I had not been following new developments in the airgun world until recently when I got back into it, and I've been hearing about CARM magazines.
CARM stands for Custom Air Rifle Magazines, and are made by a Croatian airgunner named Darko Dell'Orco.
He makes magazines and single shot loaders for just about every airgun made today.
Everyone that has used CARM mags rave about them, so I ordered a couple along with one of his single shot loaders.
I can agree with all the others, the CARM mags are easier to load, easier to get into the rifle, and lighter than the factory mags, which are aluminum.
CARM mags are 3D printed plastic, but don't have a cheap feel to them.
The factory magazines from Snow Peak, which is what my Stormrider and Dragonfly MK2 use, work fine but are a pain to load. You first have to
rotate back the clear cover and hold it in place (spring loaded) flip the mag upside down and drop a pellet thru the hole skirt first.
That will hold the spring tension in place. Then turn the mag back right side up and put in another 6 pellets nose first. (that's 7 rounds for .22 cal, .177 holds a couple more.)
You cannot close the bolt on an empty mag. This is nice in one way, when you can no longer close the bolt you know the mag is empty.
But you also cannot store the rifle with a mag in it, unless the mag is loaded. Close the bolt and you are chambering a pellet.
And it takes some fiddling to line up the mag to get in to go into the gun.
Also the magnets on the factory mags and SS loaders that hold them in place aren't the strongest.
When loading a pellet sometimes I scoot the SS loader over and have to hold it in place while inserting the pellet.
With CARM mags, you just rotate the knurled, colored part ( the ones I ordered are green) and insert 6 pellets nose first and start shooting.
These mags hold one less than the factory rounds.
He does include a note saying not to turn the rotor and then let the spring slam it against the stop, as the stop may be damaged.
It makes sense, so don't load the spring and let it slam back.
Darko does make high capacity mags for many rifles too.
For the CP2/Chaser/Bandit/Stormrider/pr900w like I use, his Hi-cap mags hold 12 pellets in .22 and 14 in .177.
These Hi-caps have a round profile instead of the teardrop shape of the standard capacity mags, so they are taller, and you will probably need high scope rings for the Hi-cap mag to clear underneath.
My new mags go into the breech easier than the factory ones, no fiddling around. They fit in the slot as tight, but don't seem near as hard to line up to push in.
And the magnets also seem to hold the mag in place better.
The single shot loader I got is very cool. One of the things I dislike most about single loading a pellet is trying to keep it oriented correctly so you can close the bolt.
I have a hard enough time handling .22 pellets, I have no desire to have to load the smaller .177.
More often than not, I'll slip a pellet into the tray and it is pointing the right way to chamber, but as I pull my hand away, the pellet sticks to my fingers briefly and tips up or even completely flips around 180.
The factory single shot tray also tends to not stay in place well when fingers are moving around near it loading the pellet.
A stronger magnet would help.
Also making single loading more difficult is having a scope right over the breech.
The CARM flip out loader is slick. Push the tab down and the arm flips out, insert a pellet in the hole and close.
The arm has two positions, barely open enough to get a pellet in the hole, and all the way out for easier access.
Any of the products he sells are available in a half dozen colors. If you don't specify what colors you want in the comments box at checkout, he will just send random colors.
I even saw a "night" version where the colored part of the mag was a glow-in-the -dark green.
If you order, you'll get tracking that only helps inside Croatia. Once the package leaves Europe for New York, you'll not have any idea where it is until it shows up. Usually the order is sent out within 24 hours, and most get their package in 3 weeks or so.
Mine was ordered November 9th and just came yesterday. I'm sure being closer to Christmas slowed things down, but expect your package to sit at customs in NY for a couple weeks.
The customs sheet listed the shipped items as Sports Acc. 3D Printed Parts, Plastic. Sounds innocent enough.
If they were marked "Custom High Capacity Rifle Magazine" they'd never get through Customs !
Now that I've seen how nice these are, I'm gonna order a couple more.
https://www.carm-magazines.com/carm-magazines.aspx