Mini Review of CP and D&H 30 Round Mags and 44Mag.com service.

Just received my order for 30 round mags from 44mag.com.  I ordered 7 of the CP products and 8 of the Black D&H mags.   Order was placed in mid Dec when the Black D&H mags were on back order, so the order held till the D&H were in stock.  Once the  Black D&H mags were in stock the order shipped promptly.    44Mag.com did a good job in the shipping and packing of the mags.

So far I have checked the mags for external fit and finish, how the followers cycle in the mag with a ruler test, and how well they fit into and eject from my AR’s.   The AR’s used for the mag well fit test were a Bushmaster, two old logo Rock Rivers, a new logo Rock River, and a DPMS.

D&H Mags – These mags came wrapped in and separated from one another by a sheet a brown shipping paper.  The mags were well packed by 44mag.com for shipping.  
The external finish on the mags is first rate.  The floor plates are not marked with the law enforcement only BS.  The external seams and welds all appear to be tight and well done.   The mags have the GI green followers.  Cycling the mags with a wooden ruler (pushing the follower down into the mag) there is a little tightness about 2/3 of the way down.   The follower never stuck, it was just noticeable tighter due to possible rubbing in the bottom 2/3 of the cycle.
All mags seated easily in my AR’s and ejected completely with the mag release.
These mags have not been range tested yet, however other gray D&H mags have been and have always performed without any failures.

CP Products mags. – These mags came packaged in individual clear plastic bags.  
The external dry coat finish was in very good condition when they arrived.  
The floor plate is marked with the CP Products logo and the follower is the standard green GI style.  All the followers moved freely with the ruler cycling testing.  
A major concern with these mags is the construction of the seams.   The seam on the back of the mag is good and tight.  However the front seam (the concave portion of the mag) shows gaps on 4 of the 7 mags.   There is a noticeable space between the two pieces of metal.  See attached photos.   One of the mags has a piece of metal protruding from the seam.  The metal protrusion kind of looks like a metal flow spike,  possibly from a weld point (this is my best guess from the photos).
One of the seven CP mags will not seat easily into any of my ARs.   And it will not eject without a pull on the mag.  This mag is too tight in the mag well and appears to coming from the metal seam on the font of the mag.  You can see where the metal of the mag is getting scraped from inserting the mag into the mag well.   This is one of the areas were the front seam is not tight on this magazine.  See photo.  This mag measures 2.555 inches front to back.   The D&H mags and other CP mags are measuring 2.525 to 2.538 inches front to back.
The other 6 mags would easily seat and cleaning eject from all my AR’s.  
The other 3 mags with non-tight metal seams were good on the top portion of the mag but were loose on the bottom portion of the mag.   I am thinking that is the reason why only one of the mags had trouble seating and ejecting from the AR’s.  
I have not had a chance to range test the mags to see if they reliable feed yet.  

My Bottom Line and My Opinion only.

The D&H mags have are 1st rate and you should get great mags based on these mags and other D&H mags purchased in the past.

The CP Product mags need to be screened if you plan on using them for duty or SHTF situations.   CP products need to control the manufacturing process better or weed out the oversized ones.   Gaps in the metal seams, especially on the top portion of the magazine are bad and prevent the mag from easily seating or ejecting.  I also compared these 7 CP mags to 3 Brownell mags I purchased when they first came out.   The construction of my Brownell mags is clearly better and they have been 100% reliable on my range trips.

Best Regards

Metal Gap view






Metal protrusion.


The Tight Mag and possible reason.

Very nice job on the review.  I've just recently gotten back into the AR world after a 17 year break so this has been very helpful.  I'm interested is hearing about the range tests.  Again, very nice job.

Same issues here. I ordered 6 of the CP magazines and they all have gaps in center curve of the front seam, some worse than others but none are of them are as tight as my Center Industries mags. Finish was consistent across 5 of the 6 with 1 magazine having some semi solid "crud" on it which scraped off ok. All 6 fit and eject cleanly but I've unly test fired 3 of them. Of the 3 I've test fired, two feed perfectly (filled to capacity at 30) and 1 jams every shot. The one that jams will feed when using the charging handle but crunches every round thereafter.
I was excited to try the new cp stainless mags but now I'm thinking that I might just order some HK's and D&H mags instead....

I want to like the CP mags, but I just hear too many mixed reviews about them, even the brand new ones like you have here.  And I just feel better getting mags with a CAGE code on them.  I will stick to my USGI Centers, D&H, Colt, etc.

I'm glad I only ordered two of the CP mags on my last order.
Edited to add:
I received my two CP30's today. One had perfect seams front and back. One had a couple slight gaps on the front seam (not nearly as bad as the ones pictured). Both passed the ruler test. Both were inserted in Bushmaster and Stag Arms rifles. They both locked in place okay and dropped free okay.
Unfortunately I have two pistol tournaments this weekend and won't be able to live fire function test until next week.
Edited again:
I got back today in time to put 20rds each through both mags before it got dark. They worked fine.

Cav,
Thanks for your review. It was right on the money. After we had sent magazines to Eric for T & E and he had some tight magazines, we went back and checked that specific lot. We manufacture in 5,000 - 10,000 piece lots and have the ability to trace each lot. We found that our weld machine # 2 had a problem with the welds, which have caused that separation in the seam. Sometimes the electrode sticks and lifts the section that is welded. A normal qaulity check is done every X amount of magazines welded and could miss the problem because of the small amount defective. We have added a visual seam check and a testing fixture to each welding station to eliminate any tight magazines. This is a 100% check, every magazine welded. This procedure has been added to our quality manual.
Once again, thanks for your honest review and constructive criticism.

Larry

If anyone bought CP mags from 44MAG.com and is not completely satisfied you can return them and I will replace them with new CP mags, new D&H dry film mags, or a refund.

Quoted: If anyone bought CP mags from 44MAG.com and is not completely satisfied you can return them and I will replace them with new CP mags, new D&H dry film mags, or a refund.

Thanks! That is an excellent service!