I've been a proponent of the ACT mags as a reliable, cheaper substitute for factory P220 Mags for a while. I own a couple and the have performed well. However, I discovered a problem tonight that I thought I'd better share.

They are not actually stainless steel as I believed, but rather some kind of carbon steel with a plating over it. One of mine apparently developed some rust under the plating and it started to bubble. Admittedly, I leave them in leather mag pouches for weeks or months at a time, which I probably shouldn't do, but the rusting part isn't even the part of the mag body that's in contact with the pouch.



Some light scraping with a screwdriver exposed the cancer underneath:



A wire wheel and some sandpaper and it's pretty well cleaned up, but that doesn't explain why it started rusting, or why it chose that area of the mag body to do it.



Has anybody else seen this with ACT Mags? I only have a sample-size of two, and my other one is still fine, so I'm not sure if this is just a one-off or if it's a bigger issue to be concerned about.

Did the magazine baseplate retainer rust? Or the mag spring? How old is the magazine?
Just a guess, but possibly a manufacturing error.

Nope, just the spot you can see. Bought it in 2020.

I have several and haven’t noticed any issues. Will take a look when I have a second.

All my mags are stored in plastic boxes and likely have been wiped down with an oily rag so keep that in mind as a data point.

ACT-MAGS, when they work, they work great. When they stop (in my experience way too soon), they're not nearly cheap enough.

I have one ACT P220 mag with black coating. It was in a box of mags I purchased at a gun show. It has hundreds of rounds thru it with no issues. Some rub marks from in-out of the pistol.

I just pulled out the three that I have. Haven’t looked at/used them for quite a while. All three stored loose with other P220 mags in a plastic storage box. All were most certainly wiped down by me before being put away last time as I do this with all my mags outside of wrappers.

All 3 look, literally, brand new. I could see or feel no issues.

I have some older ones that have been good. I think the newer ones are made by Armscor.

I recently picked up an Le trade in 220 and grabbed several used factory 8 round mags from cdnn , they were all in fantastic shape. Won’t fix your current mag issue, but were $25 each when I grabbed mine.

Life is short and mags are expendable. Toss it in the trash and get a new one. Or, since you repaired the rust, paint it black.

quote:

It has hundreds of rounds thru it with no issues.

So you're saying you're just starting to break them in?


When I was shooting a few P220's and shooting a lot by average shooter's numbers, Act Mags were about $18-$24. SIG branded mags were around $35
The factory mags never failed me. Over time 100% of the Act Mags did. Sometimes cheap is too expensive.

I never had an issue my ACT mags. The only negative I have to say about them is they need a coating of oil from time to time due to the blued finish.

I picked up three of them a few years ago. All three developed cracks at the top rear of the mag body. Speculation at the time was improper heat treating.
ng. They still function but are now range mags only.

Some solvents like #9 are known to attack nickle. Not saying that's what happened but could be possible.

looks like a nickel plated mag that the nickel got scratched, and some copper solvent lifted the nickel and the steel rusted?

I've bought a few, but I've only used a couple of them in the years since I originally bought them. The other four or five are still in their packaging. I remember discussions here on the site about them being problematic and that sort of tainted and affected my willingness to use any more that the two I had already started using. However those two have held up well over the years. Not sure how many rounds have been through them, but they've seen regular if sporadic use over the past decade with no obvious issues.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
looks like a nickel plated mag that the nickel got scratched, and some copper solvent lifted the nickel and the steel rusted?

Could well be, however there were no obvious scratches in the plating. I'm sure I've cleaned them with Hoppes 9 at some point in their life, though.

Functionally, both mags have been 100%. It seems as if nobody else has had this issue here, so it's probably something specific to this particular mag. If it's just a one-off, I'm not super worried about it and would buy again.