These aren't exactly new to the market, they date back from the British SA80 refurbish program where H&K needed to re-engineer their weapon. They found that many of the failures were magazine related. The British at the time used their own home brew aluminum STANAG magazines that looked a lot like USGI magazines but were far from it in terms of spec and quality. You can still find these floating around, they have a British emblem and are very crude.
These were pretty expensive, I almost feel like an idiot for buying these but I had to see for myself if these were the Cadillac of STANAG magazines.
I paid $100 per magazine, yes I paid the price of OEM Alexander Arms aluminum magazines that could hold fifteen rounds. Yes these only hold FIVE rounds.
As it stands, these are simply a novelty that I will keep to benchmark other mags against. I wouldn't consider replacing my current combat load with these due to price.
These are available state side for as low as $40, yes still steep but if we could get them for close to that I would definitively consider overhauling my loadout.
Here it is, the newest generation, H&K High Reliability magazine, also known as Maritime/Maritime Coated Magazines (used to be two separate models, one without coating and one with), SA80 Magazine, MR223/MR555/HK416 magazine.
These were seriously heavy, just north of 8oz, that's HALF A lbs. A typical USGI 30rd Aluminum is a tad over 1 lbs fully loaded with 55gr. So a ten mag loadout with these would be 15lbs vs 10 lbs with USGI.
These were somehow heavier then the C-Products Stainless Steel magazines, which from what I understand is all metal as well. H&K must have used heavier gauge steel or something.
It is a tad longer then the standard USGI mag, not enough to impede fitting in standardized mag pouches.
Markings 5 SCHUSS means Shot in German so 5 shot. Remember this I'll be taking this up in a bit.
Here is the floorplate. It's a unique design where you push in the primarybase plate through that hole (not the true term I'll just call it that, it's the base plate before the base plate) and push it against the rubber tab thing to take it apart. This does seem a lot sturdier then standard USGI base plates which feel like coming off when using the mag as a monopod.
Here is the follower. It is very Magpul'ish, most reliable high quality followers look something like this so they look like the Magpul one. These are however made of METAL which I think is very nice. I don't know what it is with magazines in general but they like to use followers made of plastic. Old USGI magazines had metal followers and worked fine.
Here is where things get funny. Remember the 5 SCHUSS marking that means 5 shot in German? Well it's engraved on the magazine so I'll take it as a given that this magazine left from the factory with the idea that it would be a civilian magazine that would likely be limited to five shots. Common sense would tell you that H&K likely did the pinning.
First off if my mags could think with a mind of their own and had a favorite number it would be six, you would think it would be five but they seem to like the number six. Take what you want from that...
Now as for the actual limitation of capacity, there were no rivets or crimped parts in the mag which was strange. Especially for a magazine that left the factory intending it to be limited to FIVE ROUNDS.
This got me worried, the only other way would be ala-Glock which makes their 10 round magazines with thicker plastic walls so it won't go past ten even if you use full cap springs.
I thought I had just paid $100 for a forever limited 5 shot magazine that would never have SHTF capability. So I opened the mag up to find out, what I found was even more shocking.
The latest and greatest in German engineering. Dafuq is that?
It's a metal rod thing, looks like the thing connected to the air compressor at the back of your fridge HOT GLUED to this metal bracket of sorts that likely was never intended to be used in anything gun related. In fact I don't even know what it is.
Considering this thing pretty much fell right through to the base plate as soon as I took it off, I highly doubt this would be considered an approved method of limiting a magazines capacity. So out came the rivet gun.
The magazines feed flawlessly in my rifle, fully loaded and on a closed bolt. With this #### limiting device if you fire a lot of rounds and your receiver gets hot, it starts to melt.
There is some debate on the internet as if these are simply look good mags and if they offer any real advantages. They are truly built like a tank. Way better then E-Lander or C-Products SS mags.
The U.S. Special forces that used to use these mags dropped them, apparently there was an issue with the springs being weak. Apparently this was fixed in latter generations of this magazine.
Others have stated that stainless steel bodies while feeling sturdier are actually detrimental as once the magazine dents it won't "un-dent" which can prevent feeding of rounds and in the case of the feed lips they cannot be bent back into shape. I can see the malleability of aluminum being an advantage although I'd have to see a test to swear by it.
As far as metal mags are concerned these are cream of the crop. Function, quality, design and sturdiness are top notch. Now before everyone goes all PMAG and LANCER L5 AWM magazine on me. If you don't run an AR platform you need magazines that strictly conform to STANAG 4179, I'd say these magazines are a solid choice if you are bound by that specification. Would I run them in a non-AR platform over U.S. Contractor USGI Okay industries mags? No I wouldn't at their current price. If they were brought in at $40 like in the U.S. I might consider it.
Another thing to note is that there is a Korean company that makes a clone of this magazine called the AR15 "Victory" magazine. If you go on HKPro a site loaded to the tits with H&K fan boys who are often reluctant to admit H&K being sub par in any domain, there is a review of this "Victory magazine". Apparently these guys consider it just as good as the real thing here.
Here the killer, it's a $8 magazine in the U.S., surely a distributor could import these and sell for bellow Polymer magazine prices. Victory magazines would surely be the way to go.
These were pretty expensive, I almost feel like an idiot for buying these but I had to see for myself if these were the Cadillac of STANAG magazines.
I paid $100 per magazine, yes I paid the price of OEM Alexander Arms aluminum magazines that could hold fifteen rounds. Yes these only hold FIVE rounds.
As it stands, these are simply a novelty that I will keep to benchmark other mags against. I wouldn't consider replacing my current combat load with these due to price.
These are available state side for as low as $40, yes still steep but if we could get them for close to that I would definitively consider overhauling my loadout.
Here it is, the newest generation, H&K High Reliability magazine, also known as Maritime/Maritime Coated Magazines (used to be two separate models, one without coating and one with), SA80 Magazine, MR223/MR555/HK416 magazine.
These were seriously heavy, just north of 8oz, that's HALF A lbs. A typical USGI 30rd Aluminum is a tad over 1 lbs fully loaded with 55gr. So a ten mag loadout with these would be 15lbs vs 10 lbs with USGI.
These were somehow heavier then the C-Products Stainless Steel magazines, which from what I understand is all metal as well. H&K must have used heavier gauge steel or something.
It is a tad longer then the standard USGI mag, not enough to impede fitting in standardized mag pouches.
Markings 5 SCHUSS means Shot in German so 5 shot. Remember this I'll be taking this up in a bit.
Here is the floorplate. It's a unique design where you push in the primarybase plate through that hole (not the true term I'll just call it that, it's the base plate before the base plate) and push it against the rubber tab thing to take it apart. This does seem a lot sturdier then standard USGI base plates which feel like coming off when using the mag as a monopod.
Here is the follower. It is very Magpul'ish, most reliable high quality followers look something like this so they look like the Magpul one. These are however made of METAL which I think is very nice. I don't know what it is with magazines in general but they like to use followers made of plastic. Old USGI magazines had metal followers and worked fine.
Here is where things get funny. Remember the 5 SCHUSS marking that means 5 shot in German? Well it's engraved on the magazine so I'll take it as a given that this magazine left from the factory with the idea that it would be a civilian magazine that would likely be limited to five shots. Common sense would tell you that H&K likely did the pinning.
First off if my mags could think with a mind of their own and had a favorite number it would be six, you would think it would be five but they seem to like the number six. Take what you want from that...
Now as for the actual limitation of capacity, there were no rivets or crimped parts in the mag which was strange. Especially for a magazine that left the factory intending it to be limited to FIVE ROUNDS.
This got me worried, the only other way would be ala-Glock which makes their 10 round magazines with thicker plastic walls so it won't go past ten even if you use full cap springs.
I thought I had just paid $100 for a forever limited 5 shot magazine that would never have SHTF capability. So I opened the mag up to find out, what I found was even more shocking.
The latest and greatest in German engineering. Dafuq is that?
It's a metal rod thing, looks like the thing connected to the air compressor at the back of your fridge HOT GLUED to this metal bracket of sorts that likely was never intended to be used in anything gun related. In fact I don't even know what it is.
Considering this thing pretty much fell right through to the base plate as soon as I took it off, I highly doubt this would be considered an approved method of limiting a magazines capacity. So out came the rivet gun.
The magazines feed flawlessly in my rifle, fully loaded and on a closed bolt. With this #### limiting device if you fire a lot of rounds and your receiver gets hot, it starts to melt.
There is some debate on the internet as if these are simply look good mags and if they offer any real advantages. They are truly built like a tank. Way better then E-Lander or C-Products SS mags.
The U.S. Special forces that used to use these mags dropped them, apparently there was an issue with the springs being weak. Apparently this was fixed in latter generations of this magazine.
Others have stated that stainless steel bodies while feeling sturdier are actually detrimental as once the magazine dents it won't "un-dent" which can prevent feeding of rounds and in the case of the feed lips they cannot be bent back into shape. I can see the malleability of aluminum being an advantage although I'd have to see a test to swear by it.
As far as metal mags are concerned these are cream of the crop. Function, quality, design and sturdiness are top notch. Now before everyone goes all PMAG and LANCER L5 AWM magazine on me. If you don't run an AR platform you need magazines that strictly conform to STANAG 4179, I'd say these magazines are a solid choice if you are bound by that specification. Would I run them in a non-AR platform over U.S. Contractor USGI Okay industries mags? No I wouldn't at their current price. If they were brought in at $40 like in the U.S. I might consider it.
Another thing to note is that there is a Korean company that makes a clone of this magazine called the AR15 "Victory" magazine. If you go on HKPro a site loaded to the tits with H&K fan boys who are often reluctant to admit H&K being sub par in any domain, there is a review of this "Victory magazine". Apparently these guys consider it just as good as the real thing here.
Here the killer, it's a $8 magazine in the U.S., surely a distributor could import these and sell for bellow Polymer magazine prices. Victory magazines would surely be the way to go.
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