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Metal lined (like stock Glock mags).
Tested first with reloads I had laying around - American Quality Ammunition (230gr FMJ with a claimed 850 fps) - box labeled Selma, Oregon.
This "Quality" ammo was reloads resulting in about 30% failure to feed, sometimes eject:
FTF were usually mixed in with FTE ^ this being an example. The next round was usually nose down in the mag. Several times clearing the gun resulted in a live round being ejected too, indicating the next round fed, but the slide caught the spent casing. Several times the spent round failed to eject at all, leaving it in the chamber.
I mostly blame the ammo for these problems. Now granted, this is a modified G21; you can see the hybrid comp - this results in a lower recoil impulse and lower velocity (generally about 50 fps less) and probably a slower slide on recoil.
I then tried Federal American Eagle 230gr FMJ - two mags worth. I only had one FTE during normal operation; I tried shooting with the gun vertical, horizontal left & right and upside down. Besides one FTE, the upside down orientation always FTE.
Upside down resulted in this:
So I tried with a stock 13 rd mag and the same thing happened when shooting upside down.
Why do I test horizontal & upside down?
Because that can happen. If you find yourself returning fire while laying down - saying you fell or were shot/injured and you are on the ground, you may have to shoot with the gun in orientation. It is good to know what will happen.
Conclusions: I need to do more testing. One FTE/FTF with known good ammo - does not make a bad mag. I would put about failure free 200 rds thru a new mag type before trusting it. It might need "break in".
In this gun (modified for shooting pins and picky about ammo because of the hybrid comp), I will only rely on OEM Glock 13 rd or 13 rd +3 mags for defensive use. And it would not be my first choice as a defensive gun anyway - that would be my SIG 226 in .40 S&W or 9mm (I have uppers either way).
I do have a Scherer 30 rd G21 mag - I don't recall if I have tested it or not. I need to get it out and test it too.
Notes:
Tested first with reloads I had laying around - American Quality Ammunition (230gr FMJ with a claimed 850 fps) - box labeled Selma, Oregon.
This "Quality" ammo was reloads resulting in about 30% failure to feed, sometimes eject:
FTF were usually mixed in with FTE ^ this being an example. The next round was usually nose down in the mag. Several times clearing the gun resulted in a live round being ejected too, indicating the next round fed, but the slide caught the spent casing. Several times the spent round failed to eject at all, leaving it in the chamber.
I mostly blame the ammo for these problems. Now granted, this is a modified G21; you can see the hybrid comp - this results in a lower recoil impulse and lower velocity (generally about 50 fps less) and probably a slower slide on recoil.
I then tried Federal American Eagle 230gr FMJ - two mags worth. I only had one FTE during normal operation; I tried shooting with the gun vertical, horizontal left & right and upside down. Besides one FTE, the upside down orientation always FTE.
Upside down resulted in this:
So I tried with a stock 13 rd mag and the same thing happened when shooting upside down.
Why do I test horizontal & upside down?
Because that can happen. If you find yourself returning fire while laying down - saying you fell or were shot/injured and you are on the ground, you may have to shoot with the gun in orientation. It is good to know what will happen.
Conclusions: I need to do more testing. One FTE/FTF with known good ammo - does not make a bad mag. I would put about failure free 200 rds thru a new mag type before trusting it. It might need "break in".
In this gun (modified for shooting pins and picky about ammo because of the hybrid comp), I will only rely on OEM Glock 13 rd or 13 rd +3 mags for defensive use. And it would not be my first choice as a defensive gun anyway - that would be my SIG 226 in .40 S&W or 9mm (I have uppers either way).
I do have a Scherer 30 rd G21 mag - I don't recall if I have tested it or not. I need to get it out and test it too.
Notes:
- I tested in a plus one configuration - i.e., 26 rounds in the mag, one in the chamber. I would not carry that way, in fact, I would not carry with a 26 rd mag in the gun, only carrying the 26 rd mag as a backup reload mag, not as a primary. But I might find myself in a situation where I am doing a reload with a round in the chamber - so I want to know if the mag will feed in that configuration or if I should only load it with one less round.
- Once you get near 20 rounds with the mag, adding rounds become increasingly hard, with the last 2-3 being very difficult.
- Ammo rattles in these mags - a common issue with high capacity mags like this.
