The emails from PSA the past few weeks finally got the best of me, and I broke down and pulled the trigger on my next rifle. Specs below.

Upper:

http://palmettostatearmory.com...nd-ch-516445807.html

Lower:

http://palmettostatearmory.com...earth-516445285.html

All in for $640, add $20 for transfer. I couldn't be happier. Now to purchase the necessary accessories.

What is the mag of choice for the AR-10 platform? I understand from online research that there are different specs for the AR-10 platform. Are there different magazine patterns also?
My natural tendency is to go with Magpul. Are there aluminum GI mags such as with the AR-15 platform?

Thanks.

The default and most economical magazine for today's .308 AR (AR-10A/SR-25) pattern rifles is going to be Magpul's LR/SR magazine, 20 rounds.

They are going to be the most plentiful and least expensive .308 magazine.

Magpul also makes 10 and 25 rounders, but the 20 rounders are the most common.

There are also DPMS steel box magazines as well, but they tend to be more than LR/SRs unless you find them used or on-sale.

LaRue and Knight's Armament Corp. also make 20 round magazines similar in shape to the DPMS steel magazines, but the magazines from these two manufacturers will cost you $75.00 and up. Some might be aluminum. I have four NIW LaRue magazines that I bought for the screaming deal of $25 each. I should put a magnet to one and see if it is aluminum (I do not have .308 AR). IIRC, the KAC 20 rounders are aluminum. I've never had a .308 AR owner tell me that they've seen a huge difference functional difference between the LaRue and KAC magazines, and the DPMS and Magpul magazines. Most just buy a few Magpul LR/SRs and run with them.

I think Magpul is the only manufacturer that makes a 25 round magazine. Everyone else just makes 20s, and 10s.

You want to avoid the now historically defunct AR-10B pattern magazines that look like M14 magazines (the earliest ones actually were M14 magazines).

The AR-10B pattern rifles came into existence during the 1994 Assault Weapon ban. Armalite knew they'd sell more rifles if they could market something that would take 10+ round magazines. They already made an AR-10A rifle but the problem was that there were precious few AR-10A pattern magazines on the market when the ban hit (people were paying $120+ per old-waffle magazine, some folks today are still asking that much for those magazines). And since new magazines couldn't be put into civilian hands, rifles that were limited to 10 round capacity had limited appeal.

To remedy this Armalite modified their AR-10A into a rifle that would take magazines that were relatively plentiful at the time: M14 magazines. These could be modifed to work in the AR-10B (but never really worked that well).

AR-10A and AR-10B rifles cannot interchange magazines.

When the AWB went away, there really wasn't a good reason to keep the AR-10B pattern and Armalite phased the design out.

The 1994 AWB spawned a few other weird AR-10-ish guns as well. CMMG made a version that took G3 magazines (no last-round-bolt-hold-open), and RRA/Bushmaster made a AR-10 type rifle that took FAL magazines.

But today, the industry has standardized on the SR-25/DPMS pattern magazine, which is the spec that Magpul LR/SR magazines are built to.

I don't think PSA ever had an AR-10B pattern receiver set, so you are safe there, if you stick to DPMS/Magpul/SR-25 pattern magazines. The only thing you might have to watch out for is buying sight-unseen bargain-bin "AR-10" magazines that might turn out to be AR-10B pattern magazines that someone is trying to dump.

That having been said don't be surprised if you get a "Huh, AR-10s are AR-10s" tell today's gun store clerk that you want to make sure you're getting AR-10A pattern magazines. Just say you want DMPS/Magpul pattern magazines.

quote:

Originally posted by LDD:

I think Magpul is the only manufacturer that makes a 25 round magazine. Everyone else just makes 20s, and 10s.

Just to clarify, Lancer now makes 25 round mags as well. Not a dig at you LDD, as you've forgotten more about AR pattern rifles than I'll ever know, just a heads up.

Let us know how it shoots...seems like a nice .308 AR for not so much money.

Anyone ever tried the Lancer .308 mags? I like the 5.56 AWMs, but haven't had much interest in the larger caliber since I've already got a ton of Magpul mags, and they are usually cheaper too.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
Anyone ever tried the Lancer .308 mags? I like the 5.56 AWMs, but haven't had much interest in the larger caliber since I've already got a ton of Magpul mags, and they are usually cheaper too.

The Lancer mags (L7AWM) are good to go. Have several of the 20 and 25 round flavors.

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:

quote:

Originally posted by LDD:

I think Magpul is the only manufacturer that makes a 25 round magazine. Everyone else just makes 20s, and 10s.

Just to clarify, Lancer now makes 25 round mags as well.

That's right, I did forget about Lancers.

Just for the sake of completeness (for anyone else who is reading this thread), Lancer also makes 5s, 10s and 20s, but they are very expensive.

I really like Lancer magazines for my AR-15, but when they first rolled out their L7 20s (their 25s had not come out yet) I looked at their MSRP, which wasn't that far off from what their market price today and asked the guys at Lancer "how do you expect to sell your magazines when Magpul magazines are half the price?" They didn't really have an answer other than "ours our better."

I believe they are better, which is why I use their AWM mags as my standard AR-15 magazines. But my opinion doesn't rule the market, and it's hard to convince a customer than a reliable magazine that is $40 is a better value than a reliable magazine that is $20 (less now that we're in a soft market).

AR-10 class rifles tend not to get beat around as much as AR-15s. I know guys who prefer this AR-10 magazine over that AR-10 magazine, but I've never met someone who disliked a particular magazine because they wore it out. They just don't get abused at the rate than a 5.56 magazine does. Most shooters will never abuse an AR-10 class magazine to the point of failure. So, it's hard for me to sell a customer on the benefits of the L7 over the LR/SR. Most of them are bench-rifle or occasional hunters. The added rigidity, longevity and benefit of the L7's steel band and feed lips is never going to present itself over the life of the average .308 class AR customer's use. And the LR/SRs are plentiful and cheap enough to easily replace.

The L7 will really shine if we get another AWB and are unable to replace magazines, but then, you get back to the question of how much does someone have to shoot their .308 AR to wear out a plastic feed-lipped magazine and is that even a realistic concern given the price of .308?

quote:

Not a dig at you LDD, as you've forgotten more about AR pattern rifles than I'll ever know, just a heads up.

Fair is fair, I did forget about them, because of their price point they never had a huge impact on my or sold very well at the shop. But the critique is fair, they are a player in the .308 class AR magazine market.

quote:

Originally posted by LDD:

...because of their price point they never had a huge impact on my or sold very well at the shop. But the critique is fair, they are a player in the .308 class AR magazine market.

That's a very valid point, and in today's glut of everything gun related you wonder who's buying them at their retail price. I stumbled into a comparative deal on the handful that I own, so at $10-15 over Magpul it wasn't a hard sell.

Just FYI, ArmaLite makes 25 round magazines for its AR-10B models. They are steel and built like tanks.

They are also history now that the AR-10B models is no longer manufactured. On the other hand these magazines will last just a day short of forever.