The M-16 was designed around disposable magazines. The Mini-14 was not. Mag springs are easy to change.
You can have dozens of magazines if you own a Mini 14. I do.
All military weapon magazines fall in the "expendable" category. That doesn't mean they were made to be thrown away. I doubt that Ruger magazines from the same year as a StanAg 20 or 30 rounder was any better. StanAg magazines were VERY good new and had good life to them. THe military supply system however, often overlooked replacing over used magazines
Exactly. Buddy's son was in the sand box and they had multiple mag failures.
He personally send several dozen Pmags to his son to replace the defective mags.
Pmags used to be in the military acquisition system and got deleted.
We had a thread about why years ago, but I don't remember why the military did that. Had to be a brother in law thing.
AR magazines are cheaper than others like the Mini, for the same reason 5.56 MM is cheaper than .243 Winchester. It's a military produced weapon and round. AR / M-16 magazines are produced by the millions. Both in plastic by military contractors like Mag-Pul, and in U.S.G.I. Aluminum models, that are produced by literally dozens of different manufacturers. Naturally they're going to be cheaper than ANYTHING made for just the civilian market which is much smaller.
It's the same reason you can buy surplus .50 BMG ammo for $2.50 a round. But much less powerful .416 Rigby ammo can run over $200.00 for a box of twenty. Volume assures lower cost per unit. And no one uses as much volume as the U.S. military.
It's the same reason you can buy surplus .50 BMG ammo for $2.50 a round. But much less powerful .416 Rigby ammo can run over $200.00 for a box of twenty. Volume assures lower cost per unit. And no one uses as much volume as the U.S. military.
I was wrong about the M-16. Stoner's original AR design, the AR-10 in 7.62 x 51mm, was designed around 20 round aluminum mags that were to be discarded when empty.
Really ? I never would have guessed that.
That could very well be true. The Army Would have changed that had it been adopted though
