[Solved] LAR15 Mag Comparison

Mr. Bean said:
I noticed with the gray ones they are hard to use on closed bolt. Very tight. Often in a course of fire it would fall out for not seating all the way in. I run a Norc. 5.56 but dont think thats the problem. I ended up shaving a bit off the follower to ease seating and works better. Just be careful not to shave too much off or ya get an 11 rounder.
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I have had no such problems. On "Load And Make Ready" I regularly put one in the chamber from a stripper mag and then put in a fresh LAR mag from Questar.
 
I didn't realize there were differences. Might explain the issue I'm having. Bought 4 from SFRC for my Kel-Tec. I've put about 100 rounds through it, but had 2 jams, same thing happened each time- the round started to feed when the bolt picked it up, but something caused the bullet to get jammed back into the casing and the case mouth comes to rest on the front lip of the mag.

Stripping ammo out of these mags is a b*tch; they are greyish with light gray followers- My guess is its the followers themselves, or the feed lips... thoughts?
 
The sad thing is you shouldn't have to replace followers on a brand new magazine. You'd think the dealers would sort this issue out rather than putting it on the consumer.
 
TV-PressPass said:
I've seen some really bad LAR-15 mags in the past. A buddy of mine was using the ones with the grey bubbly follower in his Vz-58 and the bolt hold open was catching and marking up the back of the mag pretty bad.

I bought the ones I like from the Calgary Shooting Center, but thats a bit of a haul for you! ;)
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i gotthe grey ones from questar and the follower is shaped to look like a bullet. the mag catch on my friends norc took a cunk out of one of mine. i filled it with epoxy and no more issues.

blaxsun said:
Just replace the followers and base plates (Magpul is the best option) and it becomes an entirely new magazine. ;)
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the judge said:
The sad thing is you shouldn't have to replace followers on a brand new magazine. You'd think the dealers would sort this issue out rather than putting it on the consumer.
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Very true...and buying new mags, then new followers jacks the cost of them, but im going to have to buy the followers eventually for the ones ive already got.
the one thing i like about the grey ones is the writing is stamped in them, ive seen some that are printed on them, if it wears off then youve jut got a 10 round mag, nothing saying its for a pistol.
 
Draezin said:
Mine from Questar are good to go. No issues at all.

The polymer couplers on the other hand... Not Questars fault, but the polymer ones are junk.
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i put electrical tape around the couplers, mine slip on and off easily.
SFRC had metal one but are sold out.

the ones i have coming i got ranger plates for.
 
I got 10 gray Questar mags with gray followers and coupled them -- no problems -- then decided to try 10 of the black CanAmmo ones with the orange Magpul followers... but those mags are shaped with an angled base so coupling them produces a pretty severe angle... I left them uncoupled and just procrastinated dealing with it... am I missing something? Any advice?

Gimme a crate of Beowulves so I can give these LARs away...
 
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NorthernCX said:
...the round started to feed when the bolt picked it up, but something caused the bullet to get jammed back into the casing and the case mouth comes to rest on the front lip of the mag...
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I had this exact issue but it seemed to only happen when I was shooting Norinco 223. The Norinco ammo is 2 thou longer in OAL than the bulk AE 223 I was shooting and it seemed that little extra length meant there was less margin for feeding errors with the crappy LAR mag followers. I replaced the followers with magpul ones and haven't had that problem since.
 
another one looking for a store with magpul followers instock... hopefully that takes emt, pm me if you know of someone, need to convert ine over as well. did the lip shaving conversion on my lar mags but would still like better reliability.
 
Runningfool said:
I had this exact issue but it seemed to only happen when I was shooting Norinco 223. The Norinco ammo is 2 thou longer in OAL than the bulk AE 223 I was shooting and it seemed that little extra length meant there was less margin for feeding errors with the crappy LAR mag followers. I replaced the followers with magpul ones and haven't had that problem since.
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Hadn't thought of that, but it wasn't Norinco or bulk ammo I was using.... Federal ammo, and not the cheap stuff... more details might get me in trouble...

I've just ordered 4 from CanadaAmmo, we'll see how well those work. In the meantime, I think I'll get out the Dremel and a sanding drum and lightly reshape - I mean, deburr - the feed lips and the front area of these ones. Or at least the one that I've identified as having done it, since I left the ammo as is in it until I got it home and marked the mag follower with a Sharpie.
 
Ya, I'd like to know who has the followers as well...

I just ordered some LAR mags from Questar, and until I was this thread, I had no idea there were different ones around, I assumed they were all the same, but I guess not.
 
Well, I'll try and get to the range this week, but likely won't be until Saturday and test the minor cleanup I did on one of my LAR-15s. It's the last one that I know that caused this particular problem. Used a small sanding drum on a variable-speed Dremel on a low setting so I wouldn't take off too much metal. Basically, I chamfered the front inside edge of the magazine, and deburred the inside of the feed lips, went a little heavier at the very front of those feed lips to let the casings slide out better. I can't see anything wrong with the followers besides the ugly grey colour.

Judging solely on loading and then using the back of a marker as a 'bolt', they now feed cleanly and much more smoothly from the mag, no snagging or dragging. With use, I imagine they will wear in a little better even. Only took a couple minutes and seems more reasonable than changing out followers/floorplates. If I run a box or two without a FTF I'll consider it a success and do the same to the other three. They were all from SFRC, by the way. Not their fault, it just looks that since they are stamped steel, there were some sharp edges that needed smoothing out. I wouldn't even call it a manufacturing 'defect' per se, just a normal consequence of mass production in the 21st century. For $24, what do you expect? I've had more troubles with $60 Savage 5-rounders.
 
NorthernCX said:
... I can't see anything wrong with the followers besides the ugly grey colour...
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It's not what you can see, it's what you can feel. The polymer magpul uses is "self lubricating" (their words, not mine) and it slides like butter in there as compared to the stock grey followers. I took the rough edges off the steel like you did and that helped a lot but if you can get your hands on some magpul followers they will make your LAR mags more reliable.
 
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