Project Appleseed

Any idea why the military selected aluminum magazines?

I have no proof of this: but its the government.

$$$$$$$$$$$

aluminum is super cheap.

I know not on the consumer market but in the real world aluminum is one of the cheapest metals to make.

Sure it nice to save weight. But then why not titanium. $$$$$

Also I bet the aluminum mag. are more durable. but that personal experience.

Stamped aluminum has been around forever, and plastics were not as advanced as they are now back in the 60s.

One  original plan was to pre-fill the mags at the arsenal (like the Garand en-blocs) , use them once, then drop them on the ground.  Aluminum was cheap, light, and disposable. 

Eugene Stoner came out of Fairchild Industries, an aircraft manufacturer, an industry that had been making use of aluminum since forever.  Armalite was specifically created to bring aircraft technology and engineering  to the arms industry.  Aluminum was a natural choice for light weight, corrosion resistance, ease of manufacture, etc.

I have Vietnam-era Colt 20-rdrs with aluminum followers that still work fine, nearly 50 years on.  Cracked/bent feed lips seem to be the most common problem.  Solution:  don't drop a loaded mag feed lips down on a hard surface.  Springs, followers, floorplates can be replaced.  Rarely have I seen a deformed mag body.  Used mags can be had as cheap as $3 on ar15.com, new mags from $5.50. 

If you don't trust aluminum or polymer, you can get British L85A1 and Israeli E-Lander steel, or HK stainless  mags.

k

My thoughts(and I am not an expert): Magpul aside, they probably went with aluminum because several companies produce what is essentially a carbon copy of the original GI mags. Magpuls maybe great, but they are only produced by Magpul. They might license someone else to make them as a subcontractor, but still you have only one or two companies making them. If another war pops really quick, you want a steady and PLENTIFUL supply.

The GI mags are hard to screw up. I have had several poly mags from companies other than Magpul that the follower did not place the round high enough to load it into the chamber. The bolt would catch the edge of the round and push it into the front wall of the mag well. I would extract the round and the bullet would be pushed back into the case mouth until only the tip of the bullet was visible. I have not had a GI style mag do this regardless of manufacturer. Others may have had difficulties with the GI mags, but I have not with good quality ammo.

Quote from: Mango on January 22, 2015, 12:14:29 PM
Any idea why the military selected aluminum magazines?

I remember hearing about the plan Kos talks about.  Clips were disposable, so it doesn't surprise me the culture was that magazines would be disposable.

Aluminum was light and inexpensive.  It didn't rust in the jungles of Vietnam.  Polymer wasn't an option back then.  Aluminum worked so there's been no need to change.  Aluminum mags do work pretty well until they get all beat up and the aluminum lips deform.  The followers have been updated a couple of times since they were first fielded.

Many Army units went to war with the crap they'd been training with at the range for years.  Those training mags would get dumped unceremoniously into footlockers in some supply room.  They were rarely cared for or carefully inspected to cull out the damaged ones.  Troops thought the aluminum mags sucked, when it was just the beat up ones they were using.

New magazines (polymer or aluminum) fixed the problem... but Soldiers in combat liked the PMAGs and had success with them.

Two or three years ago, Army Tank & Automotive Command in Warren, MI (which oversees the M16/M4 program) released a letter stating that polymer magazines were unauthorized.  There was a pretty significant outcry in the field so it got rescinded.

AFAIK, PMAGs are still authorized and have federal stock numbers to order through the supply system.  Magazines are consumable items so no more will be "fielded" to units.  Units will order what they want (and can afford within their budgets).

I heard it has something to do with plastic melting or burning, but I can't confirm this.

In addition to the advancements in plastics, I suspect plastic mags could not perform to standards at extreme hot and cold temps, probably getting too brittle at artic temps.

Quote from: Kosciusko on January 22, 2015, 12:45:42 PM
One  original plan was to pre-fill the mags at the arsenal (like the Garand en-blocs) , use them once, then drop them on the ground.  Aluminum was cheap, light, and disposable. 

Eugene Stoner came out of Fairchild Industries, an aircraft manufacturer, an industry that had been making use of aluminum since forever.  Armalite was specifically created to bring aircraft technology and engineering  to the arms industry.  Aluminum was a natural choice for light weight, corrosion resistance, ease of manufacture, etc.

I have Vietnam-era Colt 20-rdrs with aluminum followers that still work fine, nearly 50 years on.  Cracked/bent feed lips seem to be the most common problem.  Solution:  don't drop a loaded mag feed lips down on a hard surface.  Springs, followers, floorplates can be replaced.  Rarely have I seen a deformed mag body.  Used mags can be had as cheap as $3 on ar15.com, new mags from $5.50. 

If you don't trust aluminum or polymer, you can get British L85A1 and Israeli E-Lander steel, or HK stainless  mags.

k

This

I've used personally aquired pmags in my time in the infantry, including use in -20 Alaskan winter and 100+ degree, dry and dusty Afghanistan. They never disappointed. Pmags are no joke, the only thing you could reasonably expect to happen to them (as a soldier) that could make them inoperable would be a direct hit with a bullet/shrapnel. They don't shatter, they don't bend, they're fairly abrasion resistant. You'd have to willfully or neglectfully leave them on a hot stove or put a lighter to it in order to melt it. And my favorite part, they clean up well in the dishwasher! Don't let the past failures deter you from today's advances.

They're banned by the army and marine corps today only because they are not compatible with the HK416 and the new IAR.