I was asked to do a review of these mags, so here we go.
First, where to find them:
10 rounder: http://www.cproductsllc.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22_107&products_id=120
5 rounder: http://www.cproductsllc.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22_106&products_id=119
When the mags arrived, I ripped open the package to take a look. The first thing I noticed was their weight. They're made of pretty thick steel, .040" as compared to .022" on their stainless AR mags. They're supposedly stainless, according to the website, so I'm not sure what kind of finish they have. Looks a lot like parkerization, but it's not if they're indeed made of stainless. The finish doesn't look anything like the finish C-products puts on their stainless AR mags.
The construction looks good, The mag body is all one piece, with a nice weld on the front of the mag.
The follower is machined from aluminum, and a leaf spring similar to what you'd find in a bolt gun's internal mag is used (only longer)
The next thing I noticed (you may have seen it if you're one of the observant ones) Is the feed lips.
The next two pictures are taken directly from C-product's website: **NOTE** These pictures were removed because apparently there is a limit to the number of pictures I can have in a post. Go to the links at the top of the post to see the images on c-products website
Now compare to the image above of my three mags.
It looks like they cut a new profile into the feed lips before they shipped them off. Not only that, but they didn't try very hard to cover it up:
Yep, that's just paint. And it looks like a monkey with a sponge applied it. This will come in later. (The feed lips, not the paint)
The mag has lots of room for longer rounds like the wildcats. They didn't weld a spacer into the front of the mag, like some of the AICS mags I've seen.
Here's what another manufacturer said about the spacers:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am running into a problem getting these things to work with all the different rifles, here is why.
PROBLEM: With the overall ID length, length of round, being about 2.960", the rounds are getting pushed forward under recoil. So anyone that has a REM 700 set up, the tip of the bullet is hitting the underside of the feed lip on the action.This is the same reason that AI has the removable peice in the front of the mag.
There is a modification that many gunsmiths do to the underside of the action so you can feed the longer round without the spacer in the mag.
The Badger action that I have here does NOT have this problem and can use the mags the way they are, without the spacer.
</div></div>
I ran into this problem with these mags. I am using a CDI bottom metal, and for these mags to feed properly, either a spacer will need to be welded into the mag, or a bit of the receiver will need to be removed.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of the mag in the action, I'll see if I can get one later.
These are factory 150gr FMJ .308, so they are kind of short, but they do illustrate just how much room is in front of them
Now, for function. Here's where the feed lips come back into play. The magazines were tested for function in a Remington 700 in an AI Chassis.
The mags went in, and locked up pretty tightly. They had a little bit more play than the AI brand mags, but not very much. I also inserted the mags into the CDI bottom metal, and the result was the same: Locked up well, but had a little bit more slack.
Inserting a loaded 10 round mag into the rifle as forcefully as we could, one of the rounds came out the top of the mag. This only happened once out of 4 times we did this, but it still happened.
The rounds fed reliably out of the 10 round mags the 4 or 5 times we tried.
The 5 round magazine, on the other hand didn't. We tried a number of times, and couldn't get it to feed all 5 rounds reliably at all. As a round was ejected, the next round would raise up at an angle, and the feed lips would not correct this. The round was at a bad enough of an angle that the bolt would ride over the base of the case, and fail to feed.
The AI brand mag is on the left. Notice that the feed lips on the AI mag are similar to what the C-Products website pictures show. I can only speculate as to why they chose to modify the feed lips, but it's obviously caused some problems. I have no idea why we didn't run into this problem with the 10 round mags. If you'll look back at the image above of the loaded 10 round mag, you can see that the round is presented at an angle. Not as severe as an angle as the 5 round mag, but it's still there.
To say the least I'm not 100% happy. The 5 round mag is a big disappointment. The 10 round mags may end up being adequate, but the problems with the feed lips on the 5 round mag has me questioning whether or not I can trust the 10 round mags.
I haven't contacted C-products yet, but I will, and I'll see what they say.
First, where to find them:
10 rounder: http://www.cproductsllc.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22_107&products_id=120
5 rounder: http://www.cproductsllc.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22_106&products_id=119
When the mags arrived, I ripped open the package to take a look. The first thing I noticed was their weight. They're made of pretty thick steel, .040" as compared to .022" on their stainless AR mags. They're supposedly stainless, according to the website, so I'm not sure what kind of finish they have. Looks a lot like parkerization, but it's not if they're indeed made of stainless. The finish doesn't look anything like the finish C-products puts on their stainless AR mags.
The construction looks good, The mag body is all one piece, with a nice weld on the front of the mag.
The follower is machined from aluminum, and a leaf spring similar to what you'd find in a bolt gun's internal mag is used (only longer)
The next thing I noticed (you may have seen it if you're one of the observant ones) Is the feed lips.
The next two pictures are taken directly from C-product's website: **NOTE** These pictures were removed because apparently there is a limit to the number of pictures I can have in a post. Go to the links at the top of the post to see the images on c-products website
Now compare to the image above of my three mags.
It looks like they cut a new profile into the feed lips before they shipped them off. Not only that, but they didn't try very hard to cover it up:
Yep, that's just paint. And it looks like a monkey with a sponge applied it. This will come in later. (The feed lips, not the paint)
The mag has lots of room for longer rounds like the wildcats. They didn't weld a spacer into the front of the mag, like some of the AICS mags I've seen.
Here's what another manufacturer said about the spacers:
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am running into a problem getting these things to work with all the different rifles, here is why.
PROBLEM: With the overall ID length, length of round, being about 2.960", the rounds are getting pushed forward under recoil. So anyone that has a REM 700 set up, the tip of the bullet is hitting the underside of the feed lip on the action.This is the same reason that AI has the removable peice in the front of the mag.
There is a modification that many gunsmiths do to the underside of the action so you can feed the longer round without the spacer in the mag.
The Badger action that I have here does NOT have this problem and can use the mags the way they are, without the spacer.
</div></div>
I ran into this problem with these mags. I am using a CDI bottom metal, and for these mags to feed properly, either a spacer will need to be welded into the mag, or a bit of the receiver will need to be removed.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of the mag in the action, I'll see if I can get one later.
These are factory 150gr FMJ .308, so they are kind of short, but they do illustrate just how much room is in front of them
Now, for function. Here's where the feed lips come back into play. The magazines were tested for function in a Remington 700 in an AI Chassis.
The mags went in, and locked up pretty tightly. They had a little bit more play than the AI brand mags, but not very much. I also inserted the mags into the CDI bottom metal, and the result was the same: Locked up well, but had a little bit more slack.
Inserting a loaded 10 round mag into the rifle as forcefully as we could, one of the rounds came out the top of the mag. This only happened once out of 4 times we did this, but it still happened.
The rounds fed reliably out of the 10 round mags the 4 or 5 times we tried.
The 5 round magazine, on the other hand didn't. We tried a number of times, and couldn't get it to feed all 5 rounds reliably at all. As a round was ejected, the next round would raise up at an angle, and the feed lips would not correct this. The round was at a bad enough of an angle that the bolt would ride over the base of the case, and fail to feed.
The AI brand mag is on the left. Notice that the feed lips on the AI mag are similar to what the C-Products website pictures show. I can only speculate as to why they chose to modify the feed lips, but it's obviously caused some problems. I have no idea why we didn't run into this problem with the 10 round mags. If you'll look back at the image above of the loaded 10 round mag, you can see that the round is presented at an angle. Not as severe as an angle as the 5 round mag, but it's still there.
To say the least I'm not 100% happy. The 5 round mag is a big disappointment. The 10 round mags may end up being adequate, but the problems with the feed lips on the 5 round mag has me questioning whether or not I can trust the 10 round mags.
I haven't contacted C-products yet, but I will, and I'll see what they say.
