11 minute read
THE CAGE: MAGAZINES
THE CAGE: MAG UP!
OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS WE’VE BEEN LOOKING AT WHAT THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGION LOOK FOR WHEN THEY COME TO SET UP THEIR OWN AEGS AND GBBS AND WHY THEY CHOOSE WHAT THEY DO. WE’RE GOING TO DRAW THIS CAGE-CYCLE TO A CLOSE NOW AND TO CONCLUDE WE’LL LOOK AT POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCESSORIES TO KEEP YOU EFFECTIVE INGAME, AND THAT’S MAGAZINES!
So, you’ve finally got the AEG or GBB that you’ve always wanted, you’ve set it up just as you like it with a decent optic and all the accessories that you ever dreamed of having, and you’re good to go. You load up with BBs of your favourite weight, and you’ve chorno’d and tested your new love and joy with the magazine that came with it, and everything is set for the best day of airsoft EVER!
Now you’re on the field and having a ball, and your new baby is performing like no other airsoft platform you’ve ever owned, and you’re getting kills aplenty! You blaze through that new mag, scream “MAG!” and then “UP!” to your team-mates and prepare to re-engage, and then… nothing happens or you just hear that deadly “thunk” rather than a solid “pew”.
C’mon, it’s happened to all if us in our “airsoft life”, and if it hasn’t happened to you yet, one day it WILL!
The fact is that not all airsoft magazines are equal, and whilst some will fit and feed perfectly in one AEG, they don’t feed at all in another, or wobble about like a mad bobblehead! Should we therefore just give up and buy proprietary or “same brand” magazines to feed our shooty-beasts, or is there another way?
There sure is, but it takes time and effort to get right, and means that you’ll have some disastrous failures as well as screaming successes. Over the course of my time playing airsoft I’ve tried magazines from just about every manufacturer out there, and my own collection for a multitude of platforms is quite vast. But, and this is a big old but, I know from experience just which magazines work best with which platforms, and if I’m taking a particular AEG out then I know just which mags to load up and place in my pouches for that day; I totally understand that this isn’t a luxury that everyone has, especially if you’re new to airsoft.
My personal advice to you is not to go for the magazine brand that appears the most “Gucci” on that particular day, or that which has been endorsed by an “influenza” of dubious provenance because they’re getting paid by Brand X this month… go back to that old adage of “try before you buy”, and work out which brand fits with YOUR AEG the best. When you go to site and have a range to play with ask other players politely which brand they use, and ask them if you can spin a few BBs downrange with their mag to check it; most airsofters I know will be happy to let you kick out a few BBs, especially if you’re admiring their mags and are interested in getting some yourself.
Big tip though; don’t try a mag, find it doesn’t work in YOUR AEG and then tell the owner that “those mags are sh1t mate” as the mags in question probably work flawlessly in THEIR AEG… this has actually happened to me, and it’s a real “DBAD moment” where your behaviour can lead to making new friends… or new enemies!
Bottom line here is take the darn time to find out what works best with your own AEG; my AKs all love the old MAG 120 Middies, and I generally use NUPROL 30/125 N-MAGS for my ARs and I use these both as a benchmark for testing as they fit and feed in pretty much anything! That said, I have mags from so many manufacturers, a collection that’s built up over 25-plus years of playing, and I can normally find something to fit and work in even the most recalcitrant and picky platform… apart from that one CYMA AK “waffle” that doesn’t fit ANYTHING other than the AEG it came with.
For my GBBRs I do tend to stick with buying mags from the platform creator, as sadly there still seems to be next-to-zero commonality across the gas systems out there! Hopefully one day this will change, but given that the manufacturers in this specific arena are all chasing performance through their own innovation, I don’t see it anytime soon…
If you’re going to avoid that dreaded “thunk” moment though, trust me when I tell you to test ALL your mags with the SPECIFIC platform you’re going to be running before you hit the field… you’ll thank me when those around you are running dry!
TEAM TALK
As always though I don’t expect you to take my word as gospel any more than I’d advise you to just check online to find out which mag am bestest, so as usual I’ve thrown some questions out to the AA Legionnaires, and this month it was “What are your go-to magazines? Do you prefer Drums, His, Mids, or Realcaps? Do you stick with one brand, or do you shop around for different mag brands/models, especially for different platforms?”
Larri: As a dedicated CQB Hi-Capa user I use ProWin aluminium-made magazines with around 40 BB capacity.
Robbie: I prefer reduced midcaps (reduced in that I’d add a bit of extra spacer to increase the spring tension some). In the end I was running 90BB Mids for the AK, and or Realcaps. As for brand or whatnot, it always depended on what ran best in which replica. Pistol and GBB mags; again what worked in the replica, but in almost every single case I found I had to redo the valves. I guess my question to go along with this... gas mags, factory, stock, or aftermarket, they all mixed well. At the end of my active playing time in Florida I was only into GBB replicas. If I return to airsoft (now I’ve moved) I’m pretty sure it will be only gas tuff… but if I bust into the UK next spring I’ll use whatever I can borrow!
Boycie: I use standard mags of between 30 and 120 BBs depending on what rifle they are for. For the KWAs I use their mags and for my other AR-based platforms I use HexMag or Lancer AWM. For me half the fun is reloading and having to be aware of how much ammo is left rather than carrying a huge maraca of a Hicap. Also I only tend to carry five or six primary mags, mostly not using them all in a one hour or so game
Miguel: Well, in Portugal a lot of bigger events don’t allow Hicap mags, except for LMGs, so from early on we got used to using Mid or Lowcaps. I’ve been using the Specna Arms S-Mags for a while since they feed all my SA AR replicas; I never had issues and I even have spares. A good way to keep things simple!
Stewbacca: For me there isn’t much of a choice. With the exception of Glock-based things there is rarely any interchangeability with GBB mags, so it’s a case of real or low capacity sticks or bananas for everything. Yeah, you can get drums for some GBBRs but they’re just a bit of a ballache to my mind, not exactly easy to store or utilise with gear if you do end up having to change between them or reload, and for most of my gaming a few hundred BBs on me at any one time is fine.
Also, I hate tactical maracas like Boycie, so in the event I do touch an AEG it’s Midcaps all the way! I basically have at least four mags for every gas gun I have, some like the WE L85, T91 and HK416 can share AR mags as they’re interchangeable, as are my WE MP5s, but everything else is basically proprietary to each platform. They REALLY should make a STANAG-style gas system arrangement for gas mag compatability though…
All my gear is basically stock until something breaks. I’ve had a few mags I’ve had to reseal every so often, and sometimes the valves wear, shear off or the floating bit gets jammed so they need replacing, but otherwise things tend to work reasonably well. I do find narrow mags like the PP2K or Vz61 have issue feeding and firing a full load in some cases, guess there just isn’t enough gas volume in them. But it does vary by age/maintenance at times too. Some will, some won’t… basically we inject gas in and hopefully our hopes and dreams don’t leak out!
Turgay: I use mid cap. 70-120 BB cap. My brand choice is like this; 1- AMOEBA, 2- KRYTAC, 3- NUPROL. I also like KWA mags, but they sometimes have a problem fitting on other brand AEGs
Dan: For my shop, I have a bit of everything on hand. So, if a customer has some specific requests and says they need it to run with Elite Force mags or BAMF’s, etc. I can be sure to fully test it with such. But sometimes it’s often the inverse and I’ll have to come up with some alternative magazine options for their gun that will play nice with it. Much like in real steel, bad magazines can be the source of so many woes. To my never ending amusement (and exasperation), I have always found
recommending that customers repair or upgrade their mags to be like asking for the blood of their first born lol. They get weirdly attached to them and it never occurs that they can wear out or be of such poor quality as to inhibit feeding.
For my personal use, I’m strictly a Midcap kinda guy. I use PTS EPM’s or Ares AMAG’s for anything that takes an AR-style mag, though I also run the original PTS P-Mag 30/60’s in my KWA guns that have the last round cutoff. The AK’s are typically running CYMA Mids because they just plain work. I still am sitting on a nice stack of unobtanium Real Sword Mids for the 47 pattern stuff. The VFC MP7 takes it’s own mags, which are modified with PTS springs and followers. The only “hicap” I use is on the PKM, where I have the Bullgear insert providing a 7000 BB capacity; go big or go home as they say!
Chris: Midcaps, Midcaps for all! The only gnu I have a boxmag for is the Stoner. For the AUG I use Standard TM 80 BB mags or the 170 BB MAG midcaps, and generally I take a mix of both out with me. For my ARs I have some NUPROL 120 BB Mdcaps
Jimmy: I have a mountain of mags, all of which differ in capacity. First off I like to carry a large
“TO MY NEVER ENDING AMUSEMENT (AND EXASPERATION), I HAVE ALWAYS FOUND RECOMMENDING THAT CUSTOMERS REPAIR OR UPGRADE THEIR MAGS TO BE LIKE ASKING FOR THE BLOOD OF THEIR FIRST BORN LOL. THEY GET WEIRDLY ATTACHED TO THEM AND IT NEVER OCCURS THAT THEY CAN WEAR OUT OR BE OF SUCH POOR QUALITY AS TO INHIBIT FEEDING.”
quantity of BBs as I love playing the role of support. It doesn’t matter what the platform is, I WILL give support for my team members. In order to do this you will need either a good amount of Hicaps or my favourite, the drum/box mag. I have a drum/box mag for most of my platforms ranging from 1500BBs right up to a whopping 3000 count! Drum mags, because reloads are stooped haha!
I occasionally run with Midcaps which can house 150 BBs but it isn’t often that happens if I am honest. The major bane of airsoft, the reason I own so many magazines is due to the vast collection I have compiled over the years and there doesn’t seem to be any kind of standard, so there is no such thing as “one mag fits all”. So many manufacturers are adopting their own designs so you have to buy more! I am thankful for the G&G M4/M16 drum mag as this thing just fits every M4/AR platform I own… which is a bonus and it is cheaper to buy one drum mag than EIGHT Hicaps at £30 each… that’s my logic anyhoo! AA
