User Panel
Posted: 1/19/2006 10:01:35 PM EDT
(Note: I've posted almost the same thing over on calguns.net, too)
MGI Interchangeable Mag Well Lower In an initial response to my inquiry about getting a stripped version of one of these in CA, MGI said "not yet, but we're looking into it". Well, I got an email from Mack at MGI today saying that they've decided that it's OK for them to ship a stripped lower to CA, and that it'll cost $469 with one AR mag well. An AK mag well will cost an additional $150 if I remember correctly, but that part should not need to go through an FFL. He said that this lower in stripped configuration will include the trigger/hammer and so forth, but does not include the stock or pistol grip (thus, a magazine can be pinned in place before the grip or stock is installed). The stock was also removed because their standard stock is collapsable. I talked with Mack for a while on the phone, and it sounds like I should be able to easily set one of these up in a fixed-magazine configuration just like a conventional AR lower; the magazine catch helps to retain the mag well on the trigger pack, so it remains to be seen whether the exact same kits/techniques will work without modification. I won't know for sure until I have one in my hands... but I have one on the way to my FFL, and I expect to DROS it and start the 10-day wait on Saturday. Mack said that if it gets declared Evil before I start the DROS, it can be sent back for a refund of the purchase price less shipping costs. My plan for this lower (as well as my others) is to pin a Bushmaster 10-round magazine by shortening the threaded portion of a regular mag catch, drilling out the threads from the original mag catch button to use it as a spacer, and then securing the mag catch in the locked position with an allen nut that's roughly flush with the surface of the receiver, much like a modification of the Sporting Conversions fixed-mag kit that I saw in another thread over on calguns.net: It may grow one of their quick-change barrel uppers in the future, after my bank account has recovered. Now that I have my lower lined up, I'm posting this to help the rest of y'all get these into your hands before it's too late. Mack at MGI gave me the green light to post about this on the boards. For the record, I have no affiliation with MGI other than my status as a new customer, and I've never seen one of their products with my naked eyes or held one in my hands. My own gut feeling is that these lowers are unusual enough and late enough on the scene that there's a good chance that they could get overlooked in the threatened AR roster update, but I think that even in a pinned-magazine configuration this still looks like an interesting AR variant to drain my wallet with. So, if you want to try to get one of these lowers, find a cooperative FFL first (I'm using the same one that processed my group buy lowers), have them FAX their FFL information to MGI, and then call up MGI to order. Here's their contact information: Mack Gwinn MGI 102 Cottage St. Bangor, ME 04401 (207) 945-5441 (207) 945-4010 (fax) [email protected] www.MGImilitary.com BTW, it was interesting to learn that these lowers weren't made from scratch from brand new forgings/billets; they actually cut regular lowers in half, build up the dovetail area with weld, and then machine in their new features. As labor-intensive as that sounds, I guess it's still cheaper than making new forge tooling for something that's a niche market item (at least for now). Mack acknowledged that issues may come up in the initial units, so they definitely want feedback from their customers if any problems occur. |
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Damn it.
They look really interesting, I like gadgety stuff. But the lower buys this month have wiped my gun funds out......for now. Maybe next month. |
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Isn't that what credit cards are for? |
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I am selling two of my "firstborn". Two 6.8 Stag lowers, but for the MGI its worth it. The MGI should be here Monday |
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Thanks! Yup, I was there. |
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Thanks for all the enthusiasm obout our MGI Modular Lowers!
We've been working on this for a long time, and it has finally arrived. Of course, since I am the MGI Factory-Direct Sales Rep, I would be happy to take any back orders on the now-sold-out lowers, toward our next production run, due in a couple of weeks. I'm trying to keep Mack's phone clear so he can concentrate on getting the next production run completed and in-stock. Thanks. Edited to add: The lowers without pistol grips and buttstocks are for California sale only. The rest of the country will have the 6-position collapsing carbine buttstock and A2 pistol grip at the normal $500 price for the complete lower package with AR15 magwell. We only removed these parts to meet California regulations, and we are selling complete lowers as our normal package, not stripped, for the rest of the US. |
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MGI is great!
When I called to place the order, I spoke to Tom directly, when I called back with a question on shipping, I spoke with the founder of MGI! I look forward to many more innovative products in the future. Bank accounts be aware.... |
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383green,
Nice job! However, even though I recognize the need for this to meet CA regulations, it pains me to see our Modular Lower being "de-modularized" by having to stick a fixed mechanism in the mag release location! At least it can easily be restored to its fully-functional condition later, if need be. I think your photos and description will help others to meet the CA needs, when using this lower receiver. Thanks for the contribution to helping others here, in there efforts to have their lower receivers meet CA regs! BTW, we haven't gotten any 2nd production units in yet, so the ones you saw were still from the first run. We are working on the rollmark issue, and I don't have any update on exactly what rollmark will appear on the 2nd production run models. |
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As usual, I'm late to the game.....
I had my FFL place a call to MGI today (they were closed?) to order a lower for me. I sure hope I can beat the DOJ to the deadline! Anyway to push CA purchasers to the head of the line? Please? |
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HI,
I was out of the office most of today, but I can take a call tonight or tomorrow for orders. You can call me directly, and I can take all the info for your order and the FFL name for transfer. Most of the backorders are from California, and they are going out first. However, the orders go out in the order that they were received, so it's best to get them in ASAP. We're still several weeks away from delivery at this time. |
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Does MGI offer retrofitting my existing stripped lower? If so, what would the cost of that be?
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Retrofitting/converting existing lowers into this MGI Modular system is not an option.
It is technically possible to do it, but the cost is so prohibitive that it isn't even worth considering. |
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Can't wait! Any plans of making a magwell for duty sidearms, such as the Beretta 92FS?
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Yes, magwells for duty sidearm mags are planned. They will come a bit later on, as we have some of the more basic magwells yet to produce for the 308 kit, and SMG mags in 9mm and 45ACP. No decisions made on the duty pistol magwells yet, but it is likely that Glock and Beretta will be in the mix. |
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Any idea of which SMG mags you will most likely choose? Thompson, Uzi, Grease gun for .45ACP? Uzi, Colt, STEN for 9mm? Others? I know that your .308 prototype was set up for a M14 mag. Is that still the plan? Man I am looking forward to this system. |
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So far, the information that I've gotten on the SMG mags is that the 45ACP will use Grease Gun mags, and the 9mm will use Sten mags.
I cannot state this as an "official statement" yet, because I haven't seen the prototypes yet. But, this is what they are telling me, so that's the info I have. When I receive the okay to officially announce the magwells, I'll announce the mags that will be used. The 308 magwell for the M14 mags is still under development, and that is very likely going to be the next magwell that is released onto the market. It seems to be possible that the belt-feed for 5.56 may actually come available before the SMG magwells, because of this priority of the ARDEC LMG trials that we have to provide a belt-feed version of our Modular System for. The release schedule is being affected by alot of things, so it is very hard for me to say what is coming out when, until I actually get notice to put an ad up. There are several things under parallel development, and release priorities can get changed at a moment's notice, when things like military trials come up. |
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What upper does this take? Can I slap on my Colt as easily as my M1S?
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THe MGI Modular Lower Receiver can be used with normal AR15 uppers, such as Colt or others.
Of course, other brands don't feature the quick-change-barrel system of our MGI QCB Upper Reciever system, nor do they have the internal relief cuts needed for some of the magazines/magwells we produce, such as the AK or M14 magwells. But, they will work as a dedicated upper receiver if you wish to use them for AR15 type mags or with magwells/mags that do not need the internal relief cuts in the upper, and they will fit right onto our Modular Lower receiver Naturally, we recommend using our QCB Upper Receiver with our Modular Lower Receiver to get best overall benefits from this system. When you can quick-change the barrels to go along with the quick-change magwells, it makes for a much more versatile system, and our QCB Upper is already relief-cut internally for using AK mags or M14 mags with our respective magwells for those calibers. They make a perfect match. |
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Can you direct me to an FFL in the San Diego area that will accept your lower for me if I were to purchase one?
I'm interested in a .308 configuration with getting a second upper in 7mm-08 for it also. Can this be done? About what would the cost for a .308 lower and a couple AR type mags run? I get the feeling that AR's are such a sensitive issue in California that most FFL's don't want to even come close to touching them and getting their license in trouble. |
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Here are some southern California FFLs which we have on file. I think most are in the LA area, and I don't have any on file in San Diego. Gunrunners Bright Spot Pawn West Coast Guns As far as a 308 configuration and second upper in 7mm-08, how about just getting an MGI QCB upper receiver, and have both barrels that can quickly switch in and out, and do it that way? That would be alot cheaper than buying 2 different uppers with handguards, and then having to take them down to a machinist to cut out the insides to clear these larger magazines, and then having to send them out for hard-anodizing after that, and then have to build up both receivers. The MGI upper is already internally relieved correctly for accepting these mags, and can accept both barrels that you want to use, in a quick-change fashion. No mess, no fuss. There is no normal AR15 upper receiver that can be used with the AK or M14 mags, that won't require cutting the interior for clearance. Just because normal AR15 uppers will work with AR mags on this system, doesn't mean that normal AR15 uppers can take the AK or M14 mags without modifications. These mags are too wide to fit into a normal AR15 upper, and modifications are definitely required to the upper if you want to use these magazine conversions. Having dedicated uppers is completely outmoded and unnecessary, and overly costly. We made the MGI QCB upper expressly for this purpose. With this upper, you only need one upper, and it works for all the calibers you want, simply with a fast barrel change. We'd strongly advise using it for these applications. |
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Is the previous model QCB upper relieved for the AK mags? How about the M14?
It sure would be inconvenient to have one of your old uppers that wouldn't work with this system. ETA or will you offer a retrofit or modification to facilitate this? |
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Personally, I'm holding out for the new-style upper with whatever mods are necessary for the .308 stuff, even if it means I need to wait for a few more months for the details to be ironed out. I'd love to be an early-adopter/beta-tester of the .308 kit when it's ready, so long as I will be able to legally do so at the time (i.e., either it can be set up in a CA-legal pinned-magazine mode like conventional .223 rigs, or my lower is registered and the dust has settled over the feature OKness on newly-listed AWs thing).
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Okay, so there are older model uppers out there with the proper relief cuts? Or is it only on the new style uppers revealed at SHOT show I mean, it is about $500.00+ for the old and $800.00+ for the new. It makes a difference to some of us. I ordered an old style from Brownell's. They put it on backorder for me. Then y'all released the new uppers. Am I gonna' get an old style upper with the relief cuts or am I gonna' be forced into a new style upper? |
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If you ordered it from Brownell's and it's on back-order, then it should be relief-cut for the wide mags.
It will not have anodizing on the relief cuts, because we modified existing uppers on the older versions that we had. I always recommend ordering from me, if you want the latest stuff and get the most up-to-date info on our products. Sometimes Brownells has old stock that they haven't moved for months, and you could get an old product that isn't the latest spec, if you order from them. In your case, since they were back-ordered from Brownell's, the item you get from them will be the next production run that is completed by us. Remember, we fill all orders that come directly into the factory from our customers, before we ship to any distributors. I can provide you with the same pricing and better service, factory direct, and I would be happy to do that. We have the same dealer pricing structure and license requirement as Brownell's does, so you can deal with us exactly the same as you deal with them. Except you get to talk to someone that knows something about the product, and get service from the factory. |
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The AK magwell is priced at $195. As we release the upcoming magwells, we will announce the pricing for those. |
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