Carbine Gun
Very High Capacity M-16 Magazines
One of the few limitations of the AR platform is its limited magazine capacity. There have been many attempts to address this issue. Some of these attempts resulted in products that are still marketed today.
One that has been around for a while is the MWG 90 magazine. This is a 90 round snail drum of plastic construction with a clear window at the back to view the available rounds. The MWG is relatively inexpensive but has some disadvantages. Firstly the loading is assymetric. For some reason MWG opted to have the magazine curl to the left. This puts it right in the way of the shooter’s arm. You can partially overcome this by putting a fore grip far toward the front of your fore-end, but this isn’t ideal. The MWG is regarded as reliable and is more robust than it looks. Loading is facilitated by a loading chute and nine ten round stripper clips supplied with the magazine.
Another option that has been around for a while is the Beta C Mag. The C Mag takes the form of two equally sized drums either side of the gun for symetrical loading. The C Mag appears more robust than the MWG and has the choice of either a clear or opaque rear face. It comes with a heavy duty pouch, loading tool and two tubes of graphite grease which provides optimum feeding. Strangely, after initially putting out a warning about C Mag unreliability in desert conditions after tests in Afghanistan in 2003, subsequent US Army testing on the M-4 carbine found that the C Mag “performed flawlessly in all three scenarios without jams or stoppages.” It was also tested on the M249 with great results. However, the C Mag has not been type classified by the US Military.
The latest very high capacity magazine to come onto the market is the Surefire magazine. The Surefire is due to be released for sale in June 2011 and comes in 60 and 100 round variants. The 60 round looks like a fat, aluminium 30 rounder and can fit into most double 30 round pouches. The 100 rounder is much longer and requires the use of a 45 degree offset sight like an Aimpoint T-1 to shoot prone. The Surefire uses a patented nested follower to apply consistent pressure on the stack as it is focused into the narrower section that fits into the mag well. Initial tests have been very impressive indeed.
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