4 Reasons Rifle Magazines Fail—and How to Choose a Better One

Every time somebody tells me about an unreliable rifle, the journal is at all times the very first thing I like to recommend altering. Eight occasions out of 10, that’s the actual downside: the feed lips have cracked, the spring has worn out, or the follower is poorly designed.

It’s greatest to pick a high-quality journal from the outset so that you by no means should cope with reliability points within the first place. The issue is, all of them look just about the identical from the surface. How will you type the wheat from the chaff with out discovering out the laborious method? That’s the query I goal to reply under.

Rifle magazines incorporate a ton of geometrical engineering, however they don’t have many components.

The physique of the journal homes all of the parts and determines sturdiness and geometry. It’s often constructed from metal, aluminum, or polymer.

The feed lips are included into the physique, and so they’re some of the important options. They maintain cartridges from being pushed out the highest of the magazine and maintain them in place to be stripped by the bolt.

The spring offers the upward stress pushing the following cartridge into place after the highest one is stripped and loaded.

The follower is the flat(ish) piece connected to the spring on which the cartridges relaxation.

That is the piece on the underside of the journal that holds the spring in place (it doesn’t should be product of metallic).

Magazine failures are a better concern in semi-automatic rifle platforms than bolt- or lever-action, nevertheless it’s at all times a headache to clear a jam. And should you assume all magazines are created equal, take into account this: the U.S. Military deployed an improved M-16/M-4 journal in 2009 that diminished the danger of magazine-related stoppages by greater than 50%. With that type of reliability enchancment on the desk, it’s value determining why magazines fail.

Listed below are 4 of the most typical causes.

1. Cracked, Worn-Out Feed Lips

Defective feed lips can’t comprise the spring’s pressure and permit cartridges to come out the highest of the journal. Rounds can leap out if a loaded magazine is jostled in a bag or case, and even whereas the rifle is biking. The latter state of affairs may end up in jams and double feeds.

Feed lips can put on out or crack with heavy use, or they’ll slowly unfold out should you retailer magazines totally loaded for an prolonged time period.

That is a method you may establish a high-quality journal. The feed lips on Magpul’s Gen 2 PMAGs would crack if saved totally loaded, however the Gen 3 model fastened this downside, and I’ve by no means had any issues.

The feed lips on the Gen 2 PMAG (proper) would typically crack. Magpul redesigned this part of the magazine physique for the Gen 3 PMAG (left), which fastened the problem.

To check if the feed lips on {a magazine} are nonetheless functioning correctly, load a magazine to the highest and faucet the underside on the bottom with some power. If a spherical pops out, it could be time to throw that magazine within the bin and substitute it.

2. Poorly Designed Follower

The follower is the place the magic occurs from an engineering perspective. The first function of a follower is to maintain the cartridges on the appropriate angle as they transfer up the journal. If a cartridge arrives on the prime on the mistaken angle, it should nearly definitely jam because the bolt makes an attempt to strip it off. The bullet would possibly get caught going up the feed ramp or nosedive into the entrance of the journal.

It’s powerful to inform whether or not a follower is well-designed with out utilizing it, however there are just a few options you wish to search for. A very powerful is “anti-tilt.” Whenever you press the entrance or again of the follower, it shouldn’t transfer very a lot. It ought to keep flat, which can be sure that the cartridges do the identical. Trendy designs use prolonged entrance and rear legs to maintain the follower stage all through its journey.

This magazine designed primarily for bolt-action rifles is just not “anti-tilt.”

The follower also needs to slide easily contained in the physique with out getting hung up on something. That is straightforward sufficient to check, however the actual problem comes when it will get soiled. Grit contained in the journal may cause the follower to grab up and cease working correctly. Properly-designed magazines have sufficient clearance between the follower and the physique to permit for easy operation even with some grit and dirt.

I’d encourage you to place {a magazine} follower by means of its paces earlier than taking it into the sphere. You would possibly throw a magazine into the dust as should you dropped it accidentally, load it up, and see if it capabilities. You may additionally be sure that the rifle cycles easily with a completely loaded journal and on the final spherical. These are the factors at which a nasty follower will rear its ugly head as a result of the cartridge variance makes it troublesome to take care of the right upward stress. I used to be lately testing a handgun and located that with hollow-point ammunition, the final cartridge at all times obtained caught transferring up the feed ramp. This sort of failure is often resolved with a special journal—both a special model or only a easy swap.

Opposite to what you would possibly assume, springs don’t put on out as the results of storing {a magazine} totally loaded. Springs primarily put on out by means of use—by being compressed and decompressed repeatedly. Over time, they’ll not impart the power essential to push the following cartridge into place on the appropriate time, which leads to failures to load. This can be a downside for semi-automatic rifles greater than bolt-action rifles as a result of until you’re some type of wizard, you may’t cycle the motion sooner than the magazine spring can function.

A magazine spring also can put on out due to rust, which is why good-quality magazines use chrome steel because the spring materials.

If the magazine physique will get dented, cracked, or in any other case deformed, the follower received’t journey easily, and the magazine will fail to operate correctly.

Metallic magazines are sturdy, particularly metal varieties (versus aluminum). They’ve been confirmed over many years within the area, and the feed lips don’t crack or put on out. Nevertheless, as soon as they get dented, the follower will bind, and so they’re just about ineffective.

Polymer magazines can have points with the feed lips (relying on the development high quality), however the plastic affords higher flexibility and influence resistance. The fabric “bounces again,” so to talk, which permits the magazine to maintain functioning even after receiving a blow. That doesn’t imply they’re invincible—they’ll nonetheless crack and break. However the feed lips usually tend to fail than the physique of the journal itself.

Magazines can fail for different causes, too. I as soon as bought a 30-round journal for a ten/22 that just about at all times induced feeding points as a result of it didn’t match securely within the receiver. It canted ahead, which induced the rifle to jam each different spherical.

However I believe what I described above are 4 of the most typical causes. If that’s the case, it follows {that a} high-quality rifle journal does three issues properly:

There are many high-quality magazines in the marketplace that do precisely these items. However don’t assume they’ll be round endlessly. Magpul will in all probability be making PMAGs till the Second Coming, however should you hunt with a rifle that makes use of a particular type of ammo feeder, discover one you want and purchase 5 – 6 (or 10 or 20). Even good-quality mags put on out over time, and also you don’t wish to be caught with a rifle you may’t use since you assumed your journal would by no means fail.