Howdy black rifle lovers:
Hungry or TacticalTeacher here, I've played with the GS Design (business member here on CGNutz) LAR 10 rd magazine extender all afternoon and I'm kinda liking it.
Most of you know me (hungry or tacticalteacher) as the M14 clinic dude, but some of you don't know that I'm one of the Service Rifle geeks running the ORA Service Rifle and CQB matches alongside the TimFoo (legendary Service Rifle match director). With that SR and CQB background , I am always fighting to get my magazines to load and secure itself inside my AR15 mag well when the bolt is forward. Many mfg'ers pin the magazine to 5.0 rds and NOT the 5.5 or 5.75 rounds that we need for Service Rifle or Service CQB matches (loading with a closed bolt to give you 1 in the chamber and 5 in the magazine)
Now that we got the LAR 10 rounder, I have lots of slack to load the 5 rounds on a closed bolt. Life is great now. BUT (big but) the LAR magazine is too short to manipulate under stress and when coupled together exposes the bottom magazine to the dirt/grass/sand/gravel, and that contact will compromise the feed lips on the bottom magazine as it faces the bottom.
Once you incorporate the GS Design 10 Rd Magazine extender, this 10 rd LAR magazine thinks it's a 10/30 rounder and now you can rest the bottom of your magazine since we shoot with the magazine on the ground in the prone position.
Here are the magazines, brand new and out of the box from Ryan at SFRC another CGN dealer... I played and installed the first one, it's at the bottom of the picture:
As you can see, the 10 rounders are still in the plastic factory wrap. See how the 10 rd magazine extenders appear? That's how I got them from GS Design here in Guelph, ON. They are made with some tough plastic and contoured to appear like a normal 30 rd AR magazine, lines, stampings and all flow smoothly.
Installation:
I started out by removing the baseplate marked ASC LLB, and that's the current maker of the LAR 10 rd magazine. Then I matched up the grooves at the top of the mag extender. It's just a little annoying keeping that spring in place while I slip that extender in place of the baseplate, the grooves and lips lined up perfectly and smoothly. No nasty surprises here. That's most welcome:
Yeah, that spring liked to bounce loose but I judisciously kept things lined up and then everything SNAPS into place, nice and tight. No overlaps in the surfaces. I expected raised seams and there were none to be found. Most seamless!! Well done!
You will notice how the grooves on the plastic extender mimic the baseplate's role. IT's a very solid connection believe it or not. I even gave it a couple of twists. You will see that Phillips screw that captures (it's drilled and tapped by GS Design) the front of the LAR magazine so that nothing comes apart. It's really overkill, the interface surface is very well done! I'm truly amazed and glad I got these babies.
Okay, in this picture, I've got all the 5 magazines assembled and you can see that the mating surfaces are pretty darn good with very few gaps. They have done their homework. Have a look:
Even closer look. No gaps. I'm really impressed. Everything came together very well. No nasty surprises....
Here's a side view of the contact points when the magazine extender is fully installed. I'm loving this schtuff! I'm gonna rock this set of magazines at my next CQB match in 02 Nov at Base Borden.
Here I am zooming out:
Testing:
So I loaded up 10 rounds and there is some slack in the spring travel with 10 rounds loaded but the LAR 10 rd mag ain't gonna lock on a closed bolt. 9 rounds will do it, but hey, for my matches, the most I load up is 5 rounds. For Service Rifle matches, the 10 rounds are perfect for some stages of Match 2 CFSAC 2012 contest, or course of fire where the soldiers and civvies need 10 rounds for a very fast rapid fire exposure.
I've just subjected these complete magazine combinations to the 1 meter cement floor drop test in my basement floor. No separations and that works for me.
Next week when I get back from the NSCC or DCRA's Service Pistol matches, I can let ya know how these babies work and feel in the prone position. I'm quite optimistic already.
Conclusion?
This is a great solution for a LAR magazine problem (being physically too short) and it solves things rather well. Now, I really would rather another colour than the simple grey colour, but hey, that is likely not a hard request to tweak in the manufacturing process.
GS Design is a business member here and I will go and direct some of you curious LAR 10 round magazine owners to their contact information.
Gotta run now. Take care.
Cheers and keep helping the newbies around here!
Barney
Hungry or TacticalTeacher here, I've played with the GS Design (business member here on CGNutz) LAR 10 rd magazine extender all afternoon and I'm kinda liking it.
Most of you know me (hungry or tacticalteacher) as the M14 clinic dude, but some of you don't know that I'm one of the Service Rifle geeks running the ORA Service Rifle and CQB matches alongside the TimFoo (legendary Service Rifle match director). With that SR and CQB background , I am always fighting to get my magazines to load and secure itself inside my AR15 mag well when the bolt is forward. Many mfg'ers pin the magazine to 5.0 rds and NOT the 5.5 or 5.75 rounds that we need for Service Rifle or Service CQB matches (loading with a closed bolt to give you 1 in the chamber and 5 in the magazine)
Now that we got the LAR 10 rounder, I have lots of slack to load the 5 rounds on a closed bolt. Life is great now. BUT (big but) the LAR magazine is too short to manipulate under stress and when coupled together exposes the bottom magazine to the dirt/grass/sand/gravel, and that contact will compromise the feed lips on the bottom magazine as it faces the bottom.
Once you incorporate the GS Design 10 Rd Magazine extender, this 10 rd LAR magazine thinks it's a 10/30 rounder and now you can rest the bottom of your magazine since we shoot with the magazine on the ground in the prone position.
Here are the magazines, brand new and out of the box from Ryan at SFRC another CGN dealer... I played and installed the first one, it's at the bottom of the picture:
As you can see, the 10 rounders are still in the plastic factory wrap. See how the 10 rd magazine extenders appear? That's how I got them from GS Design here in Guelph, ON. They are made with some tough plastic and contoured to appear like a normal 30 rd AR magazine, lines, stampings and all flow smoothly.
Installation:
I started out by removing the baseplate marked ASC LLB, and that's the current maker of the LAR 10 rd magazine. Then I matched up the grooves at the top of the mag extender. It's just a little annoying keeping that spring in place while I slip that extender in place of the baseplate, the grooves and lips lined up perfectly and smoothly. No nasty surprises here. That's most welcome:
Yeah, that spring liked to bounce loose but I judisciously kept things lined up and then everything SNAPS into place, nice and tight. No overlaps in the surfaces. I expected raised seams and there were none to be found. Most seamless!! Well done!
You will notice how the grooves on the plastic extender mimic the baseplate's role. IT's a very solid connection believe it or not. I even gave it a couple of twists. You will see that Phillips screw that captures (it's drilled and tapped by GS Design) the front of the LAR magazine so that nothing comes apart. It's really overkill, the interface surface is very well done! I'm truly amazed and glad I got these babies.
Okay, in this picture, I've got all the 5 magazines assembled and you can see that the mating surfaces are pretty darn good with very few gaps. They have done their homework. Have a look:
Even closer look. No gaps. I'm really impressed. Everything came together very well. No nasty surprises....
Here's a side view of the contact points when the magazine extender is fully installed. I'm loving this schtuff! I'm gonna rock this set of magazines at my next CQB match in 02 Nov at Base Borden.
Here I am zooming out:
Testing:
So I loaded up 10 rounds and there is some slack in the spring travel with 10 rounds loaded but the LAR 10 rd mag ain't gonna lock on a closed bolt. 9 rounds will do it, but hey, for my matches, the most I load up is 5 rounds. For Service Rifle matches, the 10 rounds are perfect for some stages of Match 2 CFSAC 2012 contest, or course of fire where the soldiers and civvies need 10 rounds for a very fast rapid fire exposure.
I've just subjected these complete magazine combinations to the 1 meter cement floor drop test in my basement floor. No separations and that works for me.
Next week when I get back from the NSCC or DCRA's Service Pistol matches, I can let ya know how these babies work and feel in the prone position. I'm quite optimistic already.
Conclusion?
This is a great solution for a LAR magazine problem (being physically too short) and it solves things rather well. Now, I really would rather another colour than the simple grey colour, but hey, that is likely not a hard request to tweak in the manufacturing process.
GS Design is a business member here and I will go and direct some of you curious LAR 10 round magazine owners to their contact information.
Gotta run now. Take care.
Cheers and keep helping the newbies around here!
Barney
