Looking for a good source of used/surplus USGI 20 and 30 round magazines.
I have been checking EE and the majority of listings are for new.
Interested in any manufacturer except premium/collector mags (Colt, etc.)

If anyone has any suggestions, thank you in advance.

https://jbtactical.us/gi-metal-magazine-30-rd-m16-m4/

https://www.rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=1750

I just got a few 30 rounds from Fulton Armory.

It really seems the surplus GI mags dried up pretty quickly. I thought we would see them flood the market when the military started using PMAGs, but they may have had DRMO collect and destroy a lot of them (I’ve been away from the line for a while now). I used to see boxes and boxes of them at shows, and when I lived in El Paso about 6 years ago, a local surplus store was selling them at 6 / $30. I honestly think $5 is a fair price for used surplus mags, based on the condition most of them are in, but they’re getting scarce. Lately at shows, I only see a few here and there, and people are asking $15-$20 for well-used mags. Quite often they’re Center Industries mags, the least desirable brand, since people have long since picked out the Okay / Colt mags.

I'd been hoping to collect up singles of the older brands that had GI contracts through the years. Adventure Line, Parsons, LaBelle, General Stamping, Sanchez, Cooper, ect. The value and demand prebans command squashed that idea. That seems to have put a damper on cheap used. Later Center and Okay surplus does occasionally turn up pretty cheap, though.

I talked to a dude who was an armorer in army around the changeover period. He was incredibly salty because his orders were pull floorplates bend them in half, pull springs and cut them into 3 pieces, and use a sledgehammer to flatten the bodies. I dont remember him saying anything about the followers. He was salty more so about the work than the destroying part lol.

A local gun store had some older General Stamping/Center/Okay mags last time is was there. I think they had light green followers and dates from 1998 to 2006. I think they were $11 each.
I can go by and see if they have any left, if you want.

I scored this stack while I was there.



https://imgur.com/a/Jl4G2CW

I went back by my local gun store today and they still have a few older Center/Okay mags there. Maybe 30 left. They have light green followers and dates from 2003 to 2011. They are $11 each. I bought 5 more tonight.
One General Stamping dated 4 98, for a member here if he wants it.
Four are Okay dated 8-03 to 11-03.
The Center Industries are blank floorplates with code/dated body.

I learned something new on the Okay mags today.
The external dated ones are also date stamped on the inside.
It also looks like Okay started external date stamps in 5-91. I have a 4-91 that is internal only and a 5-91 that is both internal and external dated.