Travis Mitchell, former USMC S.O.T.G. chief urban sniper instructor and current Surefire military sales manager wrote the following on page 89 of Guns & Ammoo’s Combat Tactics 2004 in an article entitled “Get Some!  A special report on the guns and gear theat U.S. forces used to “get some.”

There were numerous stories about the C-Mag from Special Forces and Rangers who said there is a reliability problem with this dual drum, rotary magazine.  The C-Mag allows for 100 rounds of ammo, but does not function all the time…and that is bad. Here’s one story from a U.S. Army Ranger operating in Afghanistan.  He came across two dead U.S. soldiers who had C-mags in their M4s, both of which were jammed.  He told me, “I can’t believe after all the reports we have given the Army that they still buy this piece of gear and issue it to soldiers.  It cost the lives of two U.S. soldiers.”

Does anyone know of any hard evidence for this other than hearsay from an unidentified Ranger?  If true, this ranks up there with the Zylon fiasco.

[url=http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:SdLOtFN__H4J:www.bragg.army.mil/afvc-a/FRG/Desert%2520Devil%2520Dispatch/dddvol29.pdf+C-mag+afghanistan&hl=en&ie=UTF-8]Recommended reading[/url]

Its a Adobe Acrobat pdf file you'll have to download and open

For what it's worth: I was an Infantryman and the Company Armorer, Aco 2/325AIR 82d Abn. We got the C-mag in for our M249's and I was just as happy as a pig in shit when my Supply Sgt. said get these things out of my way and into your Armsroom. Well the first thing I figured out was that there are not interchangable from M249 to M4 unless you change the tower of the mag. The first trip to the range was a disaster! If the M249 was even a little old and not in perfect spec they would not lock in and or feed. My XO said put those on the self and call Beta Co. I did and they offered to come to us and see what the problem was and while I was on the phone I got them to send me a M4 feed tower. Well the chain of command never let me invite Beta Co and I was soon discharged. However I did get to use the C-mag in my M4 a bit and it failed everytime at the range. The problem that happened most was that the bolt would strip off the Last-Round-Link-Assembly and jam the M4 and render the C-mag usless. I raped other C-mags for there Last-Round-Link-Assemblies but gave up even trying to get the thing to work after I realized that ordering parts to replace raped ones was to much of a pain. It should be noted that the C-mag pouches rock for carrying 30rd mags and the pockets on the side carry a GPS and extra stuff with ease. This was in late 2002 and I hope that GI's have seen some improvement in the C-mag.

Glockdog

Airborne!!

The C-Mag requires[i]lubricated[/i] ammunition and is unlikely to function in other than perfect conditions.  As the link shows they don't work well on the range.

-- Chuck

C-mags are crap!!IMO. they look cool but thats it/ I would never trust my life to one. They tested a few at Khandahar air base Afgan and they were total crap or at least thats what a ODA guy said. save you cash and get lots of 30 rd mags I wouldnt pay $200 much less $500 for the POS.  
     FREE

Hmmm that fella who shot it out with the cops in north hollywood didnt seem to have feed problems with his beta.

I thought he was using drums in an AK?

Well theres a conclusive test of its functioning

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