LANCER L7AWM 20rd Magazine Review was created by jtallen83
The Wife got me a Lancer L7AWM 20 round mag for an anniversary gift today. Well made mag by appearances, even has a slot underneath the floor plate for draining water or you can move the lever over and it closes it up for dusty conditions. The FDE is a good match for both my Magpul FDE and the Midwest Industries FDE. Fits easily and drops free in both my Sig 716 and my Matrix build.
Measurement for C.O.A.L. is 2.85 inch compared to a M118 P-Mag at 2.835 and a standard gen 3 P-Mag at 2.825. It also has steel on the front to prevent the groove wearing in that I'm starting to see on my P-Mags.
With winter storm putting down 12 inches of snow I won't be test firing it any time soon but while doing a function test I did see a concern. The Lancer does not raise the bolt catch very high;
compared to a P=Mag;
The P-mag pushes it all the way up while the lancer doesn't even push it up enough to cover the whole bolt lug. It would seem to be a spring strength issue. When I take out a P-Mag and place the Lancer in the follower will rise up and touch the bolt catch where the P-mag left it, it just won't push it up that high on its own. The follower moves very smoothly on the Lancer so it does not appear to be a break-in issue. This might not be an issue at all but it appears the P-mag grabs the bolt with much more authority.
Replied by jtallen83 on topic LANCER L7AWM 20rd Magazine Review
Time for a follow up, the 20 round lancer has worked great in both my Matrix build and my Sig P716, several hundred rounds with no issues. I received a 10 round Lancer for Christmas this year, it works fine in the 716 but not in the matrix. Feeding is fine but it will not lock back after the last round. It does lock when I pull the charging handle. Usually this is a sign of being under-gassed but everything else works fine so it has to be something quirky with the 10 round Lancer, a bummer...........
Replied by jtallen83 on topic LANCER L7AWM 20rd Magazine Review
Spent some time trying to figure out why my Matrix build doesn't like the 10 round Lancer. Took the lower off and inserted the mag, noticed right away the slot the back of the follower runs in was not letting the catch swing past it. I trimmed a bit of plastic out of the way and filed off the metal, follower activated the catch then.
Here is the twenty rounder, what the ten round looked like before I trimmed;
Took them to the range but no love, twenty rounder works fine, ten rounder would not lock the bolt back. Back to the drawing board and what I should have done first thing, MEASURE! The follower in the twenty round mag is 2.946 inch while the ten round follower is 2.914. The distance from front to back inside is 2.982 inch in the 20 rounder and 2.986 inch in the 10. This gives the 10 round follower .072 inch of slop and the 20 round .036 inch of slop. When I put just a little pressure on the middle of the 10 round follower the catch falls down behind it;
Doing the same thing on the 20 round follower does nothing;
As you can see there isn't much holding the catch on the 20 but it seems to be enough to keep it reliably locking the bolt back. Now to email Lancer and see if they can get me a bit larger follower for the 10 rounder, if I hadn't cut and filed on it I could have just returned the damn thing. Broke a cardinal rule, always measure before cutting!
Replied by jtallen83 on topic LANCER L7AWM 20rd Magazine Review
Lancer customer service is shipping me a new magazine and a return label for the one I have. I asked for a new follower but they want the old one back so they can look it over.
Replied by GGaskill on topic LANCER L7AWM 20rd Magazine Review
Since you mentioned measuring, can you measure the front and rear widths of these for me? I tried a Magpul mag that was supposedly for an AR10 but it didn't fit (too wide) the magwell of my ASA. Would like to know these would fit before ordering some.
Replied by jtallen83 on topic LANCER L7AWM 20rd Magazine Review
I'll do my best to remember it when I get home at the end of the month, If you don't see anything posted by Feb. 1st give the thread a bump to remind me.
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