AR 20 rd. magazines?

[3006guns]

I prefer the original 20 rd. design for my AR when in the field. Since I only have two, I decided it was time to get at least two more and that's when I discovered the following:

Original Colt manufactured mags are made of unobtanium, and priced accordingly.
Magpull products are highly recommended, but I prefer aluminum or steel construction.
There are several copies of the 20 rounders available, but.....

Which straight metal 20 round magazines would you recommend?

Edit: I forgot to mention that I keep the rifle and mags at a friend's house out of state! :)

[Love Life]

I like the brownells ones. Add anti-tilt if not there.

I prefer a 20 rd magazine for my first magazine as well. Much handier in a vehicle.

[TenTea]

NHMTG is what Colt ships with rifles, or at least they were until recently closing down production at NHMTG.
They have always been a favorite USGI mag and are still available.
https://www.44mag.com/product/nhmtg_20_ar15_magazine/nhmtg
Now D&H is the primary supplier and they are sold out many places online.
http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/AR-15-Magazines-p/magazines%20dh%20gt20.htm

[trails4u]

I've had good luck with this outfit. During the last crisis....they kept up pretty good production, and did not price gouge. That alone gets my dollar. The mags have performed well also....no FTFs in the wife's DelTon.

http://www.ammosc.com/223-stainless-steel-20-rd-magazine/

[GabbyM]

D&H magazines from Wideners is my favorite all time. It's a curve design with Magpul follower. $8.00 for the 20's and they have ten round for $7.00 each.
https://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?startrow=1&dir=625|1056|1057

If you want a straight mag for aesthetics. Brownells are the same ACS mags others sell. Wideners has them for $10.50 as C-Products brand.

[3006guns]

Wow, thanks everyone! Looks like there's a lot more to choose from than I thought, so I'll follow your suggestions.

[Jupiter7]

NHMTG is what Colt ships with rifles, or at least they were until recently closing down production at NHMTG.They have always been a favorite USGI mag and are still available.https://www.44mag.com/product/nhmtg_20_ar15_magazine/nhmtgNow D&H is the primary supplier and they are sold out many places online.http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/AR-15-Magazines-p/magazines%20dh%20gt20.htm

Same mags still for sale, different stamp is all. NHMTG no more. Story below
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/09/21/okay-industries-surefeed-magazines/
OKAY industries mags
https://www.44mag.com/product/okay-industries-ar15-magazine-20-round/okay-industries

You're right about them being best 20rd mags in metal form. Original no curve p-mag 20's were excellent. I have a metric ton of D&H 30rds and they are good to go. Like Lancers too, my go to poly 20 mags.

[dkf]

NHMTG/Okay Ind mags are top notch if you want GI mags, but D&H are good too just not quite up to Okay Ind level. My favorite magazines are Lancers, I have 10rd, 20rd and 30rd Lancers.(dozens of them) DSG Arms has the Lancers on sale right now.

[lefty o]

D&H magazines from Wideners is my favorite all time. It's a curve design with Magpul follower. $8.00 for the 20's and they have ten round for $7.00 each.
https://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?startrow=1&dir=625|1056|1057

If you want a straight mag for aesthetics. Brownells are the same ACS mags others sell. Wideners has them for $10.50 as C-Products brand.
brownells magazines have nothing in common with either cproducts or asc. they arent even close!

[lancem]

I like the brownells ones. Add anti-tilt if not there.

I prefer a 20 rd magazine for my first magazine as well. Much handier in a vehicle.

I've got a bunch of the Brownells ones and they are great.

[wch]

I like the brownells ones. Add anti-tilt if not there.

I prefer a 20 rd magazine for my first magazine as well. Much handier in a vehicle.

I use the Brownells 20 rd mags with the anti-tilt follower.

[GabbyM]

brownells magazines have nothing in common with either cproducts or asc. they arent even close!

Thanks for the correction.
I looked into it. Seams Brownells started manufacturing there own magazines eleven years ago. I am really behind the times. Prior to that time they sold outsourced magazines with the Brownells name stamped onto them.

[Wizwheel]

I have colt and adventure line 20 and 30's. I just bought a P-mag, trying to be like the cool kids, but I like metal better than plastic for some reason.

[lefty o]

Thanks for the correction.
I looked into it. Seams Brownells started manufacturing there own magazines eleven years ago. I am really behind the times. Prior to that time they sold outsourced magazines with the Brownells name stamped onto them.
correct, they originally used cproducts, and they were unreliable junk.

[pacomdiver]

saw last night, bushmaster has 20 rnd metal one available thru natchez reloading. they were 19.99 each

[DCM]

Another vote for Brownells.

[Reverend Recoil]

I have been using stainless steel 20-round C-Products magazines in service rifle competition the past ten years. There have been no problems. They work great.

[Happyguy]

ACS or C Products work well.

[tygar]

I like the brownells ones. Add anti-tilt if not there.

I prefer a 20 rd magazine for my first magazine as well. Much handier in a vehicle.

Plus 1 on the Brownells. Have bought at least 20 (they have them on sell a lot). I like them the best unless can get original colts. The mag pull at the bottom is an OK addition.

[Tackleberry41]

I have never had problems finding the 20rd metal mags. Some are straight, some curved. No idea if one is better than the other. Don't generally use them in my semi autos, the ones I have were relegated for use in my mossberg MVP in 5.56.

[GabbyM]

Straight mags are shorter than the curved ones by 3/4" on one corner. Straight slide out of a pocket better.

My old GI straight mags are all really soft lipped. Compared to any of the newer magazines I have. New alloy is far better stuff. My D&H curved will take a 2.260" round but only has .010" room left. But that's the same as my old Simonds, Colt and Adventure line. My 20 round P Mags are .005" shorter inside at 2.265". Some old Kay Ind. with a circle K 30 round GI aluminum measure 2.275". I have five Sterling forty round steel body magazines that measure 2.297" inside. Those big mags are very cumbersome and I never use them. Only two of the five have even had rounds run fired out of them. I have the woodlands camo pattern case with the five pockets for them also. It all came with a used rifle back in the 1970's. Colt 3x scope too.

My 81 head stamped PMC M-193 ball measures from 2.250 to 2.254" C.O.L. Any mag that would not feed that would soon be stripped for it's spring then tossed in the scrap pile.

[cameron.fromthep]

I prefer the original 20 rd. design for my AR when in the field. Since I only have two, I decided it was time to get at least two more and that's when I discovered the following:

Original Colt manufactured mags are made of unobtanium, and priced accordingly.
Magpull products are highly recommended, but I prefer aluminum or steel construction.
There are several copies of the 20 rounders available, but.....

Which straight metal 20 round magazines would you recommend?

Edit: I forgot to mention that I keep the rifle and mags at a friend's house out of state! :)
C Products

[W.R.Buchanan]

Not a fan of metal AR Mags. I actually drop them on the ground occasionally and it's a **** shoot if they fall on the feed lips.

Pmags are the best and most consistent I have a bunch of 10,20 and 30's but mostly use the 10's and 20's as the 30's hang down too far. In fact most of the shoots I go to here in CA only allow 10 rounds in a mag anyway so I just use 10 round ones.

My Kel-Tec SU16 uses these same Pmags and the 20's are the goto for that gun.

My .02 on this subject is that everyone should advance their thinking to the 21st Century when it comes to the use of plastics. They are here to stay and they are also getting better everyday!

I have Glocks, a Plastic AR, 2 Plastic Kel-Tecs, and a bunch of plastic mags for everything. These guns are light and easy to carry and they all function flawlessly. I used to be a traditionalist in the metal and wood construction of firearms, and I still am when it comes to traditional style firearms. But the new stuff is here and it works and it has many advantages that metal parts don't have.

For my Ruger Scout the plastic mags are so much better than the metal AI mags as far as smooth feeding it's not even a contest. Now Magpul makes a mag that works in the Scout so I'll be getting some of those soon.

Like I said ,,,, my .02.

Randy

[xringshutr]

Resurrecting an old thread, but ran across it while pilfering through the forum. ;) Believe me when I say that the metal mags are absolutely fine. I have shot both military "As issued" and Highpower rifle matches for almost 20 years. We exclusively run the GI 30 round mags for the combat style matches and I have used the same 20 rnd mags shooting Highpower since I started in 2003. The 30 rounders work fine. Even with green or black followers. And by the way, we shoot with the 30 rnd mag dug into the dirt in the prone position. You MUST maintain your rifle AND lube the bolt carrier group. As soon as it starts getting dry or goo'd up......it will start to slow down, then malfunction. 99/100 times it's not the mag. It's the fact that you have fired enough rounds that the rifle needs a little attention. Everyone is always looking for a reason to blame this mag or that for a problem. USUALLY the problem is not the mag, it's the condition of the rifle's moving parts. That' not saying that you won't find a bad mag once in a while. Nothing is perfect. Solution? Bend feed lips on questionable mag with pliers, dispose, and use another. I think I've found 1-2 bad mags in my time. That's not a bad ratio considering the # of rounds I've fired on the range.....take this for what you paid for it, but it's my experience.
As far as PMags go, I haven't had any problems, but there is a reason the Army has banned them. Many speculate that it's a politician that has his hands in the cookie jar. Maybe so, but I have it from an excellent authority that in repeated full auto or burst mode the PMag feed lips crack and fail near the back of the mag resulting in a single shot plastic fantastic (M16 or M4).

[M-Tecs]

Had some friends in the thick of the sandbox. They loved the PMags but they replaced them every two or three months. They claimed they have the best reliability when new but after a couple of months of had use they started to have problems. This is second. I have only used GI or Brownells.