I have only a handful of magazines for mine, and of those, only one or two good ones. With .30 carbine being seemingly the only caliber out of what I own that hasn't been affected too badly by the panic, I'd like to take advantage of that and buy a bit more ammo and some magazines.

Are these any good? Are there better options?
https://palmettostatearmory.co...azine-30m1c15rm.html

I know 30rd USGI mags are considered junk. Has anyone come out with a decent one in modern times, or is it the design itself that is garbage? There's these, but the question applies:
https://palmettostatearmory.co...azine-30m1c30rm.html

I don't know about PW Arms specifically, but other Korean M1 Carbine magazines from KCI are good to go. Even the 30 rounders. I have a number of KCI mags for my carbines.

USGI 30 rounders are fine, provided they're in good condition. It's the non-USGI aftermarket 30 rounders from years past that were iffy. And the tricky part is that some aftermarket 30 rounders were faked to appear to be USGI.

With any 30 rounders, you also need to ensure that your carbine has been upgraded with the M2 magazine catch to provide the necessary additional support. Look at the magazine release button. If it has an underlined M on it, you're good to go.

Ditto no problems with the KCI magazines. I got a bunch of USGI at CMP when I got the gun, but, to be honest, I almost always use the KCI mags.

I haven't experienced a single failure with the carbine.

I have mostly moved over to using Korean mags for my carbines.

Thanks, guys. I just ordered some KCI 30 rounders from Brownells (they didn't have 15's in stock). Yeah, mine has the updated mag catch. Bayonet lug, too, which I've been thinking lately I need to go ahead and find a bayonet for it. A friend of mine gave me an extra scabbard for an M4 bayonet years ago, so I guess I ought to complete the package there.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
USGI 30 rounders are fine, provided they're in good condition. It's the non-USGI aftermarket 30 rounders from years past that were iffy. And the tricky part is that some aftermarket 30 rounders were faked to appear to be USGI.

I bought one last year out of a bin at a gun store for a lark, but I haven't actually tried it out. I figured it was cheap enough at $10 to gamble on since I didn't own any. Blued, split back, no markings, angled bolsters, front top roll crimp, non-stepped follower, side wings are tapered, spot welds look good, but the drain holes don't seem to be either very sharp, nor deburred. Strange.

Reading through this, I'm leaning towards it being an unmarked USGI, but it's hard to tell.
https://thecmp.org/wp-content/...s_September_2007.pdf

Another plug of support for KCI. They work just fine for my M1 carbine.

I can also support the KCI magazines. A couple of friends of mine who have carbines use them. I've fired the KCI magazines without any problems.

Ok, thanks for the feedback, guys. I received my half dozen today.

These seems very well made. The only noticeable differences between the Korean mags and my USGI mag are the finish, the added drain holes where the USGI has spot welds, and smaller welds on the front lower fold. Everything else is identical. The first one I opened up to inspect locks into the rifle perfectly, holds the bolt open, loads with what seems like better spring tension than my USGI mag, and seems to feed fine - at least working the oprod by hand.

Now, the finish is a bit surprising. The description on Brownell's site says they're blued. These appear to have a black phosphate or DLC type finish on them. If it is indeed bluing, it's done over a surface that's been media blasted. These don't look like the pictures on the website, though, so I'm leaning towards this being some kind of phosphated finish or something along those lines. As long as they don't rust, I'm perfectly ok with it. Bluing is a hassle for me with rust issues here anyway. Seems like I've always got various magazines or parts sitting in a Kroil bath in the garage, and if I don't have to do that with these, I'm a happy camper.