I have some okay industries mags, some adventure line mfg mags, a parsons precision products mag, and a Sanchez ent. mag. How do I tell if they're pre-ban?  If they are I'm sure there's someone who could use them. Some of the okay mags I have are date stamped and obviously post ban, the others are not stamped.  I really have no idea how long I've had them or where they even came from.

Most of those brands Wendy under before the 94 AWB, so guys behind the iron curtain can definitely use them.

I have looked thru approx 200 pre ban mags lately for date stamps. Of course most  of the post ban mags are date stamped externally, but I found 2 OKay mags with internal dates appearing  post ban. Also, I never found an internal date on any preban mags other than OKay. OKay mags usually have an internal month and a year date stamp when it is not stamped externally. I fully expected that during these mags lives, someone would have swapped  bottom plates on a few- but it appears this was not the case on these  mags. This is my experience lately, I did not realize any preban mags actually were date stamped till an ARFcom member explained where to look. HTH


Edit point--> I mis-stated something in this post, where I said "I did not realize any preban mags actually were date stamped till an ARFcom member explained where to look" I meant to say, I was not aware of internal date stamps (on any pre ban mags). I had a bunch of external mags that clearly were date stamped- they were the ones I sold first during this go round.

some did have external dates

All the companies you mentioned, besides Okay, were out of business before 94, making them all preban.  

Okay mags are clearly differentiated between pre and post.  Post ban okays (post 04 w/out restricted markings) will have the company name(similar to floorplate) stamped in the side, along with a date.  Prebans will be either dated externally or internally, not sure if they ever had any not dated in some way.  Keep in mind, some internal dates don't have the actual year, but something like "K1 01", which indicates month and year sometime in the 70's-80's.

We should really have some info on this tacked, seems like somebody's coming around asking every week.  Us guys behind the curtain really do appreciate people taking time to put them on the market for us though

Where do I find the internal markings? Just depress the follower and look in? Or do I have to take the floor plates off if they're st the bottom?  Whatever I have that's preban, I'm going to throw on the EE for a good price. I feel sorry for you guys behind enemy lines.  I think the rest of us take it for granted that we can have piles of pmags.

The markings will be inside near the floorplate at the bottom, so yes you'll have to take them off.

Thanks for taking time to help us out, yes it does suck I look forward to moving pretty soon, hopefully when the time comes I still have some place to move without a ban.

Adventureline mags are early dating from late 60's to early 70's. Adventureline was bought out by parsons in the 70's. Parsons continued until the early 80's when they were bought out by center industries.All Center mags since the late 1980s have the date (in 12/99 format) and Center's CAGE code (6P199) stamped on the side of the mag body. Preban centers are not marked. Your parsons and adventureline are preban.  I would take it from the other posters on the Ok mags as I only have a few and are late build.

So, I have one OKay here that is internally stamped  "K2"  and above that is  "02"   which is one that I referred to. It has no external markings (except floorplate) I thought it was a mistake so I didn't allow it to be sold to you guys behind the lines. My intentions were to sell 30 mags, ended up selling 120 or so- dug deeper into my stash than intended. After shipping and insurance I got maybe $18 apiece. Anyways, I learned a little about mags, I thought they were either dated externally or not at all (since it has not been an issue here). I kept 2 boxes of FN and Colts, they will stay put.

What do ya think the K2  -  02  date of manufacture is?

I have a bunch of Colt's with the same floorplate, but there is no date stamped amywhere on or in the magazine. I believe they are pre-ban but I don't kow how to verify it. they all have black platic followers.

I have four near new Busmaster magazines. After taking the floorplates off, I found no dates anywhere. I bought tbese before the ban but I cannot verify that. They have black followers.  Any information on Bushmaster mags out here?

I finally re-found the article Troy wrote about magazines (during the ban) It has a great amount of info:

Troys Mag Facts

I would love to see someone compile this type data into a shortened/shorthand version, like which years which mags were made by each company.

I have found thispage a treasure trove of good info.

They are definitely preban, if that was a 2002 date, it would have been required by law to have LEO markings on the outside.  I asked someone else on this site and this is what I was told:

K0 = 1970 or 1980
K1 = 1971 or 1981
K2 = 1972 or 1982
and so on

The 02 would mean the month of February

Rob123456789, much thanks for the info There were a few in there that I could only find one set of marks (like K1 OR k2) and no 2nd set. I just set them back, I really wanted to keep a few for myself, (who knows what the future holds)?  I do appreciate the info. I always stayed away from the LE marked mags till well after the ban sunset and didn't give much thought to the prebans- I just used'em.