How many rounds are GI mags rated?

[UrbanWolf]

Since they are considered disposable how many rounds are USGI mags rated?

[zteknik]

There's 20 rd mags and 30's.
Most common are the 30 rounders,I haven't heard the military use 20 rounders since the 80's..

[UrbanWolf]

There's 20 rd mags and 30's.
Most common are the 30 rounders,I haven't heard the military use 20 rounders since the 80's..

I meant how many round fed out of them till they are "scrapped".

[zteknik]

I meant how many round fed out of them till they are "scrapped".
Ah well now that's different.
When I was in I never saw a mag scrapped for being used over a certain amount of rounds through it.
I have seen them scrapped for non functionality.
Maybe the new ones now are only good for a certain amount??[Coffee]

[brutal]

They run them until they're no longer serviceable or the unit has to many to store then often the GI's get to grab what they can and go sell them at the gunshows.

:D

[Dave]

I know we had separate boxes of mags for field training, range and new in wrapper to take on deployments in our arms room. FTX mags were ready to fall apart and range mags were still in good shape. Honestly, I think I was told at about 10k they start to have major problems and the Army pays so little for mags it's cheaper to replace than to rebuild.

[ray1970]

I imagine there are very few of us here who shoot enough to wear out a magazine. My uneducated guess would be probably 20,000 to 30,000 rounds. Although I could see 10,000 being an area where perhaps a new spring could come in handy.

On a good year, I probably only shoot around 500 rounds through any of my rifles. And, usually, those 500 rounds aren't all through the same magazine. So, for the sake of argument, let's say one of my magazines sees about 250 rounds each year. That means it would take me 40 years to reach the 10,000 round mark on that magazine.

[Great-Kazoo]

You question is like asking, How long before I die?

Based on wear and tear some times less than others. For both magazines and Humans.

[ray1970]

Hell, Jim. If wear an rear was a factor wouldn't you be dead by now?

[Coffee]

[Great-Kazoo]

Hell, Jim. If wear an rear was a factor wouldn't you be dead by now?

[Coffee]

what's my rear have to do with it? You crazee bike leather types. stop posting and enjoy the 60 + * day.

[ray1970]

Rear. Lol. Damn phone. Tear.

[275RLTW]

We (where I teach) have mags that all go through 5K+ per year, not including dry practice, and have been doing so for over 6 years now and work without a hiccup.

[Great-Kazoo]

We (where I teach) have mags that all go through 5K+ per year, not including dry practice, and have been doing so for over 6 years now and work without a hiccup.

Not even a burp? [Beer]

[275RLTW]

only when I switch to full auto....then it's 1 long burp! The mags work just fine with live ammo, blanks, UTM...All I've done is scrub them every now and then with soapy water and a mag brush to get the residue from blanks out of them. They probably get abused more than the pmags.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Since they are considered disposable how many rounds are USGI mags rated?

Even if there is such thing as 'rating,' wouldnt you want to shoot and proof it yourself? Shoot few thousand rounds, you'll see that bent lips are more common before the spring ever wears out. etc etc etc.

[ben4372]

My guess is most mags that are out of service are do to a drop or footprint. I bought the Brownells mag gauge and used to give away the ones that were out of spec. I have never worn out a magazine.

[jerrymrc]

The Aluminum GI mags had a conservative life of not less than 20K rds. At least that is what I remember from the Armorers course I took in 81. I do know that with other weapons that offered both steel and aluminum that the steel mags were X 2 the life of aluminum ones.

As has been said physical damage is the one big issue.