All posts tagged Promag magazines

Magazines should drop free

Glock magazinesWe all start out at some point with our firearm training or learning experiences.   I started out at 10yrs of age with handguns and 22lr rifles and it was basically all a Father/Son environment where kids shot next to their parents and learned the basics.    You learn the basics at a 100yd range with a 22LR and the differences between bullet weights and velocity can mean several inches in bullet drop.   Iron sights are always the best starting point and optics should come later.   When you move away from bolt action rifles, things can become more complicated and reliability of firearms can dramatically diminish with second rate magazines.  I’ve had bad experience and witness tons of malfunctions with semi-auto 22LR rifles but there are things you can do to improve reliability.

Back in the 1990’s after the AWB there were a ton of people buying aftermarket magazines and some firearms just didn’t handle them very well.   Many Factory Glock Magazines where going for close to $100 and aftermarket mags could be had for under $30 but they didn’t drop free or sometimes just didn’t run right.   There are several manufacturers that make magazines for several different companies but just stamp different brand names on them.   Magazines like Mec-Gar and Promag do have magazines for Walthers and Browning that work well but I often tell people that if the magazine doesn’t drop free you are going to have problems with it and might want to stick with Factory magazines.   There are replacement parts you can buy like followers, Wolff gun springs and base plates that can fix things but there’s an awful lot of testing I would do before I used them as self defense mags.

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10rd magazines for 1911s?

This is something I’ve only delved into once and it wasn’t a great experience.   Back in the early 1990’s we had all of that assault weapons ban BS and and aftermarket gun magazines were everywhere.   Some of us that owned certain firearms ended up with unreliable firearms that should have been durable.   $90 Glock magazines were not uncommon and $14.99 for a jamming Mini 14 30rd magazine from USA magazines, which I believe is been long out of existence.   Many people fell back on revolvers and there was a big upsurge back into the 1911 because it was one of those guns that was originally designed for fewer than 10rds which was what the Assault Weapons Ban limited you to.

So some of us messed around with aftermarket 10rd magazines and all of the ones I tried failed pretty quick.   We tried to make the 1911 into it’s highest capacity that we legally could, but the balance pretty much got messed up.   Gun magazines, even a few rounds bigger than standard capacity can make the gun imbalanced or make it harder holster.   There are a lot of reasons to use 10rd magazines like Wilson Combat magazines or Chip McCormick which have a good reputation in competition shooting, but they will protrude considerable.   This may cause snagging on shirts ect if you are considering using one for CCW.   If you’ve ever practiced with you’re gun, which you should have, firing 8rds and reloading is probable a better CCW than thinking a 10rd magazine is going to give you more protection.

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Philadelphia Mob’s it’s only a matter of time

Today I was listening to a local talk radio host who had a local reporter on and they were talking about the Flash Mob stuff that was going on there.   In some people’s minds these incidences are not racial, but that is absolutely absurd.   We’ve had at least 3 mob incidences against young white males or old white men and it’s always black on white.   In some camps of our society, racism only applies to things that a white man can do and not the other way around.  Racism exists in all societies and cultures but only those living in the world that Political correctness has created think it only exists when a victim is black.

One of the callers challenged the local news writer about what the news article would be if a gun owner shot one or more of these individuals when they were committing the crime.   The news reporter basically said it at this point it would say something about a “gun owner defends against a mob” I’m paraphrasing, but I thing it was bullshit.  We know that if a gun owner shot one of these individuals and reloaded with using spare gun magazines that it would be excessive or bull  shit that someone that trained to shoot shot 5 or 6 of the criminals and it was unfair that someone would do that against un armed youth.   Considering the ages groups of some of these Flash mobs it would probable not sound justified if a 65yr old man shot 11yr-19yr olders, but the reality is it may well be if things keep up like this.

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Magazines that aren’t flush fitting

I have never really liked the feel of having a pistol magazine protrude out of the bottom of the gun unless it is because the gun grip is too small for me.  I’ve seen a few of my friends do this on their Glocks, namely the Glock 26 because it is such a small gun.   I did put an extension on a Sig 239 which is the  only gun I currently own that has this.   The first gun that I owned was a Colt 1991A1 and it only came with one pistol magazine.   It was a Colt magazine which i thought would be the best gun magazine to have, but that turned out to not be true.   After having a few problems with the slide stop not catching, I found out the magazine tab was bending and causing the issue.

I believe it was at a gun show that I picked up 2 Wilson Combat magazines and my Colt 1991A1 ran flawlessly with ball ammo.  The gun magazines really ran well with hollow point ammunition but I found the gun to be too picky with hollow point ammo that I pretty much gave up on worrying about it.   If you look at the velocity that a 45acp is flying at, I don’t think you’ll have massive over penetration issues compared to 9mm ball.   Wilson combat magazines have varying base pads and from my experience this is mostly a concern for competition shooters.   If the magazine drops free I don’t need to worry about gripping it and pulling it out for a fast reload.

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Often over looked firearms

There is much to say for using an M4 Carbine for home defense in comparison to using a handgun.   There are many people that are transitioning home defense weapons from handguns to carbines.   There are  pistol caliber carbines that have very good reputations for reliability and given that you are getting another 200-300 fps or more out of them from a handgun round, you are getting more punch and spank from your bullet.   One firearm that is starting to get a little more use due to ballistic improvements in ammunition is the M1 Carbine.

The M1 Carbine always had a good reputation for being reliable, lethal and handy.   The Mini  14 from Ruger has a bit of an edge over the old M1 Carbine, but it’s still a very potent and useful weapon.   When we are asked about gun magazines for this firearm for  home defense, especially in California, New Jersey and the un friendly States, Promag magazines makes a very good M1 Carbine 10rd magazine.   This is one of the best replacement magazines you can find for the M1 Carbine and if you look around there are some decent defensive rounds you can optain for this caliber.

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Did the M14 replace the Garand?

That is a sure thing, and in my opinion it was a big step forward for semi-autos.  It really is too bad the gun was not fielded during the Korean War because it would have made a difference for the USGI.   As much as the Garand was a useful weapon to the American Rifleman, it was quickly out dated in the battle field and from what I have personally witnessed, is not very versatile when it comes to being used by different soldiers.   Many Vets that I have spoken to did not think the gun was fun to shoot and couldn’t hit anything at 100yds with it.   I’ve seen that type of shooting before, it’s called “fear of recoil”.

When the M14 was first issued, it pretty much did in the M1 Garand and the BAR, but modern warfare made the riflemen’s  usual combat engagements take place at well under 400yds.   Most engagements that I know of from personal stories took place at under 100yds.   The M1 Carbine still was very practical for soldiers until the M4 Carbine came out, now many enthusiasts in California and New Jersey can use the Promag magazines that are 10rds and from what many of our customers have said they worked very well for this old relic.   If it were not for the limited availability and reliability of M1 Carbine ammo, I think the gun would be more popular.

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Speed loaders and training courses

I was fortunate to attend a sniper competition a few years ago where I must have learned more about combat than every before.   About 40 students were attending this training competition even and given the rules for attending the match.   Everyone was told to arrive with unloaded firearms, but to keep all of their gear in the cars and attend a safety briefing.    Well, one of the  best events for this competition/training even occurred in the first 30 seconds after the safety briefing.   Everyone was asked if they understood all of the safety rules and when everyone said yes, it began.    The Instructor explained the first stage of the shooting event.   Everyone was told to grab their gear from their car and immediately return to the firing line, unload the gear and engage the targets.   The attendees gave us a big smile while the students/competitors did an “Oh, Shit!”

I sat and watched every student run back to their car which was about 15-30yds behind the firing line, I noticed varying types of rifle cases and rifle bags, some shooters showed up with loaded magazines and others had to manually load the guns, as soon as they were ready to shoot, they engaged the targets.   I believe they had 6 minutes to take down all of the targets from 100-200yds.   The variations in time to engage the enemy targets varied by several minutes.   Anyone that had a M4 Carbine or 30rd magazine that didn’t have loaded gun magazines or didn’t have a speed loader, was the last to engage the targets.   I saw only 2 people out of 40 engage the targets in the first 5 minutes.   Maglula speed loaders are must for anyone serious about using a carbine for self defense, unless  you have the military style loaders.

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