Beta Mag

[sniper7]

anyone have one of these? What do you think of them? I have seen a couple and thought they were pretty sturdy but have never shot one. I am a bit afraid to have 100 rounds because I know how I enjoy pulling the trigger as fast as I can!

Anyways, just wanted to hear some opinions of owners before I dropped the money on one!

[USMC88-93]

I would only consider it to be a fun range toy if you had NFA weapons. Beyond that I prefer 20 and 30 round magazines. Strictly a personal opinion and not based on any actual use of one.

[Daniel_187]

I have one, never had a problem with it. and you can get replacement parts for it. And put about 2k rounds through it

[opie011]

I would only consider it to be a fun range toy if you had NFA weapons. Beyond that I prefer 20 and 30 round magazines. Strictly a personal opinion and not based on any actual use of one.

I have no personal use of these beta mags but I would agree with the above statement. I can't see shooting 100rds without some NFA goodness!!

[cowboykjohnson]

Seems like a good way to waste a bunch of money, without getting much practice from it.... but it does have a cool factor.

[IShouldDoThisAllTheTime]

Supposedly it's difficult to get good support hand placement with the Beta mags. Armatac claims that their drum design solves that problem. No personal experience though, just hearsay from folks whose opinions I pay attention to.

[k2peaker]

Sure, I have one as I'm an Open class 3-gun shooter and they're commonly used on high round count stages. Especially nice when using a bipod as they're so much shorter than going to the 48 rounders.
And, I know quite a few guys that run them. Usually with good success.

I've had some issues with mine in terms of failures to strip the top round upon cycling but I'm pretty sure that's my fault due to light carrier & buffer.

One tip in breaking them in is to use a liberal amount of the dry graphite that comes with them, e.g., load 5, squirt, load 5 squirt...
Btw: Alan Samuel (MachineGunTours and a site sponsor) has some beta knock offs that look very good and are considerably cheaper. Check 'em out at his new storefront in Lakewood (see the vendor section).

I've never experienced the support hand con; with the extra width of the mag it might shift your support hand position a bit -- no biggie.

Pros:
When you need more than 30 rounds (happens in competition all the time), a good option if your class allows it (Open 3-gun).
Short profile for bipod use
Nicely made, imo, loader and dry graphite and nylon case included

Cons:
Expensive (that's why it might be wise to check out the ones that Alan has)
Can't use with some/most flared magwells (e.g., Arrendondo)
Fully loaded, they get heavy

[ERNO]

According to Jerry Miculek's dvd "AR-15", it's very good for 3-gun shooting from slanted roof-top positions. It has the same height as the 20 rd. mag, where as the thirty rounder feels out of position, and it rests solidly from prone position on the slanted rooftop.

[k2peaker]

Only legal in Open class though. (Worth mentioning as most folks have gravitated to the Tactical Ops class).
Jerry shoots Open (at least in 3-gun matches that I've seen him at).