rather irritated.
I loaded this thing with 30 rounds (like it's supposed to hold). However now, when i push it into the magwell, it won't stick up there. I have to remove one round out of the mag in order for it to stay in my bushy M4.
Whats going on?!?!? Is this normal, or do i have to "break the mag in?"
It's supposed to be a 30 rounder, not 29!

When they are new they are a little grity because of the parkerizing I changed to the green follower I loaded them up to 30 and after leaving them loaded for 4 months and then shooting them they smoothed out at first the when loaded to full 30 if the bolts forward they need a good whack to seat if the bolt is locked open it feeds fine also and of course easier to lock,now that they are worn in the full 30 seats easier when the bolt is forward and if you look at the vey bottom weld on the front of the mag you will see a #2,on others a #3 and #8 I had 1 with a 2 not seat right the other 23 work fine,they feed smoother than GI and are tougher.

Not all that long ago(6 or 7 yrs) I bought USGI surplus M14 mags new in the wrap for 5 for $25.Now they are $50 each and I'm wishing that I would have had the foresight to buy a hundred or so.

The SA80 mags aren't quite that cheap(inflation you know) but I put them in the same category as the M14 mags.Buy them.Buy all you can afford. Buy them instead of another gun.When they are gone they are gone and there won't be any more.The worst thing that will happen is that the AWB will sunset(yea right LOL)and your mags will still be worth $15ea.

I put in a green follower and spray the inside of the mags with TFE lube and work the follower vigorously with a paint stir stick before I ever try to use them.The last bunch I got had to have the mag catch hole bent outwards very slightly to keep them in the gun,but once tuned I have never had a feed problem of any kind.