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Magazine malfunction

9K views 44 replies 14 participants last post by  Shawn 
#1 ·
Just had the plastic cap on the magazine, where the rounds make their rotation for loading sanp in half! This after only 6 months and 2000 rnds. Anyone else had something like this happen? :x
 
#3 ·
Part of why I'm pissed is I've been seeing chipping at the front of my FiveseveN mags where the lower position round seems to be hitting the front of the mag. I had that problem suddenly show up about a month ago with about the same number of rounds through the handgun. It's not effecting function, but for the price of these buggers, I expect better. NEVER had a mag blow apart on me after 6 months.

I have one of the pistol mags at FN right now. Still waiting to here from them. Fortunately, I got two 50 rounders in today. I figure if I've got to keep sending bits back to FN, I ned to switch to a short-barrel .45 and AR combo.

Here's the PS90 mag:

 
#8 ·
black campbell, sorry about your mag. Was that your only P90 magazine? How many of the 2000 rounds went through that mag?

Are you a mag smacker? I am. Maybe that isn't a good idea. I just feel so tacticool when I do it though 8)

Metro, what other reports have you read? I haven't seen hardly any bad reports.

I have three 50 rounds magazines that I try to use evenly. I have shot about 1000 rounds so far. I've had a couple of failure to feeds. I cleaned out the magazines and put graphite powder in them. Hopefully that will help.

I need to get some more magazines.
 
#9 ·
There were a few LEOs on ARFCOM that ran into problems with their P90 mags. The feedlips wear out as you load up the mags, so you have to be gentle when loading cartridges, and when loading the magazine into the weapon. Cheap plastic isn't as strong as anodized aluminum or steel.
 
#12 ·
Funnily enough, it happened right after my shipment of ammo and two new 50-rnd mags came from CMMG (great service, btw, on these guys.) This was not heavily used. It was the one that stayed in the gun when at home. I usually shoot the 30-rnd.

I try not to smack the thing home, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was what metroplex suggested, pressure from the rounds going in, or possibly just from the constant pressure of a loaded mag.

Kind of a *****, though, at $60 a pop for them to wear out this quick. Still, gonna send it back to FN next week.
 
#14 ·
Well, I've ordered mine from CMMG too. I like their service. I hadn't dealt with Larsen, and it looks like U have to phone in your order. I just ordered 1 more mag from CMMG yesterday. I'll have it by Thur, if it follows their regular pattern (it will be shopped out tomorrow). I also ordered some ammo, since my local shop here hasn't gotten in any for weeks.
 
#15 ·
Magazines

Though we bought the civilian version, this is a military weapon. With that in mind, I'm sure R&D at FN-H designed the magazine to perform under military testing parameters - but with the understanding that the mag was disposable. If you got 2K of hard shooting out of it, then that was probably 1K more than was expected out of it from the designers.

Mags have always been the weakest link in most box magazine firearms. Think of all the problems associated with the AR and then realize that most "experts" think that the AR's magazine is the weakest part of the design.

But I got one better: The UZI was designed to be a disposable firearm. That's why the bolt wears so badly against the base of the receiver that many "retired" with holes in them.

If you're terribly worried, buy more but shoot only one and keep good round counts.
 
#18 ·
metroplex said:
There were a few LEOs on ARFCOM that ran into problems with their P90 mags. The feedlips wear out as you load up the mags, so you have to be gentle when loading cartridges, and when loading the magazine into the weapon. Cheap plastic isn't as strong as anodized aluminum or steel.
Using this same logic, wouldn't the rounds wear on the feedlips when they are stripped from the magazine? One of the companies I buy HK items through also sells the FN line, they stated that their mags/demo P90 have fed tens of thousands of rounds and still work reliably.

Obviously we need to take care of our mags as they are quite costly now. Thinking about the coating on the factory rounds and started wondering if it prevents wear on the feedlips as well as aiding in extraction. Also I am wondering if someone is or will be working on metal feedlips and possibly a new magazine body like the ones available for the 1022, of course who knows that might be like reinventing the wheel. :roll:
 
#19 ·
I have 3 magazines on the way back to Bob Ailes. All have had exactly 250 rounds put through them. I was loading them up for a range session and one after the other disintegrated in my hands. The smoked plastic under the loading area just snapped off.

I have always babied them, haveing read reports of magazine problems. For example, I always use the magazine release to insert them gently into place. I've wiped the outsides down with a cotton rag lightly misted with Formula 409 and brushed off the rollers but never used any harsh chemicals on them.

Maybe a bad run of plastic? One of my magazines still looks fine. The P90 has been around since 1994 so I assume they would have discovered major problems by now.

Bob told me he'd examine them and if he thought they were defective he would replace them. Nice man.
 
#21 ·
gspam1 said:
I have 3 magazines on the way back to Bob Ailes. All have had exactly 250 rounds put through them. I was loading them up for a range session and one after the other disintegrated in my hands. The smoked plastic under the loading area just snapped off.

I have always babied them, haveing read reports of magazine problems. For example, I always use the magazine release to insert them gently into place. I've wiped the outsides down with a cotton rag lightly misted with Formula 409 and brushed off the rollers but never used any harsh chemicals on them.

Maybe a bad run of plastic? One of my magazines still looks fine. The P90 has been around since 1994 so I assume they would have discovered major problems by now.

Bob told me he'd examine them and if he thought they were defective he would replace them. Nice man.
I had that same comment about the plastic concerning the mags for my 57. All three had a chip knocked out by the round in the following position. The mags sent back feel different...I'm wondering if my they played with the formulation or it was just a could of bad batches.
 
#22 ·
Received 3 replacement mags back from Bob Ailes at FN USA on Friday. Very happy to have FN step up and replace them. I spoke with Bob Ailes, he said that they have had trouble with LEOs who push the rounds straight down through the feed lips instead of sliding the rounds in; which breaks the magazines. I assured him I had never done this and was quite gentle when loading. Not sure he believed me, and it's hard to believe someone could be that dumb but I sure appreciated getting the new mags!
 
#25 ·
metroplex said:
I follow Therm's advice now and just use 1 mag for play and store the rest for a rainy day. The ammo is too expensive to shoot in high volumes at the range anyhow, so taking the time to load the 1 mag 50rd at a time is somewhat of a speed limiter!
Yea, I'm doing that too. I just got some new mags, so I tried them all 1x. But now, I'm only using 1 mag at the range, and 1 that I keep loaded when the gun is at home.
 
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