PMAG won't lock in but normal mags will?

[MILITATED]

I've recently bought a few PMags, but I am having a slight problem with them. They will not lock into the magwell; they just don't seem to catch. I've tried them in two different guns (one of which I have seen PMags in before), but they have the same issue. Standard magazines fit just fine and lock in on both guns, so why won't these?

 

You can literally just pull the mag with very little force and it just comes out.

[Monty]

What gun?

[MILITATED]

King Arms Blackwater BW15 Carbine.

Tried it in one of my friend's G&G Raider and it does the same thing.

Other mags work fine though.

[Adam3088]

I had a similar issue with Dytac polymer mags, turned out that the bb release arm/lever/thing stuck out a bit too far and so couldn't be pushed back far enough by the nozzle in the magwell.

Might be worth comparing that part to the magazines that do work, if it does turn out to be that you'll need to do some modifying.

[MILITATED]

From measuring the holes in the mag where it catches, I noticed that the PMags hole is 1mm smaller in terms of their height if that makes sense. Could that possibly be the issue?

[Baz JJ]

Ive had the same problem where I cant run PMAGs on my 416 but can on my SCAR.

[MILITATED]

Bit weird... Just stuck a bit of electrical tape under that hole and it holds the mag in better. Dunno how it will feed though. Will try it after.

 

Update: BBs don't feed either, but feed from other mags. Maybe they're just not meant to be

[M_P]

What make pmags are they?

[MILITATED]

Got no idea, bought them off a mate after they were found in a box. He can't remember either, and they've got no indication as to what company made them.

[MILITATED]

Might be worth noting that they worked with a Masada ACR. Part of the mag had to be modified but not a part which would effect it in an M4 - unmodified ones also have the same problem.

[Qlimax]

I have the same issue. what I do is push it in then give the bottom of the mag a smack to secure it. Basically like you would do with a real weapon. it's the only way to get the mag catch to pinch it.

[MILITATED]

I have the same issue. what I do is push it in then give the bottom of the mag a smack to secure it. Basically like you would do with a real weapon. it's the only way to get the mag catch to pinch it.

Was hoping for this to be a fix for me, but you can smack this mag as hard as you want and it won't catch. Not sure why

[MILITATED]

Right so I've made a bit of progress it seems. I didn't have a dremel or anything around (all in the shed) so I decided to use a box cutter as a replacement. Instead of dremeling, I just sunk the blade into the polymer which I wanted to remove. There were three tiny teeth sort of things in the mag catch hole on the pmag. I removed all three of those, and slightly increased the height of the hole by about 1mm (probably just under) by rubbing the blade in a line along the polymer. Gotta make do with what you got, right? Anyway, after doing that and being amazed at how clean it turned out, I popped the mag in. Now it didn't catch properly, but I pushed the mag release thing (not the button, the bit on the other side) down (as if I was trying to push the latch into the hole of the magazine). Well, that seemed to work and the mag isn't coming out I will increase the height of the hole by like a quarter of a millimetre (hopefully) and see if that just allows the mag to slide in without me having to push that mag release bit.

 

That probably made no sense and was poorly described, but I will try provide pictures once done.

 

Yeah that seemed to work, although it won't just go in like a normal mag, you have to slap it in as Qlimax suggested. I just had to modify mine first.

[MILITATED]

Just another update:

After the modification, the PMag fits perfectly into the G&G Raider every time without any problems - absolutely no wobble either, which is better than most of my standard mags.

As for my Blackwater, I probably have to modify the mag a little bit more (it catches after applying force, so I guess it just needs that extra bit of space to catch normally).

 

But yeah, those three little teeth things and the height of the mag catch hole were the problem.

[Qlimax]

Right so I've made a bit of progress it seems. I didn't have a dremel or anything around (all in the shed) so I decided to use a box cutter as a replacement. Instead of dremeling, I just sunk the blade into the polymer which I wanted to remove. There were three tiny teeth sort of things in the mag catch hole on the pmag. I removed all three of those, and slightly increased the height of the hole by about 1mm (probably just under) by rubbing the blade in a line along the polymer. Gotta make do with what you got, right? Anyway, after doing that and being amazed at how clean it turned out, I popped the mag in. Now it didn't catch properly, but I pushed the mag release thing (not the button, the bit on the other side) down (as if I was trying to push the latch into the hole of the magazine). Well, that seemed to work and the mag isn't coming out I will increase the height of the hole by like a quarter of a millimetre (hopefully) and see if that just allows the mag to slide in without me having to push that mag release bit.

 

That probably made no sense and was poorly described, but I will try provide pictures once done.

 

Yeah that seemed to work, although it won't just go in like a normal mag, you have to slap it in as Qlimax suggested. I just had to modify mine first.

 

The problem with that is and I’ve done exactly what you’ve just done in the past and this is why I didn’t suggest it. You’ll soon find because you’ve now cut some of that away and with use your mags will eventually just fall out and will catch at all. i ended up binning two Pmags because I did that, they simply wouldn’t stay in as there wasn’t anything for the mag catch to catch.

[MILITATED]

The problem with that is and Ive done exactly what youve just done in the past and this is why I didnt suggest it. Youll soon find because youve now cut some of that away and with use your mags will eventually just fall out and will catch at all. i ended up binning two Pmags because I did that, they simply wouldnt stay in as there wasnt anything for the mag catch to catch.

And so I found another way in which this problem is actually fixed the problem was that the mag simply isn't going into the magwell enough, and so it isn't catching (that also means the mag won't feed). So here is what I've done:

http://imgur.com/qIcHmez

 

I simply cut half of that off, because it was blocking the mag from going further. The mag now locks into both the G&G and my King Arms, and actually feeds now. I put a bit of tape just in case there was any wobble (I always do it). Obviously you don't need to cut it, you can just sand it down or something instead but I worked with what I had at the time

 

Just in case anyone is wondering, the notch at the top of the mag has nothing to do with the modification to fit the M4. That was to fit an ACR which works

 

I will put up a guide in case anyone has this issue in the future.