I ordered some Thermolds from the EE from another member. Before I pose this question, let me first say, the guy I bought them from is a good guy and in no way to blame. These are Canadian Thermolds with the maple leaf.

I loaded 25 rounds into the mag and locked it in the lower (Bushy lower) Mag fit perfect, no problems. Hit the bolt catch and let the bolt fly forward to load a round into the chamber. The left lip of the mag then cracked right off causing all the rounds in the mag to move upward causing the worst jam I have ever had to deal with in any type of auto loading rifle. I understand sometimes shit happens but given my lack of experience with mags from the Great White North, I am wondering if these mags are problematic, or did I just get a bad one? I was so frustrated after the first mag failure I went right to my GI mags and left the other Thermolds in my ALICE pack for the rest of the day.

Thanks Hosers

I've had good luck with Thermolds, although I did drop one once and break off a feed lip.

Quoted: These are Canadian Thermolds with the maple leaf.

These mags have a finite life span for sure.... The feed lips will break.
they're no longer in service with the Canadian Forces as far as I know...

They call them "Thermelt's" for a reason. If you heat them up the feed lips melt or become brittle and snap off.

They are garbage...stgick W/ USGI

Quoted: They call them "Thermelt's" for a reason. If you heat them up the feed lips melt or become brittle and snap off. They are garbage...stgick W/ USGI

Never heard of that happening with the US-made ones, and the Maple-leaf ones only when firing blanks full-auto.

I've tested that urban legend and apparently couldn't pull the trigger fast enough.

I have both U.S. Thermolds and Canadian Thermolds that I've been using every time I go to the range for the past ten years.  Regardless of whether I drop them, knock them around, leave them in the sun, or expose them to cold, they always work.  I have never had a single misfeed out of any Thermold magazines.  My experience is that they work quite well.

I have two of the US Thermolds, got 'em back in 99 and they still work great.

Quoted: Quoted: They call them "Thermelt's" for a reason. If you heat them up the feed lips melt or become brittle and snap off. They are garbage...stgick W/ USGI Never heard of that happening with the US-made ones, and the Maple-leaf ones only when firing blanks full-auto. I've tested that urban legend and apparently couldn't pull the trigger fast enough.

I did it on F/A with  the Canadian ones.

I have seven of the US made ones, and I love them.  No issues in hundreds of rounds through each mag.

the fact about thermolds are there are diff ones, the ones that were made here are ok they have wilson printed on them and they don't melt, that came from from what canada did when they left out the zytel in the mix and yes they have a lower melting temp so when you do a full auto mag dump the feed lips did melt. Orlites are ok but with all of them when they get really cold the plasic will crack and sand will jam them, it digs into the material and jams the follower.

Thanks guys

I've got 10 of the US-made thermonds and they work great.
There have been concerns about use in sandy environments, as the sand lodges between the plastic follower and the plastic mag body.  Since both will give a little, the sand can get caught and gum up the works.  Don't have that problem in Indiana, so I use them for training.

I got one free from a guy off of ebay when I bought two other alum mags.  Looks good.

I have the US made Wilson ones and they work great. The anti-tilt followers do just that. Haven't ever tried the Magpul followers, but the Thermold followers can't be far behind in anti-tilt performance.

The US Thermold's have a specific patent number. An interesting read. PAT NR. 4139959.

Maybe some have had legitimate bad times with the US made Thermold's, but the predominant Amazing Stories I believe are what make up the Internet Super Cowpath.

they work for me, but i still prefer the USGI stuff

Well..for what it's worth...

I have three of them for sale on EE if anyone's interested!

New condition, priced right!

I never had a problem with Thermold !

I think they are  great except MAYBE in the COLD?

I have no trouble useing one for SHTF Bullshit

This is my ban-era mag stash.  Notice the tallest stack - rear left.  Those are all Thermolds, about a 50/50 mix of US & Canadian.  Thousands of rounds through them in multiple ARs (the ones they fit) without incident...

...BUT ...

1)  I don't own any FA ARs;

2)  They don't fit/work in all of my ARs (some brands don't like the top ridges - this can be rectified but I've never tried); and

3)  Personally, I would never choose them for "serious use" - YMMV.

I have a dozen or so of the Canadian thermolds.  Not many problems with them except when they were new the bolt would not close fully for the first 5 or 6 shots.  Feed lips finally wore down a bit and they run good now.  Also I had one just completely crack almost shatter apart after being outside in very cold temps this winter (about 5 degrees)  I dropped it and it just split apart.

not so much actually. USGI ALWAYS TRUMP them for reliability, etc but they are fairly durable AND they also actually feed more reliably in SOME AR pistols than the USGIs. The canadian Thermolds are inferior to the US in that they are more prone to melting, but if you don't push your weapon excessively hard (mag dumps ) with Canadians, you really won't see much of a problem. They are FAR better than Orlites IMO and they are something of a minor curio since they are no longer produced.

While on active duty I carried my privately acquired, Wilson NC made Thermolds from 1985-1996 exclusively.

I carried them during DESERT SHIELD / STORM (though I didn't use them except for test fires).

I currently have over 20+.  During my last carbine class they ran like champs when the brand-new D&H magazines were screwing up left and right.  I pre-check them for fit and function.  Some need the upper portion of the feed lips slightly reduced with a file and 'OOO' emery cloth to reduce bolt drag.  I've never had one fail.

Your mileage may vary.

With due respect to Troy, as a moderator and early participant in this forum, the FAQ contains some information which may best be described as opinion.

I've used Wilson NC made Thermolds in deserts (Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia - as well as American deserts - FT Bliss / White Sands and Nellis AFB, among others) and never had one fail due to sand (the FAQ says: if they get dirt or sand inside, they will bind up and fail to feed).   Thanks to the owner of Thermold, I was able to equip my entire ODA with them and we felt they were superior to US GI.

On a live-fire immediate action drill range in Jordan, I dumped 12 Wilson NC made Thermolds on full-auto as fast as I could change magazines.  Not one feed issue or any melting issues.  I picked them up from the sand where they'd fallen and reloaded them.  We ran the drill about 4 times.  Full-auto fire, sand and grit... no problems.

I have had Okay and Center magazines get gummed up from sand and / or red clay, as well as D&H (recently).

I've used Wilson NC made Thermolds in extremely cold conditions (Montana Rockies in way below zero temperatures) and never had one crack or break - of course, I didn't drop them.

The FQ lists all USGI magazines as 1st tier, when not all Cooper and Sanchez magazines are "1st tier" (some of them are pretty much shit - Sanchez was why the green follower was developed and Cooper lost their contract).  

There's a lot of opinion on magazines.  People swear that Colt or Bushmaster floorplates make a magazine superior to another.  

I go by my personal experience as documented by using them (as on active duty or in a recent carbine course).  I trust nothing until I have validated it myself and then I am very cognizant that Murphy lives - if it can fail, it WILL fail - an it will be when you most need it.

Your reality may vary.

Totally familar with the concept of internet god-dom.  I was an Apple II "online god" back before non-DARPA folks could get on the internet - and a firearms / tactics "online god" on the old Pournelle RT on GEnie back in those days.

Opinion is opinion.  Yours can vary from mine, you can choose someone else's - its all good.  I prefer experience, and I prefer repeatable experience to a single event (or one where the baseline is skewed).

I have been using Thermolds for over ten years.  I still use them.  I have never had a single failure in any of them, regardless of whether they were Canadian or U.S. Thermolds.  

The only mag I've ever had fail was a U.S.A. brand 40-round steel mag.  Otherwise, all my mags have functioned perfectly, including Thermolds.

I've been using the 30-rounders made in Wilson, North Carolina in a Colt R6520 for 20 years and have not had a feed failure yet.  Works great for me and they still look new.  I guess it just depends on how one treats their equipment.

I've treated my Wilson's just like my GI mags; dropped, thrown, 100 deg. or 0 deg, no issues.  Got my rifle hot enough to melt off the handguards, but the "Thermelts" didn't.

Hell, I was kinda hoping that with the end of the ban, people would be dumping them for $5 so I could buy more.

Quoted: ... I was kinda hoping that with the end of the ban, people would be dumping them for $5 so I could buy more.

Keep looking.  With new USGIs for <$10, I've seen $5 Thermolds a few times in EE and expect to see more.

ARin

I used mine for duty use.  Military duty.  And while I cheerfully admit that I never used them to return fire on a hostile foe, I used them on multiple live-fire opportunities other than twice-yearly zero and qualification.

I reported my experience with actually using Wilson NC made Thermolds under field conditions, to include extensive live-fire training in desert and extreme cold environments.

I make no claim that my experience will hold true for every human on the planet.  I have no experience in reference to the Canadian made Thermolds (which physically feel more 'brittle' or 'less resilient' than Wilson NC made ones).

Most arfcommers will use their magazines on the range under more-or-less ideal 'temperate' weather conditions.  Many will attend carbine courses.  In the last carbine course I attended, our company purchased, brand-new D&H magazines, with Magpul Gen I followers, gave us so much trouble on day 1 we (the four of us) switched to my Wilson NC Thermolds and we used those.  (Moral of the story?  never use new stuff you haven't checked out in front of a bunch of people - you'll look stupid)

D&H are 'tier I' on the FAQ.  

Since then, I have worked on every D&H and they all work fine enough to use them as range magazines.  I have tested and evaluated the HK Gen II alongside the C Products stainless steel and we've decided to use the C Products stainless as our 'social work' magazines for our corporate weapons (the HK are lovely, too).

Someone else may have had Wilson NC made Thermolds shatter into flinders just putting one round into them, who knows?

Again, my duty use experience with "tier II" Thermolds and "tier I" D&H is not valid for anyone else; your mileage may vary; void where prohibited by law; staff and employees are not eligible for rebate offers; and objects seen on the internet may be distorted.

I've got ten US-made Thermolds (wilson ?) and they all function very well.

Let's hear about the Pro-Mag versions..... I've got some, and they don't lock back in the limited few times I've used them. I will take them to the range more and see if they break in.

M4-AK

M4-AK

I think I'll give the ProMag "kinda-like-Thermolds" a pass.  ProMag's 9mm AR magazines have worked very well for me (I have 8 of those and 4 Colt 9mm AR magazines), but the ProMag 'kinda-like-Thermolds' that I have looked at seem to be made of a different plastic than the Wilson NC Thermolds - more like the Canadian made Thermolds, but "cheaper" somehow.

Quoted: M4-AK I think I'll give the ProMag "kinda-like-Thermolds" a pass.  ProMag's 9mm AR magazines have worked very well for me (I have 8 of those and 4 Colt 9mm AR magazines), but the ProMag 'kinda-like-Thermolds' that I have looked at seem to be made of a different plastic than the Wilson NC Thermolds - more like the Canadian made Thermolds, but "cheaper" somehow.

+1

I've tried some of their new ones for the Mini-14 and they work great so far, but with USGIs as cheap as they are right now I just don't see any incentive even to try out the AR version...

Quoted: Let's hear about the Pro-Mag versions..... I've got some, and they don't lock back in the limited few times I've used them. I will take them to the range more and see if they break in. M4-AK

I have 2 of them. They both FEED fine but they do not hold the bolt open on the last shot