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Stark Arms S18c/G18c/G17 GBB Magazine


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I ordered 3 of these magazines from WGCShop, and they arrived in exactly two weeks.

 

The magazines come in fairly nice cardboard packaging. It's labeled all over with their company name, website, "Made in Taiwan", etc.. There's also a box full of warnings on one side.

The magazines were packed in the box with an ample amount of bubble wrap, so there are no worries about shipping damage.

 

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Here are all 3 magazines out of the box. There were no imperfections whatsoever on the mags. My initial impressions of the magazines are so far positive. One thing I noticed out of the box was that they are actually anodized.

This means the mags are actually made of aluminum, and not pot metal like KJW or WE mags. +1 for Stark Arms right there.

 

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The feedlips are made very well, with no molding flash or seam lines. The plastic seems to be durable, and more solid than those on my KJW G23 magazine. The chipping on the left corner is from shooting about 50 shots with my gun, but I don't really see it as a problem. The feedlips are not too tight or too loose when loading/extracting a BB, and they do not have any issues feeding, but it's still best to load the mags through the slot in the follower channel. The gas route buckings on these mags are made of a firm rubber, and look like they will hold up for a very long time. One thing to note is that they have a semi-circular shape, unlike KJW G23 mags, and maybe WE G19 mags, which use a flat gas route bucking along with a reshaped nozzle to accommodate that. But these mags work fine in my KJW G19 with a WE nozzle, which has the flat sealing surface. No gas spurts out the ejection port, so that means the nozzle and mag are still making a good seal.

 

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Unlike the mags shown on WGC, all 3 of my mags have Austria markings, and milled out Glock markings. If you look by the output valve, you can see what would've been 9mm markings there. Props to SA for having such attention to detail, not to mention all the engraved bullet indicators. All of the engraving on the magazines is done crisply and cleanly, which is impressive for a $19 magazine.. Also, the valve button is magnetic, I believe it is some type of hardened steel.

 

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Probably one of the best features of the Stark magazines is that they are compatible with real steel base plates. They cannot fit TM or KSC base plates as the mag's slots are too wide. Though the stock base plates are fine, they are very similar in look and feel to RS Glock ones. The base plate can be slid off by pulling up a tab in the follower channel, similar to KSC magazines. The fill valve is a silent fill type, and they do not leak on all of my magazines. The exposed slot for the fill valve is a bit too large IMO, dirt is guaranteed to get in the fill valve if the mag is dropped on its bottom. The mag's bottom seal assembly is secured by 2 pins, unlike TM mags which use a screw. This allows the mag to have a larger gas capacity, but I think this gives the mag a greater chance of leaking if it is dropped/damaged/etc.. But as of now, all 3 mags do not leak at all using propane. It's also less realistic, but I doubt anyone would notice.

 

Now on to performance. I gassed the mags OOTB with propane, without any lubrication added. The temperature was 70°F. I used my upgraded KJW G19, which has a Guarder steel slide, outer barrel, night sights, and %150 recoil spring. In 1-second intervals, I was able to shoot an average of 40 shots with each mag before the gun stopped locking back. Not too bad I think compared to my KJW mags, which only get around 25 good shots. Keep in mind that KJW mags actually cost more than the Stark mags. I don't have a chrono, so I cannot measure FPS ATM.

 

As for compatibility, I've tried these mags in a KJW G23 frame, a Guarder G19/23 frame, and a WE G17 frame, and they fit fine, with very little to no wobble. However, when using the mags with the WE, recoil is reduced, but gun is still able to shoot fine and lock back. After some examination, it looks like the mag just needs a shim under the GRB to get it shooting better. They work fine on my G19 though, giving it a hard and snappy recoil.

 

So all in all, would I recommend these mags? My answer is a firm "yes". Probably the best bang for the buck out there for GBB mags.

 

That's it for my review, I will update it later on if necessary. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I hope the review wasn't too boring! :D

Edited by vilerk
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WE G17 magazines have a flat gas output seal.

 

Your Stark Glock magazine has a curved output seal. Marui Glock magazines also has a curved output seal. These curvatures match up with the TM loading nozzle.

 

I'm not sure what the gas input window on the WE G17 nozzle looks like but on a Guarder G17 loading nozzle, the window is flat. Keep in mind that Guarder does have two versions of their reinforced nozzles for the G17...one takes the Marui loading nozzle internals...the other comes assembled with a blue rocket valve. The one with the blue rocket valve is the one that has the flat gas input window.

 

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Curved output seal on a Marui Glock 17 magazine

 

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Flat output seal on a WE Glock 17 magazine

 

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Flat input window on a Guarder Glock Loading Nozzle

 

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Curved input window on a Marui Glock Loading Nozzle

 

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From what I recall, I ended up dropping FPS when I used the Guarder Loading Nozzle in my Marui G17 while using propane. That experience was over a summer or two ago.

 

Last night, I shot one of my TM Glocks that's fitted with a PGC Metal Slide and a Guarder Loading Nozzle...used WE G17 magazines with propane and chronoed the pistol. At about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, I was chronoing around 305-312 FPS on 10 shots with a second in between shots.

 

If I remember correctly, I was getting right around 295 FPS with .20g BBs on a stock Marui G17 and propane at that temp.

 

Hm...I should write a review on my findings...

 

Gotta get beter pics first :)

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Wow, that RS base plate compatibility is just the best. However that milled out Glock trade on the back bothers me :(

 

Could you happen to get any pics of the mag in a Glock with RS plates attached (say stock, Vickers, Magpul Speedplates, anything)?

 

I'll try to get a base plate from a friend to take a pic. I also took some measurements. The SA mag measures 24.5mm wide for the baseplate slots, while my KJW mag measures 22.5mm.

 

 

Snoopy:

I actually found WE G17 mags to have both flat and curved seals, after looking at my friend's mags. His WE G17 also had a nozzle with the curved window, while my WE G19 nozzle has a flat window.

 

Interesting that Guarder makes two types of nozzles, the second type with the rocket valve looks exactly like my KJW nozzle assembly, casting marks and all.

 

I'll try replacing the Stark mag's seal with a flat type to see if there's any improvement.

 

EDIT: I switched the seal of the Stark mag with a KJW flat seal. Compared to the other Stark mags, it gave a slightly better kick.

Edited by vilerk
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Odd.Do you have pictures of the curved seals on the WE G17 magazines? The ones I got had flat seals (as pictured on my previous post and on my review)

 

Guarder tagged the Reinforced Loading Nozzle as one for Tokyo Marui / KJ Glock series. So the spec may be more for KJW Glocks? The other type of loading nozzle that Guarder makes is more to the OEM marui spec.

 

Flat magazine seals work better with the flat gas input window of the KJ/Guarder Loading Nozzles for Glocks. Kick is noticeably better/ harder IMO.

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Got a pic from my friend:
weglockmag.jpg

Yep, flat seals definitely work better with the flat windowed nozzle. Since my friend's WE G17 has a the curved window nozzle, I'm going to trade my Stark curved seals with his WE flat seals.  Hopefully it should work fine.

Edited by vilerk
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Snoopy:

I actually found WE G17 mags to have both flat and curved seals, after looking at my friend's mags. His WE G17 also had a nozzle with the curved window, while my WE G19 nozzle has a flat window.

 

 

+1

 

I have 6 WE mags and 1 has the curved bucking. It came with a parts gun that came from Evike as a 2 piece early version with a black (instead of grey) slide. The nozzle inlet was (since been replaced with a Guarder unit) flat & the BBU housing is missing the reinforcement tab (on top, towards the front) making the OEM nozzle loose. This resulted in a poor seal & nozzle breakage. All newer version now have these issues fixed. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, so far I've tried them with KJW, WE, and TM Glocks, and they worked fine(with the appropriate shaped seal of course), though depending on which model you are using, the output seal might need a shim to raise it up.

Also, interesting fact, looks like these magazines are modeled after 6th gen Glock mags.
MagazineGenerations-rear.jpg

Edited by vilerk
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DSC_5278.jpg

Real steel Glock base plates are indeed compatible.  They are a drop in, but tighter fit than the original.  The indexing holes on the Glock base plates are a little smaller than the Stark, so the base plate locking tabs on the Stark mags will require a manual push to get it seated in all the way.

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  • 1 month later...

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