Well, I took the plunge and bought a few of the 9mm ProMag "Colt AR15" polymer mags irunguns had on their website, as another member had tried them in his SAF with some success.
This is an edit to my original post. Conclusion: they work, and work well. With some modifications. Several range trips to tinker, and I'm very pleased with the final result.
What I did / you will need to do:
1/ After some experimentation, I've discovered that this is actually the only step you NEED to do. The rest is optional. You will need to notch the rear of the mag body, to allow the SAF's mag release something to hook onto. Once this is done, the mags lock in firmly, and actually release more easily and more smoothly than the crappy factory mags. FAMAE mag on the right, ProMag on the left.
Original shallow notch. The mag would unseat itself from the magwell under recoil.
Deeper notch, which was added to all subsequent mags:
2/ In my initial prototype mag, I removed the follower and flattened it - the ProMag follower is more angled than the SAF follower. Original follower on the left, follower modified for the SAF on the right. Turns out this makes no real difference in feeding. Not necessary to do this. Skip it.
3/ There is play front-to-rear with these mags, and I noticed on my prototype mag that it seemed to feed more reliably with the mag pushed to the rear of the magwell, rather than the front. Since I had had to remove the rivet to access the follower anyway, I decided to pin it from the front with a protruding screw, which pushes the mag to the rear of the magwell.
Later mags, without the modified follower, were tested with and without the screw. Those with the screw functioned 100%. Those without the screw functioned nearly as well, but did have occasional feeding issues. I'd recommend the screw, but it's not vital.
This is an edit to my original post. Conclusion: they work, and work well. With some modifications. Several range trips to tinker, and I'm very pleased with the final result.
What I did / you will need to do:
1/ After some experimentation, I've discovered that this is actually the only step you NEED to do. The rest is optional. You will need to notch the rear of the mag body, to allow the SAF's mag release something to hook onto. Once this is done, the mags lock in firmly, and actually release more easily and more smoothly than the crappy factory mags. FAMAE mag on the right, ProMag on the left.
Original shallow notch. The mag would unseat itself from the magwell under recoil.
Deeper notch, which was added to all subsequent mags:
2/ In my initial prototype mag, I removed the follower and flattened it - the ProMag follower is more angled than the SAF follower. Original follower on the left, follower modified for the SAF on the right. Turns out this makes no real difference in feeding. Not necessary to do this. Skip it.
3/ There is play front-to-rear with these mags, and I noticed on my prototype mag that it seemed to feed more reliably with the mag pushed to the rear of the magwell, rather than the front. Since I had had to remove the rivet to access the follower anyway, I decided to pin it from the front with a protruding screw, which pushes the mag to the rear of the magwell.
Later mags, without the modified follower, were tested with and without the screw. Those with the screw functioned 100%. Those without the screw functioned nearly as well, but did have occasional feeding issues. I'd recommend the screw, but it's not vital.
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