PMAG Problems

[Yerman]

Hey guys,

I have 5 10/20 PMAG's that all have ranger plates and they all have UBBT's

I am having two problems:

• With 4 of the 5 mags the bolt is not catching on the last round
• Sometimes when loading the magazine, the bolt will release if I push it in to hard. I'm not slamming it in there but I am giving it a little bump to make sure it seats well into the catch

Any ideas?

[sirsloth]

Sounds like your bolt catch is faulty or defective. Did you dry fire the gun a lot without the upper attached?

What does a visual inspection reveal? The PMAG follower is supposed to push up on the bolt catch on an empty mag. If it's not catching, then either the follower is too short or the bolt catch is too short or both.

[Yerman]

Had it for two weeks now...probably dry fired the gun a total of 3 or 4 times but the upper was always attached. I just check to make sure it goes click after I clean it.

I'll check the bolt catch and the follower tomorrow. Perhaps I'll be able to take a few pics too. Thanks for the feedback.

I also have the 10 rounder that came with my AR which always holds the bolt open so it sounds like it might be the PMAG follower. Any way to check it's height? Can it be seen visually if I post pics?

[Skynut]

I just put a pmag in my rifle and have a hard time getting the bolt to stay open. I have not fired it yet but am interested in why this is happening. My factory 10 round has no problem.

[sirsloth]

What I would do is completely remove the upper. Then insert a "good" magazine. Observe the way the follower interacts with the bolt catch. This is what should be happening with the other mags. From there it shouldn't be too difficult to pinpoint the problem.

[Skynut]

Thank you for the picture

[OC-Indian]

Sounds like your bolt catch is faulty or defective. Did you dry fire the gun a lot without the upper attached?

What does a visual inspection reveal? The PMAG follower is supposed to push up on the bolt catch on an empty mag. If it's not catching, then either the follower is too short or the bolt catch is too short or both.

This +100

[Yerman]

Well, you guys were right..first pic is of the factory 10 round metal clip installed and the second is the PMAG.

Fumbling around with the follower on the PMAG does push it up to where it needs to be but sometimes if I push on the follower it catches in the back where it is supposed to push up on the bolt catch.

I can see why it holds it sometimes and why is sometimes doesn't. It also explains why when I hit the bottom of my mag it sometimes releases the bolt inadvertently. It's because sometime the bolt is only being held open by the tip of the blot catch.

I thought these things were supposed to be the best? WTF?

Any ideas for fixing them?

[jetspeedz]

You are not the only one, in fact my buddy had the same identical problem. He ended up getting it replaced for free i believe from the place he bought it from. The original maker/modifier claimed everything looked fine so he was out of luck with him.

http://calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?p=7180824

[MudCamper]

I had the same problem. Here's my thread. It's long, but the short of it is that PMAGs are out of spec, some production runs much worse than others. Combine that with either a) slightly-out-of-spec lower or b) wear from use, and the PMAGs will not hold the bolt catch.

Problem is, the MagPul fanboys are quite numerous and loud, so there is no showing the light to them or just about anybody else until it's too late.

[Yerman]

So here is a video of what is happening...

[Yerman]

Anybody have any other comments based on the video? I'm getting ready to take my mags to the Mail-n-More.

Trying to decide if I should try to fix them (http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.ht...f=124&t=197936) or send them in.

[Nismo]

Anybody have any other comments based on the video? I'm getting ready to take my mags to the Mail-n-More.

Trying to decide if I should try to fix them (http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.ht...f=124&t=197936) or send them in.

Those are the old version Pmags. The new ones have green followers. Not sure if they fix the issue or not but worth a try.

[Yerman]

Those are the old version Pmags. The new ones have green followers. Not sure if they fix the issue or not but worth a try.

New version PMAGS have green followers? Are you sure?

[sirsloth]

Since you bought them pre-blocked, I would assume that whatever method they used to block the mags must be causing the problem.

The follower and bolt catch are making solid contact. The follower just isn't being pushed up far enough. My guess is the block is interfering with the spring somehow.

I would go ahead and send them back, but if you want too tackle the problem yourself, you're best bet is to disassemble the magazine and see what's going on inside of them. This may or may not be possible if it has been epoxied or riveted.