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Beta Project 75rnd PMAG Magazines


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Beta Project 75rnd PMAG Magazines

by aznriptide859

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PMAG's. Stands for Polymer MAGazine. Everyone loves them - they're light, cheap, feed reliably, and, in some eyes, the godsend of STANAG magazines ever (OK maybe aside from the EMAG).

But for us airsofters, whose wallets are always empty, magazines are the bane of airsofting (especially for you GBBR folks, I feel sorry for you). PTS PMAG's, while adored by all, range from $20-25 apiece - in my opinion, pretty expensive for M4 magazines. STAR makes an economic "Green Label" magazine, but their quality is toy-like and rarely feed in most M4 AEG's.

Introducing the Beta Project PMAG! At $30-35 for a box of 5 (around $5-7 per magazine depending on where you look), the price can't be beat - but what about the quality? Will they be admirable compared to PTS PMAG's? Or will they suck like STAR's PMAG's?

Enter this Chinaman's quest to find out.

Unboxing

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I got mine from eHobby for $31, a box of 5 FDE magazines sans shipping. The magazines are offered in all of Magpul's colors: Black, Flat Dark Earth, Foliage Green, and Olive Drab Green.

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The box reminds me of a treehugger - cardboard with black and green printing.

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There's a PTS holo sticker as well as a marking on the box that shows they are PTS licensed, but not PTS made.

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Opening the box, each of the 5 magazines are individually plastic wrapped. So far so good.

Now the beauty.

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First thing you notice? This thing is LIGHT. I've used PTS PMAG's exclusively for the past year, and those things were pretty heavy/dense, even more so when loaded. In comparison these are like featherweights - they remind me of MAG M4 magazines, which are all plastic and are also very light.

You'll see that these PMAG's are the Gen-2 M version (with only 3 indentations instead of the older 4), but the most pronounced feature is the fake dual sided mag-level (clear window to show RS magazines the amount of ammunition remaining). NO other PMAG provides this (the PTS EMAG's do, however it's only on one side), and it adds a very nice sense of realism to the magazine; you can even peer through the other side and see the spring! A very nice touch that realism fans will love.

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The plastic shiny finish seen on those STAR Green Labels? Gone. The finish is flat, and looks and feels like the PTS PMAG's in every way. The build quality is extremely sturdy - no creaks, no wobbles, and no shaking around of parts internally. Overall it feels like a very well constructed mag. Unfortunately the magazine design is clamshell - two halves glued together - so there is no way of taking the magazine apart easily.

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On the upper side you can see the PTS labeling on the magazine.

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Going to the top, the feed tube button is easily seen, and the spring tension seems stiff. The other "end" of the spring loader is covered by a small cover with an "80" labeled on it...weird. Where have I seen this before? Oh right...STAR magazines...wait say what? These things better not be made by STAR...

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Going to the bottom, another PTS logo is seen. You'll notice there's no middle button - the image of it is molded into the bottom plate. Why?

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Because the lower plate is not button-held, it's friction held. BOO. There's a small indentation that acts as a small "lock", but it's nothing like that seen on RS PMAG's or the PTS PMAG's. This means you COULD use PMAG Ranger Plates, but they'll be friction fit only, not lock-fit; I don't suggest fitting Ranger Plates, even though they do fit (see below). Perhaps you could fit some strips of electrical tape between the two and call it a day?

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(Seen here fitted to a RS PMAG Ranger Plate)

Sidenote: Some time back I accidentally ordered some STAR PMAG Ranger Plates, and I cannot recall if their locking system is the same as these or not. If someone could direct me to a picture or something that'd be great. If it is...man that'd be scary, maybe STAR made these...*shudders*

Now, let's go back to the weight: it's light. I'll say it again - it's really, really light. Let's see how much.

Unloaded: 106.5g.

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Loaded: 129.2g (with KA 0.25g BB's).

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Now I don't have any PTS PMAG's on hand, but I'm pretty positive they're considerably lighter than their PTS counterparts.

Attempting to load the mags, I found the magazine (this single one, I haven't tested the rest yet) could load a total of 85 rounds, not 75 rounds as advertised. Woohoo, +10 capacity!

So, prelim evaluation.

Pros:

+Light

+Great build quality

+Feels like a RS PMAG/PTS PMAG

+Two-sided Maglevel!

+10 more round capacity than advertised

+CHEAP! $5-7 per mag (depending on purchase location)

Cons:

-RS Ranger Plates will not lock (only friction fit)

-Is it just me, or do these seem to be made by STAR...again?

-Capacity not as high as PTS PMAG's (120rnd)

Unfortunately I do not have an M4 on hand to test these suckers, but I will update this review the instant I do. But so far I'm impressed - at $6 per mag, the quality is great and rivals that of the PTS PMAG's (albeit not the capacity) - you can't go wrong if you want some extra, mag-level'ed PMAG's.

Hopefully others will input their experience here too, especially feeding/fitting performance.

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: I can't put in spaces, every time I press "enter" the spaces between paragraphs goes away. Helps?

Edited by aznriptide859
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Sidenote: Some time back I accidentally ordered some STAR PMAG Ranger Plates, and I cannot recall if their locking system is the same as these or not. If someone could direct me to a picture or something that'd be great. If it is...man that'd be scary, maybe STAR made these...*shudders*

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of my star Pmag

 

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Edited by ertgunner
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I have Greenlabel Pmags, and I can't say anything bad about them, despite the fact that some people complain about them. They have never ever misfed once ( ICS M4, Xtreme precision .25 bio bb's ). I sometimes wonder if the latest production greenlabels could be better quality perhaps. I bought mine 3 months ago and have used them a lot since then.

My greenlabels don't have a cheap plastic shine to them either.

I like the look of these new Beta Pmags with the clear window. The fake rounds have a nicer finish than the Emag fake rounds. Just a pitty that you can't open the mags. Otherwise you could add a dark paintwash to the fake rounds to make them more realistic....

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Are we sure these aren't STAR made? Because I've bought some STAR/ARES Green Label E-Mags and some 20 round P mags that have the same square BB hole, same '80' spring plug and same style base plate retention 'clip' as shown above. Wouldn't surprise me if they're using the same molds with a different material composition and marketting out as Beta Project the same way STAR/ARES markets the Shooter brand...

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Here is a short video of the magazines in a few of my aeg's. I wasn't sure how it would feed in one of my high ROF guns but it performed amazing well. No mis-firing at all. The magazine locked into the magwell perfect in all guns, no excessive wobble or anything like that, over all a good fit.

 

However, the spring in the magazine did lock up one time, I think this may be due to overloading the magazine, but when I was filling it up as soon as I felt resistance I stopped loading, so it was not a case of gross over filling the magazine...maybe 1 or 2 bb's too many. Also, I'm sure a quick lub with some silicone will keep these feeding great and help prevent the spring from locking up. Over all, great performance!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLq2BcyXEk

Edited by REVOA4
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I gave it a good wack and it reset perfectly =)

 

The magazine locked up during my first time using it. And I only bought one magazine (kh mountain) because I was skeptical about these from all the horrible reports about the star mags. So the magazine used for all the guns is the same magazine that locked up. It was a pretty minor issue in my opinion and probably just need a little silicone spray. I'm so impressed with these mags that I've ordered more and will be using these as my new primary magazines, mag midcaps will become backups =) .

 

 

 

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Here is an update. I did some more plinking in the backyard and the magazine spring locked up again. Gave it a wack and unsuccesful in fixing it, hitting a little harder caused it to split a little and I was unable to fix. I had to use a screwdriver and remove the feed spring completely to get out the jammed bb.

 

You can see the jammed bb inside.

 

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Maybe I got a dud magazine, but probably safe to assume you can't expect the same performance as the pts 125 round mags.

 

I will report back after I field some more magazines in an all day game. =)

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Once it's split like that I would still add some glue along the seams even if it snaps back together. The BBs exert a surprisingly considerable amount of outward force when packed in and under spring tension. Adding a line of super glue along the seam should essentially weld the halves together.

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