School me on 223 AICS mags

[Hickswr]

Put together a Aero Solus with a criterion 223 1:7 twist match chamber for a plinker.

Thought I had procured a 223 aics mag during MDT Black Friday sale but can’t find it anywhere.

Which AICS mag is reliable and accommodates long bullets?

Will be used in a KRG Bravo to start with.

 

[Edsel]

https://mdttac.com/us/223-mdt-metal-aics-magazine

• 3.055 Outside Length
• 3.90" Rear Height (same height as MDT 10-rd .308 metal magazines)
• 2.50 max cartridge overall length (COAL)
• Polymer feedlip inserts extend ~0.5" past the end of the metal feedlip backer, thus retaining the round longer, helping ensure the tip of the round has entered the chamber before the rear of the round is released.

• .223 REM family of cartridges: 10 Rounds
• MAX COAL: 2.44"

re: MDT clipazines for .223 Remington

The plastic ones they presently have do not look like the fugly ones I own, like the one below.

Looks like things have changed.

The steel ones can accommodate longer bullets compared to the plastic ones due to having thinner walls.

Can't speak for the KRG chassis - but from my personal misadventures - MDT clipazines in an MDT chassis never have any issues.

 

[oldrifleman]

I use the MDT 10 round metal!

 

[Im2bent]

Practical tactical on YouTube had a video on how to modify for 2.600 oal the accurate mags

 

[spife7980]

Accurate mags are the only ones I haven’t had to mess with the mag well at some point across several chassis. I say avoid the polymer bodies.

 

[King_beardsly]

I like my accurate mags for 223, they are easy to modify to and are completely rebuild able in case something happens with the poly feedlips

 

[ShtrRdy]

I've been using Accurate Mag in both 5-round and 10-round and they work great.

 

[Rob01]

I run the MDT poly mags that I got in the Black Friday sales and they work great in my .223 with 75 ELDs at 2.470”. Not sure why they list 2.44” on the site but it’s not what I have in my 8 mags. Here’s some pics including an unopened mag listing 2.550” as max internal length.

 

[pyrotechnic]

MDT recently changed the poly mags. They are now physically bigger, but no longer hold 10 rounds of .223 Ackely (still will hold 10 rounds of regular .223) and went from a 2.550 max OAL down to the 2.440.

 

[Rob01]

MDT recently changed the poly mags. They are now physically bigger, but no longer hold 10 rounds of .223 Ackely (still will hold 10 rounds of regular .223) and went from a 2.550 max OAL down to the 2.440.

Well that sucks. Why would you make them physically bigger but limit the OAL? Makes no sense but glad I got mine.

OP guess you have to go metal bodies now.

 

[dzeke]

I currently use MDT metal mags for my 223 in a KRG X-Ray. Has worked very well for me. Curiosity, and a good deal, got the better of me and I bought a couple of Magpul AICS 223 mags. They are extremely loose and rough feeding. Honestly haven't given them a good chance but after how sloppy they were I had zero desire to even try them.

 

[saddlerocker]

There is a little bit of adjustment on the krg bravo for the magwell. I had to tighten mine up a little for MDT poly and metal mags to both work 100%. The metal is a little tight now, but I had issues feeding with the poly mags before I tightened up the magwell.

 

[flyfisher117]

MDT and Accurate Mags are what I used in my REM 700 with KRG Bravo. I ended up having to buy the adjustable mag catch for the Bravo to get both magazines to feed reliably. They are still only 90%.

The polymer mags bound up in my “tuned” mag well.

 

[FuhQ]

Put together a Aero Solus with a criterion 223 1:7 twist match chamber for a plinker.

Thought I had procured a 223 aics mag during MDT Black Friday sale but can’t find it anywhere.

Which AICS mag is reliable and accommodates long bullets?

Will be used in a KRG Bravo to start with.

MDT steel AICS .223 mags are what I use. Best I've used.

 

[FuhQ]

https://mdttac.com/us/223-mdt-metal-aics-magazine

View attachment 8739227

• 3.055 Outside Length
• 3.90" Rear Height (same height as MDT 10-rd .308 metal magazines)
• 2.50 max cartridge overall length (COAL)
• Polymer feedlip inserts extend ~0.5" past the end of the metal feedlip backer, thus retaining the round longer, helping ensure the tip of the round has entered the chamber before the rear of the round is released.

The plastic ones they presently have do not look like the fugly ones I own, like the one below.

The steel ones can accommodate longer bullets compared to the plastic ones due to having thinner walls.

Can't speak for the KRG chassis - but from my personal misadventures - MDT clipazines in an MDT chassis never have any issues.

These are what I run... The long COAL is nice for using with a precision bolt action .300 BLK build, or .223 build, to allow seating to the lands.

 

[srt-4_uk]

Well that sucks. Why would you make them physically bigger but limit the OAL? Makes no sense but glad I got mine.

OP guess you have to go metal bodies now.

That's why. Force you to spend more on metal mags. The old MDT polymer mags had the longest OAL (without modifications) for a long time and were dirt cheap.

 

[Rob01]

That's why. Force you to spend more on metal mags. The old MDT polymer mags had the longest OAL (without modifications) for a long time and were dirt cheap.

Yup. Glad I got 8 of them from Black Fridays lol I wonder if you can do some dremel work on the new ones? That 2.470” is .020” off the lands in my .223 Wylde chamber so would only take a little dremel work to open it up some. Maybe I will buy one on Black Friday and try it.

 

[Kiba]

Over the years I've ran the old genuine AI 223 magazines, accurate 223 mags, and mdt metal and plastic 223 mags, and in a couple oddball cartridges I use the Ruger scout 223 AICS mags.

Genuine AI were the smoothest and I still have about 6 early production ones in service but near the end of their production run they started splitting down the center seam, and the thick reinforced feed lips didn't fit in all actions (notably tikkas.)

Current favorite are the accurate mags. They're smooth feeding (but not quite as smooth as the genuine AI mags) and reliable, but quite long being single stack. You do have to file the front of the liners for longer OAL.

Next up for me is the metal mdt mags. About as smooth feeding as the accurate, a bit shorter since they're double stack / single feed, but in all 3 of my 223 bolt guns they are not as reliable as the accurate mags and occasionally have feeding issues.

Last up are the mdt plastic mags. They feed ok but are horribly "draggy" on the cases and require a lot of force on the bolt to strip the rounds out of the mag especially for the first 4 rounds out of the mag in every gun I've tried. I was hoping they would work better because they're fairly cheap on the black Friday deals, but they sucked to use so I sold them. I haven't seen many others complain about this so maybe I got some bad ones where the plastic blend or surface finish was off.

Ruger also makes a 223 AICS mag for their scout rifle with longer feed lips than any of the other 223 mags on the market, but they don't actually feed 223 in any of my R700 pattern actions I've tried; the feed lips hold into the case too long and the cartridge enters the chamber at a weird angle stops the bolt; even worse with 223AI. Keep in mind the Ruger scout in 223 may use an AICS pattern mag but it is not an R700 clone action, so that's probably the reason; it was made for the Ruger action. However, the extra long feed lips on the Ruger scout 223 magazine means it works fantastic for reliably mag feeding the stubby little 20 vartarg in an R700 pattern action, while neither the AI, accurate, or MDT 223 mags would do so.

 

[Rob01]

What rifle you use the poly MDTs in? In my TL3 they run super smooth and reliable. Wonder if it’s a rifle thing.

 

[Kiba]

What rifle you use the poly MDTs in? In my TL3 they run super smooth and reliable. Wonder if it’s a rifle thing.

Tried the mdt plastics in 2x genuine R700, a nucleus, Archimedes, TL3, and deviant. Horribly draggy feeding in all of them, felt like the case rim was digging into and gouging the feed lips, sometimes it would even chatter the bolt when stripping the round from the mag. You really had to muscle the bolt forward especially for the first 4-5 out of the mag, then the follower tension relaxed a bit and it wasn't so bad. Played with mag height, didn't help. Maybe I got a bad batch but all 5 I bought on black Friday a few years ago had the same issue.

Really wanted the MDT metal 223 mags to work since they are dssf and shorter than the single stack accurates, but a couple of misfeeds with the MDT metals made me miss shots on coyotes so I went back the accurates.

At least we have a few choices and you can pick whatever works best in your rifles. As a disclaimer both my 223 bolt actions are 223AI and that makes them a bit pickier on feeding and presentation angle and release point compared to a standard 223 with a more shallow shoulder angle.

 

[Rob01]

Tried the mdt plastics in 2x genuine R700, a nucleus, Archimedes, TL3, and deviant. Horribly draggy feeding in all of them, felt like the case rim was digging into and gouging the feed lips, sometimes it would even chatter the bolt when stripping the round from the mag. You really had to muscle the bolt forward especially for the first 4-5 out of the mag, then the follower tension relaxed a bit and it wasn't so bad. Played with mag height, didn't help. Maybe I got a bad batch but all 5 I bought on black Friday a few years ago had the same issue.

Really wanted the MDT metal 223 mags to work since they are dssf and shorter than the single stack accurates, but a couple of misfeeds with the MDT metals made me miss shots on coyotes so I went back the accurates.

At least we have a few choices and you can pick whatever works best in your rifles. As a disclaimer both my 223 bolt actions are 223AI and that makes them a bit pickier on feeding and presentation angle and release point compared to a standard 223 with a more shallow shoulder angle.

Damn. I will consider myself lucky then that all mine are great. lol Nothing even near what you describe. I won’t be getting any more now anyways so not a big deal. I had second thoughts after my comment above about getting one to try and Dremel it to make it longer than the new 2.44” oal.