My posts only represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of any employer, past or present. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.
I bought one to try, and immediately sold it... But two other guys were convinced that they could be made to work. After a lot of fiddling, polishing, dry lube, and lost matches, they finally admitted defeat. I actually won a match because one of these guys' SF60 shit the bed on the last stage. This dude was a high profile sponsored shooter at the time. Did I rub it in? Of course I did.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Can't speak to the dust thing but back in the Gen1/Gen 2 days, word was the Black Pmags were the strongest and the other colors went away because the chemicals for the other colors weakened the material.
Gen 1 Pmags were thicker. The issue was less dropping free and more that in some lowers and non AR platforms they would either not insert/ lock-in at all or insert/lock-in when empty but not when loaded as the mags would swell slightly. That was initially resolved with the E-mag. I still have a bunch of black and Foliage green Gen 1 Pmags which are still going strong. I've never seen a Colt or FN lower they would not work in ranging from M16A1's, and M16A3's to Colt Commandos and M4A1's.
We're at the point where the gen3s fit everything except non standard lowers that have issues with the over insertion tab.
“ He probably had Gen 1 or Gen 2 PMAGs. They have a thicker body that is purposely intended to fit tighter than USGI or Gen 3 PMAGs. Magpul designed the mags this way to reduce the ingress of dust during field operations....at least, this is how a Magpul rep explained it to me at an expo in 2008 when he was handing out free mags.”
This quote was what I was referring to.
I never had a Colt not work with a Pmag and that included Gen 1’s and 2’s both tan and black. I’m all Gen 3 now but my go to mags are NHTMG.
Not really on topic with the thread, but a random bit of tidbit about the old HK416 magwell (the new A5 and corresponding MR223A3 have more conventional magwells) from the "U.S. PM and developer at HK for the HKM4 (the early HK416 project name) and HK416 development from Day 1 thru May 2006":
Source: https://www.hkpro.com/threads/why-ha...2#post-1075879Originally Posted by Jim Schatz
In regards to the more common claim about it really being about being able to use the SA80 blank firing magazine with the round inhibitor:
Source: https://www.hkpro.com/threads/new-hk...4#post-1100658Originally Posted by Jim Schatz
So is STANAG a thing? Or just Unicorn dust?
I have too many USGI mags to even think about changing over - easily enough to last my lifetime.
Technically, there is no STANAG for rifle magazines.
Draft STANAG 4179 has been proposed to allow the interchange of 5.56mm magazines between NATO countries. But it has never been ratified. There are, however, a number of magazines that meet that specifications laid out in Draft STANAG 4179, because the draft actually lays out the location and dimensions for the mag latch, and bolt stop, etc. So any magazine that fits into a Draft STANAG 4179 dimensions and functions correctly would technically be STANAG 4179 compliant (if such a thing actually existed).
So PMags, USGI, etc. can all be "STANAG" mags.
I've landed on using the slightly cheaper Magpul MOE PMags (Gen 2) for training and general range use, and M3 PMags are kept loaded with the expensive defensive ammo. There's not a lot of cost difference, but they are easily identifiable from one another and the Gen 2 mags really work just fine. There's no reason however to not invest in the best they offer to bet your life on.