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Practically Shooting

Microtech Making AR Mags


BarryinIN

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Microtech is making polymer AR mags now. I am hearing they are pretty nice, work good/feel good/look good, but I've heard enough stories about Microtech (knives) customer service and problems with the MSAR (Microtech Small Arms Research) AUG copy that I have to mention it. Buyer beware.

http://www.mattdtactical.com/MICROTECH-XM-17-AR-15-DROP-FREE-30-ROUND-MAGAZINE_p_2032.html

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I bought two and the shipping was FAST! Ordered on Wednesday and got them Friday in the mail. Kudos to Matt for his quick service.

Initial thoughts ...

Mags seem well finished; no badly produced seams or rough edges. Spring tension seems OK but have not loaded up a mag yet. The mags fit decently into the mag well. They have good upward tension to hold open the bolt when cycled.

While these may not be what I'd put in the tac-vest for responding to a critical incident (prefer MagPull or such), I think these would be perfect for inexpensive range/practice mags.

I'll report on these after an opportunity to fire with them.

My greatest concern is how they will hold up to heat in fast, rapid cycling. Will the feed lips hold up and not crack or melt? It's too cold out right out now to get outside and mess with it. But should warm up later this week. Might be able to try over Easter weekend and post after that.

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Went out yesterday and ran the mags.

I loaded up a few mags and ran about 100 rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger and swap mags. My goal was to heat up the bolt/receiver area as much as I could, and then "heat soak" the new magazine by letting it sit in there. I was looking for the feed lips to fail in some manner. Heating and warping or otherwise yielding and not holding form. Or, bending up and getting shaved by the carrier coming forward. Or allowing rounds to escape by popping loose. Or any other such silliness.

Nothing melted. Nothing warped. Nothing failed.

They fit well, they are finished well, and they lock in and only come out when you depress the release.

I am pleased. Enough so that I just ordered 10 more.

I would have taken pictures, but frankly they would not have shown anything but what you can see in any photo. There was no discernible change at all. Photos would have been interesting only if a notable failure had occured.

I don't know that I'd choose them over a P-mag in a battle, but then to be fair that would probably be an unfounded fear.

For range use, and a low cost (at least in today's market) I given them a thumbs-up.

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Well cool. I didn't know what to expect.

When I looked at some more detailed pictures, I saw a lot of similarities to the AUG mag. The baseplate, for example, looks identical. That stands to reason since MSAR made an AUG clone.

Which made me think of this:

If you slap the base of the mag when its seated into an AUG to ensure its seated (instead of using a firm push, followed by a pull to verify its seated) the top round can jump the lips.

I have no idea how the MSAR AR mags' lips are formed, or what exact plastic was used, but I suppose it's possible it could be the same or close to AUG mags that this could happen.

I'd be curious to know. If you could slap the base of a full mag a few times and let me know what happens, I'd appreciate it. Just to satisfy my curiosity, now that I've thought about it.

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I'll try to remember to run a few when I get home.

Might take me a few days ... busy the next few nights.

Where are you at in IN? I might be willing to ship you one as a loaner for trial if you wanted to pay shipping both ways? But for that price, you could just about buy one and try yourself.

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That's OK. Just something I thought about when I started picking out similarities to their AUG mag. The feed lips on AUG mags are different from any AR mag I've seen, but still not all that far off, so it may or may not do it.

I'm west of Indianapolis about 30 miles, but yeah you're right, I can probably buy one for a few dollars more than shipping one back and forth. Thanks for the offer though.

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