Review: Magpul vs. OEM magazines

JT

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I took my OEM G19 Gen 5 mags and my new Magpul G19 mags out today for other purposes and have made the following observations:
  1. The Magpul sidewalls are significantly more 'flexible' than the Glock -- to be expected. No initial flex problems with either though.
  2. The Magpul springs feel noticeably stiffer when loading. The Uplula required more downward pressure pretty much from the start. No initial feeding problems with either though.
  3. The Magpul feed lips felt subtly different when loading manually -- a very slight perceived difference in shape and in edge curvature. No initial FTF problems with either though.
  4. There was no perceived difference in seating either magazine in my Glock 19 or my PC 9.
The only thing left is to see how they last comparatively, which will take some time. But rotating them through both my G19 and my PC9 may hasten that somewhat.

All in all, as near as I can tell, if there is a quality difference between the two, it's going to have to be in longevity.
 
They work very poorly with steel cased ammo. OK at first but then the inner surfaces get 'roughed up' and they start binding. You'll also run into trouble with rounds loaded toward the max side of OAL, the noses hang up on the front of the body and cause feed issues. Ammo that runs 100% in OEM mags can choke in the magpul stuff.

That's just been my experience with the 4 G17 mags I got, they're now relegated to dry fire practice.
 
I have used the 21 round 9mm magpul mags in my competition G17 for about 2 years now. Got 6 when the first came out. Only issue I every had was a reload that was too long, my fault. Around 2500 rounds through them. BUT I will say for carry I only use factory just because.
 
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I've had to strip my Magpuls from the gun more than once even with a few rounds still in them, can't recall an OEM ever needing it.
The springs in the 17 round magpuls seem softer to me than OEM, the frequent failures to lock back on empty suggest they are.
They're not awful mags, found cheap enough I'd buy again, but I won't run them in competition.
 
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