AR Sponsor
Posted: 4/29/2009 3:50:24 PM EDT
| What are their benefits and drawbacks compared to aluminum magazines? I know they'll most likely be stronger, but are there any other advantages? Do they use the same followers? |
|
The real question is, is stronger a good thing?
Your rifle's receiver is made of forged aluminum. Let's say you have a USGI aluminum or plastic mag in the well. You jump into a ditch or foxhole, or otherwise have to hit the ground fast. Mag hits the ground hard. Mag's weaker than your receiver; mag bends or breaks. Not good, but you can eject the mag and push in a fresh one and engage zombies. Now let's say you have a SS mag in place. Same scenario; but this time the mag is stronger, your rifle's receiver gives way instead. Now you got a busted rifle and are out of action––backup handgun, anyone? The weakest link is what goes, and this can be designed. Old Indy cars used to get in horrific wrecks; car looked OK, driver was dead at the hospital. Modern Indy cars –– watch 'em, it's a controlled disintegration, the car falls apart as it tumbles. Come to rest, car looks unrecognizable, driver walks out and waves to crowd. Same with your AR, possibly. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Not necessarily stronger. Are they weaker? Depends on the magazine. I can crush, by hand, a thinner gauge steel mag more than I can crush an aluminum mag. But the thicker steel mags are more resistant to my Hulk grip. On the other hand, the thinner steel mags do better when dropped, loaded. Spot welds on some aluminum mags last longer than some spot welds on some steel mags. And vice versa. And some spot welded aluminum mags are more resistant to crushing forces than some steel mags which are welded along the length of the mag body. In that case the weld(s) is/are stronger, but the body is weaker. So it isn't a simple "X is stronger than Y" statement. |
|
Quoted:
The lower receiver's aluminum is so much thicker... Falling on a magazine won't break your rifle. I doubt it would break the receiver but I once had a magazine become jammed in the magwell after a fall which put a lot of force on the bottom of the mag. It shoved the bolt catch up beyond its normal movement range, pushed the bolt catch detent to a point above the hole in the receiver, and rendered the bolt catch inoperable. The mag catch "hole" in the mag became damaged/deformed. The rifle was definitely out of action. Took about 20 minutes of concerted effort to get the mag out without further damaging the weapon. |
AR Sponsor