testing one of the hexmag G17 mags (it failed.... so we're trying some other brands)

Jayne

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Saw that hexmag was making a G17 mag so I got one to test out. The magpul and ETS mags don't work with steel case ammo very well, so they're not viable alternatives for me.

The hexmag is built the same as the OEM with a plastic shell and a metal liner. The witness holes are amusing and the little textured part where your finger rests during a reload is interesting. The red follower does make it easy to see where it's at (important for checking that mags are loaded to production division capacity for those who do that sort of thing).

First range session was mostly testing on something else so I only got 90 rounds through the mag between an actual Glock and my Ruger carbine. So far it's worked with steel case wolf and locks the slide open on the pistol and rifle. I'll be putting this into my normal mag rotation and see how it holds up over time and how quickly it stops working. The ETS and magpul were pretty fast to fail; won't take much for this one to pass those.

hex_mag_1.JPG hex_mag_2.JPG hex_mag_3.JPG
 
Haven’t seen these but looked them up and found a clear version. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts after some more use. I wouldn’t mind picking one up just for fun. I’ve never had any luck with clear glock mags.
 
Saw that hexmag was making a G17 mag so I got one to test out. The magpul and ETS mags don't work with steel case ammo very well, so they're not viable alternatives for me.

The hexmag is built the same as the OEM with a plastic shell and a metal liner. The witness holes are amusing and the little textured part where your finger rests during a reload is interesting. The red follower does make it easy to see where it's at (important for checking that mags are loaded to production division capacity for those who do that sort of thing).

First range session was mostly testing on something else so I only got 90 rounds through the mag between an actual Glock and my Ruger carbine. So far it's worked with steel case wolf and locks the slide open on the pistol and rifle. I'll be putting this into my normal mag rotation and see how it holds up over time and how quickly it stops working. The ETS and magpul were pretty fast to fail; won't take much for this one to pass those.

View attachment 222567 View attachment 222568 View attachment 222569

Interesting, Magpul generally get good reviews. Is it just a steel case ammo issue? Would you otherwise consider them reliable?
 
Interesting, Magpul generally get good reviews. Is it just a steel case ammo issue? Would you otherwise consider them reliable?

I got them when they first came out, and they didn't work with steel ammo so I emailed them and they said "don't use that ammo". A month or so later midwayusa sent me new mag bodies, some recall effort from magpul around how they weren't reliable when used in G19s or G26s (can't remember which). I tried those new ones and they were no better with steel, so I just dumped them from the rotation.

Glocks aren't picky about ammo, so the mags shouldn't be either. Hence, I don't run magpul or ETS anymore. Would they work with factory new brass? Probably, but that's not what I use.

OEM mags work so well I don't see any reason to switch, the only reason I try all the alternatives is that some day we're not going to be able to get new OEM mags that aren't crippled and then it's good to know what alternatives exist that work.
 
I got them when they first came out, and they didn't work with steel ammo so I emailed them and they said "don't use that ammo". A month or so later midwayusa sent me new mag bodies, some recall effort from magpul around how they weren't reliable when used in G19s or G26s (can't remember which). I tried those new ones and they were no better with steel, so I just dumped them from the rotation.

Glocks aren't picky about ammo, so the mags shouldn't be either. Hence, I don't run magpul or ETS anymore. Would they work with factory new brass? Probably, but that's not what I use.

OEM mags work so well I don't see any reason to switch, the only reason I try all the alternatives is that some day we're not going to be able to get new OEM mags that aren't crippled and then it's good to know what alternatives exist that work.

Thanks, I just really like the Magpul 21 rds size, and for the price...
 
70 rounds today running some drills, had my first malfunction. Doing a slide lock reload, popped the hex mag in and hit the slide release and... nothing. I did a tap/rack and the slide still wasn't going forward. I thought maybe it was a double feed, it was acting like one so I stopped to see what was going on (since this is an exernment after all) rather than just going into the double feed clearing drill.

As you can see, there is nothing in there. The round just did a nose dive into the feed ramp and the base is being forced into the feed lips and locking the slide from moving forward:

hex_mag_malfunction_1.jpg

I locked the slide, pulled the mag, pulled that round to make sure it wasn't funky, put it back in, tapped the mag a few times, put it back in the pistol and hit the slide stop and it went into battery.

Only ~160 rounds through the mag before the first problem. That's disappointing.

I'll keep running it for a bit, maybe it was a fluke.... but the number of times I've seen that malfunction in this gun has been 0 out of 30467. Give or take.
 
Gave it a real test of 'glock compatibility' today, I put a Gen 2 G23 slide with a 40->9 conversion barrel on top of a poly80 frame and ran some rounds though the hexmag. Only 25, but it did function and lock the slide open and all that.
 
Interesting, Magpul generally get good reviews. Is it just a steel case ammo issue? Would you otherwise consider them reliable?

I haven't had any problems with mine in my 80% build at all, got three of them ans no issues even during breakin
 
Running some stages today and the hexmag failed in the middle of one. Same nose-dive malfunction in the middle of a magazine, and then later on the bench trying to see what was going on the rounds were just 'falling' out of the mag when you turned it sideways. The spring was basically providing minimal force and couldn't move the rounds correctly.

We'll call it a total of ~200 rounds before relegating it to the "use to induce failures during practice" bin.

dead_hexmag.JPG
 
So, worse than pmags, better than Korean?

I haven't run any of the korean 17 round mags actually. Based on what I have tested, I'm going to say in order from good to not so good:

1. OEM Glock
2. ETS
3. Hexmag
4. Magpul (both before and after the recall)
5. Jagemann

The Jagemann is one of their 18 round mags and it's total garbage. I was given it by someone who got it in one of those junk box subscription services so who knows if it was a reject, return or what. I don't think that's a fair test since the others were purchased new retail.

The ETS ran long enough for me to actually put a few into rotation in matches before they started giving me issues. I've seen other people have trouble with their extended 33 round versions or whatever they are in PCC matches, but I have no personal experience with those.
 
I haven't run any of the korean 17 round mags actually. Based on what I have tested, I'm going to say in order from good to not so good:

1. OEM Glock
2. ETS
3. Hexmag
4. Magpul (both before and after the recall)
5. Jagemann

The Jagemann is one of their 18 round mags and it's total garbage. I was given it by someone who got it in one of those junk box subscription services so who knows if it was a reject, return or what. I don't think that's a fair test since the others were purchased new retail.

The ETS ran long enough for me to actually put a few into rotation in matches before they started giving me issues. I've seen other people have trouble with their extended 33 round versions or whatever they are in PCC matches, but I have no personal experience with those.

Thanks, that’s very helpful!
 
Its truly a shame that aftermarket glock mags never seem to attain the functionality of a factory one... but atleast most of the time if one is dilligent, they can be obtained for a reasonable price.

If only their wasnt a panic going on right now.
 
TO ME ... the magazine is one of the top weak links for weapons failure especially in simple reliable firearms like Grocks. Dumb question ... why not go on and buy OEM mags that have proven to be damn good? I have at least 3 original 17 round Grock mags that came with my early 90’s G17. I’ve replaced the springs a couple times and they may be a little scuffed but they still function reliably as they were 25 years ago. So why go with non-OEMs if if don’t have to?
 
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TO ME ... the magazine is one of the top weak links for weapons failure especially in simple reliable firearms like Grocks. Dumb question ... why not go on and buy ORM mags that have proven to be damn good? I have at least 3 original 17 round Grock mags that came with my early 90’s G17. I’ve replaced the springs a couple times and they may be a little scuffed but they still function reliably as they were 25 years ago. So why go with non-OEMs if if don’t have to?
Buy em cheap and stack em deep. They'll be worth their weight in gold during the next AWB, like @Jayne suggested.
 
TO ME ... the magazine is one of the top weak links for weapons failure especially in simple reliable firearms like Grocks. Dumb question ... why not go on and buy ORM mags that have proven to be damn good? I have at least 3 original 17 round Grock mags that came with my early 90’s G17. I’ve replaced the springs a couple times and they may be a little scuffed but they still function reliably as they were 25 years ago. So why go with non-OEMs if if don’t have to?

Exactly.. I own a few aftermarket Glock mags but only in 10mm guns GLOCK doesn't make hi cap sticks for. Beyond that, it's the best mag on the market and not an expensive one. Why stray?
 
where does ProMag fit in that scale?
I know they get a lot of hate, but i've got a few 33rd for beretta and walther and they have been reliable for at least a few hundred rounds.
some other off-brand I had 15rd for walther, and they instantly became paperweights.
 
Because inquiring minds want to know. I appreciate people testing and evaluating alternate gear. If you cannot find OEM mags and can find aftermarket then it would be nice to know whether they would work or not.
 
why not go on and buy OEM mags that have proven to be damn good?

exactly, but.... when the next ban/whatever happens and you can't get OEMs it's good to know which alternatives are viable and which are not. I'm doing that research first hand ahead of time, not relying on shills, youtube hacks or others who don't do more than a cursory "worked for me!" review of one time in ideal conditions. None of these failed when new (well, except the jeager) so without some miles on them it's not possible to know which will hold up.
 
where does ProMag fit in that scale?

I honestly don't know. I seem to recall they were junk in the 90s and that's all I'm going on. For science I should get one and one of the korean 17 round mags to put into this mix. Maybe this can be my new gimik, Jayne the motorized bike riding quail raising bread and pasta making glock mag testing hero for the masses?

One guy in our crew did have a korean 33rd mag fail spectacularly in his AR9 a few weeks back, but that's not the same as the 17 round 'normal' mags in any way. I also don't know of anyone (personally) that's not had a korean 33rd mag fail. It's just what they do.
 
where does ProMag fit in that scale?
I know they get a lot of hate, but i've got a few 33rd for beretta and walther and they have been reliable for at least a few hundred rounds.
some other off-brand I had 15rd for walther, and they instantly became paperweights.

They were garbage back in the day, but if you owned a Ruger before Bill died and wanted high capacity you didn't have many choices. people have already forgotten that Bill Ruger supported the assault weapon ban in '94.

Today I wouldn't touch a pro mag given any other option...
 
I function checked the 3 new mags dry, they all dropped free from an open slide and locked the slide open when empty. I then loaded them up and left them in my range bag until today.

At the range, they all fed just fine, but the SGM isn't locking the slide open at all, failed to do so on the first run. I tried cycling it manually a few times, no luck. I find that surprising, but apparently being left loaded isn't easy on the SGM.

Only ran each one twice, didn't want to burn up a bunch of ammo today because I was working on other things but I'll keep using these 3 mags exclusively when I go so we'll get more data over time.

IMG_8141.JPG

Weird color on the nose of the G34, must be a trick of the light. Unrelated, it's at 30,738 rounds as of today. Some day steel is gunna reck muh gunz.
 
Didn't use the SMG mag today because I was doing slide lock reload drills, and since it doesn't lock the slide open anymore...

No drama to report with the other two.

I did run one mag of each of the KCI and promag through a ghost gun (not mine, I would never own a ghost... honest!) and they both worked, but that's just one mag worth. Running the "not real Glock" mags thought a "not real Glock" but both being patterned on one is somewhat ironic.
 
Some more 1-and-1 drills with the two remaining mags that lock the slide. The follower in the KCI is starting to mildly bind when loading just 1-2 round in it. Doesn't take much to get the top rounded sorted out before using it and it feeds them fine at speed and locks the slide open, but it's probably going to be problematic at some point considering how few rounds are though it.
 
Forgot to post I did another session, a lot of reload-2-reload-2 and both the mags are still working. The one that won't lock the slide open is the one I start with in the empty gun and the slide already locked back, it's a good fall-free mag as long as you don't try to put ammo in it. :)
 
Forgot to post I did another session, a lot of reload-2-reload-2 and both the mags are still working. The one that won't lock the slide open is the one I start with in the empty gun and the slide already locked back, it's a good fall-free mag as long as you don't try to put ammo in it. :)

So the Promag is the best of the three so far? I would have never guessed.
 
Short practice day, and i noticed that there was this bit of plastic sticking out of the SMG mag, binding the follower a bit. It's blocking the slide lock a lot which made it more obvious why it might not be locking open.

mag_follower_problem_1.jpg

I tried to pull it out of there with some pliers but it looked like it went further down into the mag body. I pulled the mag apart and found this:
mag_follower_problem_2.jpg

Inside the body there was a bunch of plastic outside of the liner and it must have previously been just slowing the follower down but now had worked loose and was moving up enough to stick out the top. I tried to scrape it off with a screwdriver since that's all I had at the range and I got some of it broken out of there:

mag_follower_problem_3.jpg

Follower moves easier now and it locks the slide open about half the time now. Now that I'm home I'll try to get more of it out of there and see if it frees it up enough to be 'reliable'.
 
Short practice day, and i noticed that there was this bit of plastic sticking out of the SMG mag, binding the follower a bit. It's blocking the slide lock a lot which made it more obvious why it might not be locking open.

View attachment 244561

I tried to pull it out of there with some pliers but it looked like it went further down into the mag body. I pulled the mag apart and found this:
View attachment 244562

Inside the body there was a bunch of plastic outside of the liner and it must have previously been just slowing the follower down but now had worked loose and was moving up enough to stick out the top. I tried to scrape it off with a screwdriver since that's all I had at the range and I got some of it broken out of there:

View attachment 244563

Follower moves easier now and it locks the slide open about half the time now. Now that I'm home I'll try to get more of it out of there and see if it frees it up enough to be 'reliable'.

Great quality control!
 
Ran the SMG mag a lot in the last few range sessions, and it's back to not locking the slide open 90% of the time. Still feeds OK.
 
Had 2 FTFs with the promag this weekend. Ran 200 rounds of 115gr JHP handloads, fed fine in the other 2 test mags and actual glock mags, but the promags kept jamming rounds into the feed ramp on the first round. Haven't seen that failure in a glock in... well since I was using the hexmag at the start of this test. (originally I said "in a long time" but then I looked back over the tests and found that one. oops).


Also, none of them are reliably locking the slide open reliably at this point.
 
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