Tuesday Tips

Marking Mags-
By Pudge

Mack and I were talking the other day about different AR style magazines and which ones we like/prefer. This then lead down the road of using different style or color magazines based on ammo type. I know a few years back Magpul released a .300blk magazine that was supposed fight against magazine related malfunctions. But even so, the magazine looks the exact same as its brother. So now that I have GI (standard and tan) and Pmags, I decided to coordinate my mags to my guns so I never have to worry about grabbing the wrong magazine.

I’ve realized after running Pmags for a long time that I prefer standard GI aluminum magazines. I like the Pmags but have had more issues with them in comparison. Because of this and the amount of GI mags I have vs Pmags I have chosen to use Pmags for .300 blackout only. If you use both sub and super .300 blk then having different colors for each is an option. For 5.56 I use the standard GI magazines since my go to gun is an AR in 5.56. I have these in both tan and grey. I keep my tan ones loaded with hollow points and the grey with FMJ. I do this so that way when I pick up any one of my AR magazines, I instantly know what they are loaded with and whether they are for 5.56 or .300blk. Not a huge deal for FMJ or hollow points but can spell a bad day for 5.56 or .300blk if the wrong mag is grabbed and attempted to be used in the wrong gun. I’ve seen guys annotate which mags are for which in an assortment of ways. You can paint them, wrap them with tape, purchase multiple colors, etch different designs, or a whatever your mind can come up with.

The other thing that I like to do with both my rifle and pistol magazines is mark them with my initials and then number them. I use a green paint pen to mark them and label them all in the same location. The green and my initials help me always grab the right mags if I drop them during reloads or in a class with a bunch of other shooters. Anything to keep me from losing mags! Some guys mark theirs with certain colored tape or etching. I like a green paint pen because it is easy to see and holds up pretty well. I like to number them for a couple of reasons. If I start having malfunctions, I can easily keep track if it is the same mag because of the number. I will annotate the mag number and ammo type every time I have an issue. That way if I start having multiple malfunctions, I can diagnose whether it is mag, ammo, or firearm related. I also number them to keep track of how many I have of each type.

Just a couple mag marking options.

 

These are just a couple quick tips to help keep track of magazines and mitigate any accidents from mixing calibers.