Universal Carbines and 30 round mags

[dark_timber]

I recently purchased a non-restricted .30 carbine made by Universal along with four 5/30 mags. None of the 30 round mags seem to engage the magazine latch to securely hold the mag in place. However, the factory mag works great. Is this common or I am misssing something? Thanks.

 

[gunsdora]

Delete

 

[UCSPanther]

I read somewhere that the Universals were incompatible with original GI mags unless their mag latches were modified. Not sure why they didn't make them so they were compatible with GI mags in the first place.

 

[sf]

Early model Universals had lots of surplus GI parts until the manufacturer decided to go cheap & make junkie carbines.

 

[sunray]

"...until the manufacturer decided to..." Re-design the carbine. Poorly re-designed at that.
"...seem to engage the magazine latch..." Where's the pin? If it's on the back of the mags, it may be pushing the mag out just enough to give a bad connection.
If you're carbine has a toggle as the bolt hold open(one of the indicators of a Late model Universal. Two return springs and a poorly made stamped op handle being the others.), don't spend a pile of money fixing it. Gunparts, Stateside, is the only source of parts. No milsurp parts will fit. The op handles tend to break too.

 

[farmnut]

GI mags should fit late Universals. Just ran one today.
There is a #### load of POS aftermarket 30 round mags out there.
On a back of the mag. there are two projections that catch an the mag latch, sometimes those are worn out.