Twenty Round Aluminum AR Magazines

[Phineas Bluster]

Deleted

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

There are a couple nice things about 20 rounders:

1. They are easier to get in and out of a vehicle with. This is a Godsend if you're in some sweaty, hot foreign country where every jake leg is gunning for you, so you need a loaded rifle on hand at all times.
2. You can have one in the rifle and one or two in your chest pockets for quick, easy access when you're in a vehicle and you've been ambushed. And you can manuver your rifle in a vehicle better with them in an ambush vs. a 30 rounder. Ambushes can and do happen in these crummy foreign lands.
3. They don't tend to suffer the tilt issues the larger magazines have, so no need of high dollar followers. You can rely on them not to tilt right out of the packing.
4. They feed real well, even when full to 20 rounds. Reliability is real nice in a fire fight, yep.
5. Bottom line, they can save your rear when things are bad.

My suggestion: Buy a ten pack of these to supplement your 30 rounders. There are no downsides to owning them.

[bruce drake]

I'll second what Dave says. I'd rather carry eleven 20-rounds versus seven 30 rounders when I was in Iraq and Afghanistan. But then again, I was one of the few old Majors on the last trip there who still was a DS vet...

Bruce

[gmsharps]

During the later days of the Vietnam conflict we had mostly 20rd mags. The bandolers that the ammo came in would conviently hold a 20rd mag and you could could put 7 mags in a bandoler and one in the mag well of the rifle and that was your basic load. Of course when you went out on mission you took what you could carry just in case. Those 20 rounders worked pretty well as long as you took care of them like making sure they were clean and free of mud whether dry or wet and care of the mag lips which if they got bent they didn't work to well. Before going on a mission you should make sure you have inspected all of your mags and personally loaded each one. We could get some of he new 30 rounders but they were tough to find a place to put them. We didn't have all of the high tech chest pouches and the like. 19 or 20 reliable rounds are better than 30 unreliable rounds any day. Shooting from the prone position it makes it a whole lot easier to change a 20rd mag that a 30 rd. It seemed in those days you liked tyo get as low to the groung as possible and the extra couple of inches the 30 rounders made you get up to could be expensive to your well being.

gmsharps

[6bg6ga]

ANYTIME you can get a decent price on AR mags grab them up. They don't spoil sitting on your shelf.

[William Yanda]

Well I won't be getting any. Andy Cuomo told us: "Nobody needs a twenty round magazine to kill a deer!" So it's just too bad for those of us who live in NY-leaves more for you I guess.
Oh, then too, I don't have one of those evil black rifles.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

What is the difference in the CS spring v. the SS spring?chrome silicone springs tend to take less of a set than stainless steel springs, so they have a bit longer effective life. stainless steel springs tend to rust less, which is a non issue if you clean and lube your magazines properly.
They are the same price. Besides the obvious of humid/wet climates. I live in arid country.
Does one outlast the other, one more reliable then the other? This is a big debate on many of the AR forums these days, with lots of whizbang arguments.

If I'm buying an AR magazine, I'm buying CS springs. That's what originally came in them and they are highly reliable. Steels have generally improved since Vietnam, but the materials are what they are.

I've tried this simple test about 6 years ago: I filled four magazines with ammunition. All were 30 rounders. Two had CS springs, two had SS springs. Manufacture of any of the springs was unknown, but were out there available for sale. After 5 years, I unloaded the magazines, took the mags apart and measured the springs. The SS springs were shorter and more compressed. I've read other tests where guys have shot "X number" of rounds through a couple magazines with both types of springs. After a fairly short period of time, the SS springs showed more compression.

Others have argued long and hotly about SS springs being better and they've put out pretty good sounding arguments. But those that manufacture the springs say the CS springs last the longest. I'm going with what they say. I buy the CS springs and keep them cleaned and lubed.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Well I won't be getting any. Andy Cuomo told us: "Nobody needs a twenty round magazine to kill a deer!" So it's just too bad for those of us who live in NY-leaves more for you I guess.
Oh, then too, I don't have one of those evil black rifles.

I think if I were you, I'd get that Atlanta/NY on my forum location changed permanently to say Atlanta only and be done with it. Damned if I'm going to have any government tell me what I can and can't own related to firearms. "shall not be infringed" means just that. Thing is, you have to be willing to USE those rifles to protect those rights.

[6bg6ga]

You could simply leave them unloaded too until you needed them.

[HATCH]

carbon steel springs will rust but stainless steel springs aren't as flexible as CS so they may fail over time.

[Dan Cash]

amsharps: It seemed in those days you liked tyo get as low to the groung as possible and the extra couple of inches the 30 rounders made you get up to could be expensive to your well being.

Amen amen amen.

[pretzelxx]

...don't fix it.

I plan on grabbing a few of them, thanks for the heads up!

[popper]

I'd be more concerned with the Al. than plastic or steel housing. Springs are replaceable.

[6bg6ga]

I'd be more concerned with the Al. than plastic or steel housing. Springs are replaceable.

You won't wear it out in your lifetime

[HATCH]

Only issue would be if you dropped them and bent the feed lips

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Just a note, the CS springs Brownell's is referring to are a chrome-silicon spring. I thought the "CS" was carbon steel as well until I read the copy.



I decided to go with a "known" and took the stainless spring. I'm slow to adopt the latest and greatest. I am still shooting some 1911 magazines with the lanyard loop on them and they still work fine. If it aint broke...

It is interesting that I am not the only shooter that prefers the twenty round magazines. I see many folks now have forty round magazines for their AR rifles. If the magazines get much longer they could double as a monopod.

PB

I hate to tell you this PB, but the "known" is the chrome silicone spring in this case. That's what's in the military ones since Vietnam till the late 80's. Don't know about after that.

[Combat Diver]

Love the 20 rd mags. Had a full footlocker full of them at one time when the BN threw them all away! Lower signature on the range or hunting. Doesn't snag when stalking in the swamps, easier to get out of Aircraft, armored vehicles, doesn't bang your knees when carbine is muzzle down between your knees, fits inside a M1950 weapons case (jump), and fit inside 7 pocket bandoleers and newer 4 pocket bandoleers.

Hint for those that have the newer 4 pocket bandoleers that hold 30 rds each. Load the 3x10 strippers into your 30 rd mag, pull that white string that keeps the 10 rd strippers up. Insert a 30rd mag x 4 into the bandoleer. Slip bandoleer over shoulder and go!

CD

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I'm always amazed at the dumb things done in peace time military units where the old combat vets have retired and there are no combat vets left in the units. Seems like they come up with all these ways to do things that don't work in combat and throw away stuff that's actually useful in combat, like those 20 round magazines.