Hi All,

There has been some talk on this and other boards that the clear 5.56 bulgy mags are of inferior quality compared to the black 5.56 bulgy circle 10 mags. See the post from GlennAK below. Can anybody confirm/deny Glenn's observations? thanks.

Post from GlennAK:

WarmGun2,
Isn't your Arsenal K101 a 7.62 rifle? These mags are for 5.56/.223 not 7.62. Pardon me if I'm wrong, but the only 5.56 rifles from Arsenal that I'm aware of are the SA-M5 series.
I would hang on to your black waffle mags. They are a lot tougher than the clear ones. The clear ones do not have steel reinforced feed lips or in the entire upper part of the mag body. The black waffles have steel reinforcement in the upper part of the whole mag body. Squeeze the top of your clear mags when you get them, then do the same to your black ones, and you will see what I mean.
The clear ones also have a propensity to develop cracks, as I have heard from other members of this and other forums. I received my clear mags on Thursday (I live in Vegas, so ground shipping from K-VAR only takes a day.) I only ordered one of each to check them out and to add to my mag collection. When I tried the 30 rounder in my 5.56 Krink, it went in rather easy, with only some binding when racking my bolt. When I did the same thing with the 20 rounder, It was difficult to insert and my bolt got stuck on the feed lips when racking it.
I ended up having to file down the mag lips for it to insert fully into my magwell and to keep my bolt from binding when racking it. It worked fine afterwards, but both are still tighter fitting than any of my black ones. All my black waffles insert easily into the magwell and do not bind my bolt, and I feel that the steel reinforcements may have something to do with that.
The only steel reinforcements I've seen on the clear mags is in the front, where it mates with the trunnion and running down the length of the mag, and in the mag catch tab itself.
I don't know if the mags would fit better in an Arsenal SA-M5 than in my Krink, nor do I know if it was just these two particular mags that I would have problems with, but I don't want to buy more to try them in my gun. I may buy a couple more just for my collection, but if these bind, I won't file them down. I'll just wrap them back up and add them to the collection.
I have no such fit or function issues with my black ones. As a result, I will not rely on the clear mags for anything other than range sessions or for show. I will continue to rely on the black ones for regular use, since they are more reliable in my gun and appear more durable. You may not have the same issues with them as I do, so it may be a moot point as far as you're concerned, and they will function differently in other guns as well, but I just wanted to share my experience with them.
On the bright side, they are a good investment and are always in demand, so it's still great that they are available, and for a lot less than what we've seen lately! They are awesome looking! Great job for K-VAR on getting them in. Bob said they will get roughly 6,000 to 7,000 of the black ones sometime next week! I will definitely buy a few more of those, especially if they're priced at around $22 like the last time. I believe they received about 3,000 of the clear ones, but I'm not absolutely sure, and don't also know the breakdown between how many of the 20 rounders and 30 rounders came in. However, based on the limit of 10 mags for the 20s, I would say that there are a lot more of the 30 rounders!
Glenn

I have experienced excessive bolt drag on the feed lips with the clear mags. The gap between the the lips was ~ .020" smaller than on the black mags and required filing for proper function.

I saw this posted on their forum, sounds interesting, take a look

k-varcorp.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3168

Yes, Bob has answered all questions about these mags on the k-var forum.

Quoted: Yes, Bob has answered all questions about these mags on the k-var forum.

Bob is full of shit and doing damage control. He sold a bunch of crap mags last year and is trying to distance  himself.

Hootbro

This is Bluejack, and yes these are my mags , the condition as is when I recived it , I was not try start anything about K-var or bob, I was try point out MY problems with mags , not the company , I did recived my exchange I am happy with everything K-var did , but I did not understand what is bob doing said these mag are not from K-var ,  Bob called me today said I am not giving him and his business good name I will not longer to order anything for K-var, I said someone is had a bad day

that's it Jack, I will never sell you any mags....you are off the list for the custom titty-pink waffle mags..

If you have clear 5.56 mags you should check them.
I checked my 10 today ALL cracked.

Inferior? I don’t know. I just wouldn’t pay $30 a mag to make my gun look like crap. I could care less what people put on their guns, but, in my opinion, those clear mags look tacky as hell.

If K-VAR exchanged all your mags for new ones, I don't know what you are complaining about.

I love my clear 30rnd mag from K-Var it's the latest smoke color one. I used it yesterday and it worked perfect I didnt have any problems with it. I have a few other black ones and this one seems exactly the same in fit and function.

No cracks at all, from my experience I dont belive they are inferior to the black ones and I plan to order more from K-var. Gun used was a Arsenal SA M5s