Brit GI Steel Mags

[hardcorps1775]

anyone try those yet??? i haven't seen any except in shotgun news...the dealers say they're the shit but what else are they gonna say?:rolleyes: "they suck, buy a bunch!":p

[PBR]

I have 5 of them I bought from Dan Tobin. They fit and function fine. I did replace the soft blue followers with USGI Green ones. HTH

[RJ Shooter]

I have five as well. They didn't seem to like their original followers, so I replaced them with the green USGI and they are running very well now!

I would recommend them if you replace the followers.

http://home.earthlink.net/~roglisaj/gunsnet/brit-steel.jpg

[Noah Zark]

I have 25 of them, so obviously I like them.

The original blue followers are not as rigid as the USGI black or green followers. The only issue that I had with them is that the center leg is a bit too long. It is possible to load 30 rounds, but the center leg bottoms on the floorplate immediately thereafter and doesn't allow enough "give" to load and latch in the magwell with the carrier/bolt forward and locked.

To remedy, I took a pair of diagonal cutters and clipped about 1/16" off the center leg. All fit and function fine in my Colt ST and two Bushy A2 Carbines, with the clipped factory blue followers.

Some have reported that an empty steel English mag would not latch, and had to file the top edge of the mag catch hole to allow the catch to engage the mag. I had to do this to one of the 25, and removed perhaps 0.015" so that it would engage in one of the two Bushy carbines. It latched fine in the other two ARs as unmodified. Might be a function of tight tolerance on the mags, and variation in the mag catches from rifle to rifle.

If one so desired, the phosphate on the English mags makes a great base for subsequent application of a moly/teflon coating. You'd have to degrease the mag with a good washing in Dawn or Simple Green, and the wipedown with acetone or MEK. As an alternative, bake at 375 to 400 for about 15 to 20 mins to burn off the oil, and use MEK on any residue that cooked out. I did this to six of them and I'm extremely pleased with the results.

Noah

[RJ Shooter]

Originally posted by Noah Zark
The only issue that I had with them is that the center leg is a bit too long. It is possible to load 30 rounds, but the center leg bottoms on the floorplate immediately thereafter and doesn't allow enough "give" to load and latch in the magwell with the carrier/bolt forward and locked.I've had that happen on only one of the mags I have. And that one mag happens to have a "Y" stamped above one of the floorplate lips. Interesting...

Good advice Noah!

[Pogo]

I also have six of them. I bought them brand new, in the package. I've only used one, and it seems to function quite well. I haven't had the first problem with them.