SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review was created by jtallen83
Had my first chance to use my new Hi-cap Surefire magazine, the MAG5-100, today. It does hold all 100 and seated firmly in my PM400 as advertised. Only problem was 4 of the first 24 rounds failed to feed as shown in the picture;
The jams always happen when feeding from the right side of the magazine. They were fairly straightforward to deal with, just pull back the bolt a little bit and touch the round with my finger. It would drop down and the bolt would then drive it home.
It could just be the gun-mag combination but this AR has had no failures with factory metal mag or P-mags in over a 1,000 rounds of this same ammo so I hesitate to blame the gun. I'm going to try and get the nephews Olympic carbine and try the mag in that. He has yet to have any failures in that AR with a couple thousand rounds fired.
I love the idea of having 100 rounds ready to go but a 4% failure rate just won't cut it. I'll try leaving the mag loaded for a couple months and try it in my Sig again, Surefire advertises it is made to stay loaded for extended periods and still fully function, we shall see.
Replied by LebbenB on topic SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review
Interesting. The old Beta mags used to have a problem like this simply because the springs had too much weight on them and couldn't move a fresh round up fast enough. Think this might be a similar problem?
Replied by jtallen83 on topic SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review
That is a good possibility since the issues happen within the first 1/4 of a full mag. I thought it was odd that all four were the same and coming from the same side of the mag but I don't see any difference in the feed lips. It's a little expensive to test it numerous times but after the steps listed above if it still has issues I may have a 75 round mag, see if that works at 100% since the issues were all in that first 24.
Replied by Siscowet on topic SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review
I understand the newer models of this mag have a programmable chip with a wi fi hookup. You enter your charge card number, and the chip senses when you have burned through 800 rounds, and automatically places an order for another 1,000 rounds bulk with express shipping from your favorite ammo supplier.
If I started using 100 round magazines, I would be perpetually ammo poor. I would be on the street corner with a tin cup. " Brother, can you spare a few M855?"
Replied by jtallen83 on topic SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review
Got another couple hundred rounds through the mag today and had no issues. We used my nephews Olympic Arms carbine and my Sig. We fired 20 rounds or so and then topped of the mag to full each time till the ammo was gone. Wish I had more ammo to burn so I could be sure but it looks like there is maybe just some break in needed to loosen it up a tad.
It was a tight fit in the nephews rifle, just like my Sig, no wiggle once it is locked in. I'm not seeing any wear issues around the catch or on the lips. The bolt has locked back every time we hit empty, only twice so far.
It might be some time before I get to run it again, the ammo stash is hurting,
having a 100 on tap makes it hard to stop pulling the trigger!
Replied by BSTOCK on topic SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review
I never had any problems with my 100 round Beta 9MM or 5.56MM mags. When my sons were young they emptied a lot of those mags really fast. I would say they both have 1000+ rounds through them and not a failure of any kind. Of course this was when surplus 5.56 was .08 a round & 9 was about the same. These days it costs a lot of $$ to test a 100 round mag. I bought my Beta mags just for the fun of it. Even though they have been flawless the house ARs have Colt 20 round mags in them like faawrenchbndr advises. Twenty rounds with a pouch of 6 30s to go should handle what ever I run into. I was thinking about buying a Beta mag for my M14 but decided against it because of the weight and $450+ shipping. Hope your testing is complete. If you know people that want to try the mag (and who doesn't want to) with their own AR & ammo this might be a painless way to tell whether it is reliable or not. Win, win situation. Good luck.
Replied by jtallen83 on topic SUREFIRE 100 round magazine MAG5-100 review
Ran another hundred through the SF 100 rounder today, 25 and then topped it off again. Only one jam like the picture above. So far regular .223 has not jammed, just 5.56 NATO stuff and that was in the first 10 rounds of the day, could just be an anomaly.
For sure not a mag for bench shooting. I'm hoping the spring tension is easing up some and that will solve the issue. If I can get through another 100 using the top off procedure I'll start emptying the whole mag real fast and see how it goes.
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