British-SA80 Mags?

[recon]

Bought one of these gray 30rd one's but haven't tried it yet. Anyone else get one?

[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. At least in my rifles.

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]

The 5 Imperial ones I have work great with the green USGI followers I put in them. But mine are not the powder-coated, mine are a deep black reminiscent of my Teflon coated DMPS mags.

[Defender]

So..OK... Who got the best deal on them???

[Noah Zark]

They were everywhere last summer/fall, but have dried up. Prices have been advertised between $15 and $25, with $17 to $20 apiece being the range of going rate. At this point, you have a couple options:

Try www.oldgunsupply.com They show them at $19 ea.

Barring that, try posting WTB notices on various forums.

Others may know of some that are available and might chime in.

Welcome, and good luck!

Noah

[recon]

Seems there are 2 kinds of these! One gray and the other is blued? Whats the difference?

[RJ Shooter]

One is gray, the other blued! :rotflmao:

Seriously though, I have no idea why they are imported differently. Maybe they are different Brit manufacturers? Mine definitely feel like my DPMS Teflon mags.