Best AR15 magazines?

[DadSmith]

So many out there what are the best as in most reliable 556 mags to buy?

Here are some magazine brands pick as many as you have had personal experience with as being the most reliable. We will be looking at 30rd magazines only.

Brands:

Magpul PMAG GEN M3​

Magpul PMAG GEN M2​

Hexmag Series 2​

Lancer L5​

Duramag AR-15 stainless​

Duramag AR-15 Aluminum​

ProMag​

Okay Surefeed E2​

ASC Stainless​

ASC Aluminum​

ETS
KCI

SGM Tactical​

D&H Aluminum​

HK
Colt Sporter

Troy Industries Battlemag​

TAPCO Intrafuse​

E-Lander​

Amend 2

I think I've gotten about all the most common magazines available.

Time for your personal reviews as to what you know is reliable. The Magazine shortage will soon hit. I think it would be good for people to know which ones to buy and which ones to not to buy.

 

[Dean C.]

Personally I run Lancer L5's , with Magpul's as backups. I prefer the metal feed lips of the Lancer and the fact I can visually see how much ammo is left in the magazine at any given time.

Also had very good luck with Magpul D60 drums (everyone should have one).

 

[BR8818]

I use lancer for 300blk and D&H & Okay mags for 5.56

 

[ACC]

Lancer & Magpul. GTG.

 

[223 Gunner]

G.I. made by any military contractor, Magpul, Lancer, E lander (Tavor).

 

[Tyler-The-Piker]

I have experience with OK, D&H, magpul, Lancer, troy, Amend2...
The only trouble I've ever had were with beat up metal USGI mags

 

[BIGE7.62]

Lancer , pmag gen2/3 and D&H .

 

[jerrob]

Magpul Gen2 has always been reliable and what I have the most of.
The D&H and Okay I have have been just as reliable, just outnumbered by the P-Mags.
The only failures I've experienced with any of the 3 brands could have been avoided by taking them out of service/rotation after something catastrophic happening, like a bent feedlip or cracked housing for the spring/follower to hang up on.
It seems that the most unreliable part of my mag game is me.

 

[drm-hp]

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[Riflemen14]

A full one, loaded and locked

 

[1775usmarine]

I prefer gi surplus mags based off my miltary experience.

 

[tsm]

Thought these were pretty useful to help answer the OPs question:

 

[johntheplinker]

Pmags of Gen 2 and 3, Okays have all worked well for me. Also Magpul uses the same plastic in all of them so durablity should be comparable between the 2 and 3. NHTMG or whatever Okay used to sell them to the .gov as were also good even though they were all beat up and worn. Brownell's mags are also good, but I don't have but a few so my sample size is small.

 

[mike4]

Best reliability odds for 30 round 5.56mm magazines from personal experience, and cumulative observation of years of online comments on failures, and another surge of research very early in the COVID panic when I picked up a bulk order of mags to split with several people I knew were about to get caught a little short on AR mags if everything dried up:

Okay Surefeed
D&H aluminum Teflon coated with Magpul followers
Magpul Gen 3

As mentioned in another thread, there is not a tremendous gap between the Magpul Gen 2 and 3, but if I did not yet own either I would buy Gen 3.

I've heard good things about Lancer but have zero hands-on experience, to where I would consider them if the above were not available. Unless Colt has cheaped out with their financial issues, their factory mags are solid, historically always or most often made by Okay I think, but always grossly overpriced to buy in bulk.

D&H mags are still amazingly cheap given the current market, to where I cannot see any of those other magazines saving enough money for me to roll the dice with them, or waste now-very-expensive ammo proving them out. D&H are the best value of my above Top 3 considering for a long time they have included the superior Magpul followers (US military should have adopted that follower years ago instead of developing alternative "improved" followers). The only negative with D&H is they can have a very sharp edge on the inside of the magazine lips, and I prefer to break that edge with a few passes of fine abrasive so it's not digging into the brass and increasing friction in the process.

 

[Tombs]

I'd rate okay surefeed E2s or standard GI pattern surefeeds as the top magazine out there. While magpuls are great, you need to think about how polymer will age 50 years down the road.

If you need extended capacity, I'd look at the surefire 60s.

While we have relatively lax laws and can readily buy any of this stuff almost anywhere, the polymer mags make sense, but always remember what the future might hold.

 

[rooster]

Heard horrible things about hex mags. I’ve had good reliability from GI mags and magpul g2’s. Haven’t seen a reason to try anything else.

 

[tsm]

While magpuls are great, you need to think about how polymer will age 50 years down the road.

Pretty sure I won’t need to worry about that, and my grandson can figure out how to solve that problem if necessary.

 

[2tonic]

Magpul Gen 2 & 3, DH, Okay, have all done fine by me.
I can also report that the Brownell's mags are dependable performers.

 

[DadSmith]

Thanks guys for the replies. Keep them coming I believe this is important so people don't waste money on garbage magazines like Promags, and some untested magazines. Now is the time to get them before the ban hammer drops.

I personally have experienced the Promag garbage back when I was in my early 20's and told myself never again.

I use Duramags which use to be CPD they work great and I also have used Pmags M2 and M3 both work great and reliable. I have a few E-lander mags but I have not tried them yet still new in package. Are E-lander 556 mags any good?

 

[sheepdog697]

I have colt stamped steel mags, lancers, and magpul. None of them have gave me any issues.