All posts in Promag Magazines

Sig Sauer no longer importing Sig P232 Magazines

Sig P232 MagazinesIf you are a Sig P232 owner you may want to hit the next gun show and start looking for used Sig P232 magazines.  We recently had a large number of requests to email customers when we got in more of the Sig .380 magazines for this firearm, and, after so many requests we contacted our distributors and they all told us they were discontinued.   We called up Sig Sauer last week and asked them what was going on and they informed us that they are no longer importing this gun or it’s magazines from Germany.  While this firearms has a long history of service, there has been a huge increase in the number of .380 pistols and I guess given the size of the Sig P232 it’s not really the most compact firearm in this caliber and not as popular.

Several years ago I was looking for something smaller than the 1911 and Beretta 92FS that I was carrying and decided to look for something smaller.   Ironically it came down to the Sig P232 and the Sig P239.  I shot both guns side by side and figured the ballistics of the P239 was superior and went with that.  The size and recoil was almost the same in my hands, but there are plenty of happy Sig P232 owners out there.  If you are looking for replacement magazines, the only option for you according to Sig Sauer, is to get the Sig P230 Promag Magazines.   Everyone once in awhile stuff like this happens so if you like the gun, start looking for parts and accessories now before they become even more scarce.

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Do your gun magazines work in your firearms?

Gun MagazinesThere are plenty of people out there that stock piled various firearm magazines in the last 2 years, especially after the Connecticut shooting when everyone thought that President Obama would have the Political climate to ban the AR15.  I won’t ask all of you reading this, to raise your hands if you actually thought that would happen. I found it embarrassing to watch people panic.  I had a friend who recently picked up his first AR15 a Colt 6920 and got a pretty good deal but it looked like it was sitting around for awhile from a Y2K panic buy, apparently the seller had large quantities of magazines for sale and he asked if  it was a good deal.

I told him to buy whatever he wanted but if he was buying large quantities of them he better test them out before he thinks they are all going to work in his AR.   Gun magazines are like wine, they need to be store properly, and all are made on different dates.  There is truth to the fact that a Magpul Pmag will not be durable 30yrs from now just based on it’s material break down, and metal magazines won’t if stored properly, but how bad is your outlook on life if you have to worry about that?  If you got a good buy on bulk magazines take atleast a half dozen of them and test them on the range and make sure they drop free, rotate the magazines when you use them, and when they need to be tossed out, open up the packaged ones and test them out again.  Don’t expect the brand spankin newly wrapped magazines to work, I’ve one too many times seen people have issues with magazine dropp

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European firearms and trying to find replacement magazines

promag magazinesWe recently heard about a change in several of our Factory magazines, from Glock to Walther, there have been changes to the material and designs.  Some of our customers may not notice the difference, and in all honesty, sometimes we can’t tell the differences but they are there.  Some of the Beretta Factory magazines have gone up a few rounds with their stand capacity magazines.    I’m not sure of all of the changes that are taking place, we usually find out from our customers when they are the first to find out or someone asks for the new version of a mag.  Recently we’ve been getting  a lot of calls about Walther and CZ magzines and if there are any alternative manufacturers.

We’ve sold a good bit of Walther P99 magazines and recently we have moved several Promag Magazines for the CZ.   Today I had to do some research for a customer on Promag Magazines and find out if a CZ 75 PCR would run the  CZ75 magazines and Promag couldn’t give me a definite answer since they didn’t have the technical info on the gun, this seems to be the story every week around here because there is always some new variant of a firearm and nobody knows what “other” magazines will work with it or what holster they should by.   See previous blog posts about researching firearms and their ability to be accessorized or the availability before you buy.

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Mini 14 lover feedback on gun magazines!

promag magazinesI’ve been in the AR15 camp for several years after retiring my Mini 14 Ranch model that was probable my most used semi-auto.   I started out with Russian rifles like the SKS and then moved on to the 7.62×39 AK firearms.  I learned rifle skills with those rifles and quickly learned that my shooting abilities were better than what those rifles provided.  When the AR15 was first showing up at my gun clubs, i viewed those as the rich guy guns.   The optics that were being mounted on those guns cost more than what my new Mini 14 rifle cost.  I got good accuracy with my 1-9 twist Mini 14 with a Sightron 3-9×40 rifle scope.   Especially, if you compared it to the accuracy of 7.62×39 guns.   At longer distances like 200yd-500yds you will see that the flatter shooting 5.56 round will do a better job of getting hits.

I have retired most of my Mini 14 rifles to being hunting rifles since I have several opportunities to go on hunting trips in states that allow semi-auto guns to be used.   I have been very happy with the 20rd promag magazines that I picked up after some of the factory mini 14 and PMI magazines I had wore out.  It seems that many aftermarket magazines have improved and even though there have been some improvements to the mini 14 design, finding decent 20rd and 30rd magazines that function.   The Mini 14 is a very potent firearm if a reality check is in place and not trying to turn the gun into an assault rifle.   Considering the weight of the rifle, this might be the best balanced .223 carbine out there.

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Glock Factory magazines vs after market?

I remember almost 20yrs ago a company called USA magazines, and after the first Assault Weapons ban, that was about the only manufacturer I knew that made 30rd magazines for the Mini 14, but I had really bad experiences with them.   The majority of the problem was with the followers and this seems to be a pretty common issue.   If you move machinery from one location to the other and have any minor changes in the equipment, that slightly out of spec magazine is going to jam up in your firearm and that is pretty much what the problem is with after market magazines.   I have not the time or the energy to test out after market magazines because I actually started using them and then learned to only buy Factory mags but now that there is another run on firearms and magazines, some people are tempted to buy what they can.

Should you bother putting your money into something that is not a factory item?  If you don’t have any other options a brand like Promag magazines Promag magazines has a pretty good reputation and some of our customers have told us that they use them in their AKs and or in the Walther PPK or Ruger LCP we can give you that.  There’s nothing wrong with having a bunch of magazines that are in your range rotation but for primary use, i would stick with magazines that have been tested or just stick with Factory magazines.  Many companies stand by their magazines and have warranties so also do some research into that before you buy.

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Promag Magzines for the M1 Carbine and Mini 14

I never got on the M1 carbine bandwagon even though I know that it’s a fine gun.   There are are lots of bull shit stories about the firearm, but the biggest drawbacks about it are that the gun is designed for ball ammunition.  I  know there are claims about hollow point ammunition working in them, but I would not use this firearm with defensive ammunition in a defensive situation.  Just like it’s much famed 1911 WWII family member, it was designed for a specific task and it did the job well.   Many 1911 firearms have problems with ammunition and it’s all about the throat on the guns.   There are newer 1911s that resolve this issue, but it does exist.

When all of those WWII surplus guns started drying up in the 1980s and 1990s it was getting harder and harder to find decent magazines.  We sell a very good amount of M1 Carbine Promag magazines for the M1 carbine and they are available in 15rd and 30rd capacities.  When you use the 15rd magazines you’ll probable get a better balanced firearms, kind of like 20rd magazines on an AR15.   The M1 Carbine can be a more effective firearm in some situations compared to a handgun, but be realistic about the ammunition that you are feeding them.  There are also good reports about the Promag magazines for the Mini 14 and Mini 30.

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Magazine capacity and balance, don’t forget it

There was a transition away from the high capacity or should I say, Standard capacity firearms back in the late 1990’s after the AWB of 1994, but it was mostly because the cost of a gun magazine might have gone up 200% or more.   You could easily spend $1000 for a firearm and magazines depending on what it was.   Once thing that I will that will never change is balance and speed.   I think we have recently witnessed the pinnacle of the M4 Carbine accessorizing craze because now we are seeing more and more that people are wanting lighter carbines and 15 lbs AR15 variants is something that really doesn’t help you out in close quarters gun fights, speed does m ore than what optics you have in close up fighting.

When it comes to caliber and capacity, you really need to put some thought into how much weight you want in a firearm especially a handgun.   I’ve shot some double stack 45acp handguns that were so heavy that taking them in and out of  holster felt like I was wielding a ball and chain.  Throw in spare gun magazines and the bulk and weight can quickly become extreme.  The Springfield XD is a nice 45acp gun, but the balance of a 1911 or even the Sig 220 seem to handle better.   And lets not forget, the reason for a handgun is to fight your way back to a rifle, so why bother trying to carry all that handgun ammo.

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Is a 6.8 SPC worth getting?

That is a question we get quite often around here and we always throw a question back to a customer.   People call or show up wanting us to give them advice but there are a lot of liabilities in telling people what to get or do.   So much of gun accessories and firearms has to do with the job at hand and a persons gun skills.   I’ve heard people claim that you can’t shoot long range with a 5.56 gun but I see it done all the time at local gun clubs.   Sure there are instances of high wind where a 5.56 bullet isn’t going to do very well, but sometimes only a 50 bmg is going to get the job done.

Even the trusty and reliable Mini 14 is an often over looked hunting Carbine, but I’ve seen white tails taken up in Vermont with 75gr expanding rounds.   The 6.8SPC would be a more powerful round than what the military is using today but it’s not really going to solve all of your problems.  Most of my friends that own them are using them for hunting rounds and not even for Carbine training ect.  The only problem you may run into when changing uppers in with the gun magazines.  The 5.56 round is better than any handgun round if you use the right kind of ammunition and the AR15 platform gives you lots of caliber options that are really best for upgrading your gun for better hunting.

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Philadelphia Mob’s it’s only a matter of time

Today I was listening to a local talk radio host who had a local reporter on and they were talking about the Flash Mob stuff that was going on there.   In some people’s minds these incidences are not racial, but that is absolutely absurd.   We’ve had at least 3 mob incidences against young white males or old white men and it’s always black on white.   In some camps of our society, racism only applies to things that a white man can do and not the other way around.  Racism exists in all societies and cultures but only those living in the world that Political correctness has created think it only exists when a victim is black.

One of the callers challenged the local news writer about what the news article would be if a gun owner shot one or more of these individuals when they were committing the crime.   The news reporter basically said it at this point it would say something about a “gun owner defends against a mob” I’m paraphrasing, but I thing it was bullshit.  We know that if a gun owner shot one of these individuals and reloaded with using spare gun magazines that it would be excessive or bull  shit that someone that trained to shoot shot 5 or 6 of the criminals and it was unfair that someone would do that against un armed youth.   Considering the ages groups of some of these Flash mobs it would probable not sound justified if a 65yr old man shot 11yr-19yr olders, but the reality is it may well be if things keep up like this.

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Magazines that aren’t flush fitting

I have never really liked the feel of having a pistol magazine protrude out of the bottom of the gun unless it is because the gun grip is too small for me.  I’ve seen a few of my friends do this on their Glocks, namely the Glock 26 because it is such a small gun.   I did put an extension on a Sig 239 which is the  only gun I currently own that has this.   The first gun that I owned was a Colt 1991A1 and it only came with one pistol magazine.   It was a Colt magazine which i thought would be the best gun magazine to have, but that turned out to not be true.   After having a few problems with the slide stop not catching, I found out the magazine tab was bending and causing the issue.

I believe it was at a gun show that I picked up 2 Wilson Combat magazines and my Colt 1991A1 ran flawlessly with ball ammo.  The gun magazines really ran well with hollow point ammunition but I found the gun to be too picky with hollow point ammo that I pretty much gave up on worrying about it.   If you look at the velocity that a 45acp is flying at, I don’t think you’ll have massive over penetration issues compared to 9mm ball.   Wilson combat magazines have varying base pads and from my experience this is mostly a concern for competition shooters.   If the magazine drops free I don’t need to worry about gripping it and pulling it out for a fast reload.

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