My Review of the TAPCO Gen 2 -30rd Mags

Dacotua · May 5, 2014

This past weekend I decided to torture test the TAPCO Gen 2 magazines.

In the past Ive used them in my Mini-14 580 series with no issues. Since I was going out to a hunting lease this past weekend for shooting drills, I thought I would put them to the hardest test I could think of, I'd do the run and gun practice in my AC-556.

The way I looked at it, if a magazine works 100% in my machinegun, it wouldn't fail me on any semi-auto mini.

To open the run and gun, a full mag dump was initiated to start the day. Absolutely no failures.

I had 10x of these magazines on hand and didn't have a FTF or FTE all day.

I'll have to say I like these magazines more than the factory 30rs. They are lighter, cheaper to buy and much easier to to load.

The only con I can come up with is that they aren't beauty queens but they work.

I'd say for those on the fence about these magazines, go buy one and try it out.

For me I find them 100% reliable in my 580 series mini and 100% reliable in my AC-556. I used these mags for at least 4 hours in my run and gun drills.

I used 55 grain American Eagle ammunition.

196series · May 5, 2014

I have 6 of the TAPCO GEN 2 30 round mags. No problems feeding shorter OAL cartridges.
The only issue I have had with the mags, due to the thicker plastic mag walls, is they will not feed a 69GR SMK with an COAL of 2.255". That OAL is too long. The bullet tips rub against the front magazine wall and the rounds after the first hand cycled round will not feed.
The 69GR SMK rounds do feed fine in Ruger 20 round metal mags. Metal magazine walls are thinner leaving space for longer COAL inside the magazine.
I have not attempted to shorten the 69GR SMK load to find the max COAL that will reliably feed in the TAPCO mags. Maybe someone else knows.

Painfulitchingandswelling · May 6, 2014

I have 4 Tapco Gen 2's myself and have had zero issues. I got 4 Tapcos for the price of 1 Ruger.

Genral_Tojo · May 6, 2014

Seems like those and METAL Promags are the only aftermarkets that work.

Dacotua · May 6, 2014

Only mags Ive found to work are

1. Factory 20rd
2. Factory 30rd
3. Promag 20 STEEL
4. Tapco 30 Gen 2

dohcacr · May 6, 2014

Dacotua said:
I'll have to say I like these magazines more than the factory 30rs. They are lighter, cheaper to buy and much easier to to load.

Two more advantages over metal mags; They don't rust, and the feed lips won't bend if you drop them.

luke100 · May 7, 2014

I just picked up 2 Tapco mags today. They look good and feel better than The Magpul's.

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Hellgate · May 7, 2014

Other than Ruger, who makes the best 10 round mags?

Genral_Tojo · May 8, 2014

I think Promag is the only other one who makes 10 rounders?

W.R.Buchanan · May 9, 2014

The 10 round Promag that came with my gun sucked. Has never ran full load even once.

My 20 rnd. Rugers run well as do my 10 round Rugers.

I also have 5 30 rnd. Tapcos and so far they are perfect! However I do not like the length, as they do hang down a bit. Still in a pinch I'd rather have them than smaller ones.

I lobbied Tapco pretty hard at the SHOT Show this year to produce short 10 and 20 round versions of their mags, they said they were thinking about it.

It would be a winner product for them with all the states going to mag capacity restrictions. I believe they would sell more of those than the 30 rounders.

I personally like the 20 round size mags best.

Here's a hot tip on Rust prevention on your Ruger mags. And yes they do rust instantly.

Treat them with Frog Lube! First it makes them run better as the stuff is slick as snot. but it also completely blocks rust, as long as you follow the instructions and cook the stuff into the metal.

Mine are rust free after one year.

Randy

YZblue · May 9, 2014

The only problem I've had with the Tapco mags. is because of the thickness of the plastic they don't drop out like the older metal mags. I've tried doing a little filing on them which helped but they still won't drop out m/t with the bolt locked back without a little help.

my1911s · May 9, 2014

I'm certainly no mag guru.

I've got two Precision Mag SS 30's, a blue no name 30 & 20 and three Tapco's.

They all work great, guess I'm blessed.

Genral_Tojo · May 9, 2014

Do those blued have Mini-14 stamped on the bottom?

my1911s · May 10, 2014

Not a mark on them, not even a "made in China". Bought them from a spooky looking, shady character in an alley about 2AM.

scerzilla · May 13, 2014

Working Mags

I agree with Dacotua, though I have never tried the ProMag 20 rounders. I purchased two of the ProMag 30 rounders and could not get them to feed properly, after that I wrote ProMag off for the Mini. The Tapco Gen2 mags run perfect in my 580 series and of course the Ruger factory mags do as well.

drofman · May 19, 2014

I must have lucked out with the Promags 10's I bought in 2012 cause they work just fine for me.

My Review of the TAPCO Gen 2 -30rd Mags

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