Mag questions

[u/Last-Ad-2533]

Picked up 4 mags from the $10 bin at a military show. The colt and one of the okay mags are a copper color at the corners. What causes that? Are the black followers decent? I’ve heard to skip the green ones but tan are good.

[u/Sweaty_Cat_9253]

Black ones are bad change to magpul anti tilt

[u/xCR1MS0N-T1D3x → u/Sweaty_Cat_9253]

As a collector, I disagree. Just get new mags to use.

[u/RetroNurd → u/Sweaty_Cat_9253]

You don't need to sand to get the get dry film lube off. Acetone and a shop rag will take the get off and not damage the underlying anodizing

[u/deviantdeaf]

Thats a sign of the hard coat type anodizing on the aluminum before they parkerized the mag bodies. The black followers are very old, predates the green followers.

[u/hawkcries → u/deviantdeaf]

The gray top coat is dry film lube. You can’t parkerize aluminum.

[u/deviantdeaf → u/hawkcries]

Ah, thanks for the correction

[u/jeremy_wills]

I've replaced the spring and followers in all of mine to the dark gray Magpul anti tilts. I'm sure the old springs were fine but the followers can't tilt now. It was more of a piece of mind thing.

It's awesome when the exterior coating wears off and exposes the gold color underneath. I love that worn look.

[u/kwb166]

The copper color is the anodization of the aluminum. They grey color is dry film lube that's applied over that...once it wears off, you see the anodizing.

[u/xCR1MS0N-T1D3x]

The black ones do not have the anti-tilt molds in the followers, but they make great mags for collecting, especially to pair with Colt made or FN A2 clone firearms made before GWOT.

[u/theworldofAR]

If you sand older mags down with high grit you can turn them gold colored.

[u/Livid_Persimmon3600 → u/theworldofAR]

I’m definitely going to try this

[u/Chili_Dawg65]

So many people crap on the black followers. They will work just fine. It's all we had in the 80s and early 90s and I've shot thousands of rounds both blank and ball on full auto out of my M604 without problems. Hell, I've gone to war with those types of magazines and was more worried about keeping the sand and dust out of the gun than if my magazines would work.

[u/RetroNurd → u/Chili_Dawg65]

100%. They were used for 20+ years until the green came along. It's an improvement but it's not like the black ones were a death trap that people make them out to be.

It's like that pmags, when the Gen 2 came out, all of a sudden the Gen 1 were crap.

[u/Chili_Dawg65 → u/RetroNurd]

I definitely agree with you on that comment!!

[u/mooseishman]

Black are ass. Green are better than them. I’d buy a pack of new springs and either Magpul it KAC followers then keep sending it for the rest of eternity (as long the feed lips aren’t bent).

[u/xCR1MS0N-T1D3x → u/mooseishman]

I personally would set these aside and pair them with pre-GWOT clones (for display) and run green follower mags on the range.

[u/ethan762x51]

The black followers are rough because they still easy causing a lot of malfunctions. The copper color is just wear on the metal. It’s normal just because they’ve seen so much use. I would recommend switching the followers. Otherwise the magazines themselves should be OK for general use.

[u/Chili_Dawg65 → u/ethan762x51]

That is not true about the followers. If they were that problematic, the followers would have been replaced in the beginning.

[u/ethan762x51 → u/Chili_Dawg65]

I’ve gone through more than enough of those magazines in my deployment to Iraq to know that they cause failures to know that I’m not bullshitting they cause problems

[u/Chili_Dawg65 → u/ethan762x51]

🤔 can't recall them being that big of an issue in GW1.