'Appearance and Finish'
The magazine's finish initially looks good, but if you look closer, you will see evidence of flashes on some areas. The material also seems to be different, or at least the "blend" is different compared to the original Glock Magazines. The Glock magazines have somewhat lighter, almost grayish color, while these magazines have a semi-gloss black color.
Appearance-wise, the main difference this magazine has compared to the factory magazine is the checkering on the sides of the magazines on the area starting from the bottom of the magazine well to the baseplate. I don't really like them that much, it sort of makes the magazine look a bit cheap. In terms of overall appearance, I prefer and find the factory Glock magazines to be better aesthetically.
There are no external markings as to who made this magazine, but the seller said that this is made by KCI, a known maker of Glock accessories and parts based in South Korea. I searched the internet, and found that these do look like the high capacity magazines that KCI is selling. Here is a link with picture of a KCI magazine: http://www.hkparts.net/shop/pc/-31-Round-Magazine-Glock-40-S-W-KCI-p2297.htm
'Expanding Magazine'
One of the first things I noticed about this magazine is that it expands as you fill it with bullets. It slides in and falls off the magazine well when it is empty, but when you fill it to capacity, its fit to the well becomes tighter, tight to the point where even if it is fully loaded to 29 rounds, it will NOT drop off on its own. Its long body protruding below the magazine well does give you a lot of area to grab so you can pull it out of the well.
This does NOT happen with the original Glock magazines, or at least the .40 caliber 15 round ones, anyway. Whether they are empty or fully loaded, they fly off the magazine easily. As to why these KCI magazines expands too much, I don't know. Maybe because they use a different material, or different blend of the same material is used compared to the original Glock magazines. Or perhaps they use a slightly different design in terms of construction, like slightly thinner walls on the magazine. Or it could be a combination of these different factors that cause the magazine body to slightly expand too much.
At any rate, it does not reflect well on the magazine, but not exactly a showstopper, more of an irritant. If you use the magazine in a shooting situation, it is assumed that it will be empty when you eject it, and when it is empty it does fall off easily.
I tried an experiment wherein I slowly removed one bullet at a time from the magazine and then check if it will fall off on its own, and I found out that when the number of rounds in the magazine hits 24, the magazine will not fall off the magazine well anymore on its own.
'Magazine Break-In'
As with all truly new magazines, this one has a break-in period wherein you will not be able to load them into full capacity initially. However, unlike the Glock magazines where I could only load 3 or 4 less than full capacity initially, on this KCI magazine I could only load 14 rounds initially, or less than half of the 31-round capacity.
I tried using the Glock Magazine loader, but it would not work very well with this magazine beyond 15 rounds. The rounds just tilts upwards when I use the loader, and no way you can insert the next round the usual way. You can use the loader as a PUSHER, wherein you push down with the loader, then remove it, and then push the next round manually.
I broke the magazine in by leaving it loaded and in a vertical position for the next couple of days, and then checking up on it every now and then. When I felt the spring has softened enough, I would push one or more rounds into it as possible, then leave it for staging. Then repeat the cycle until I reached full capacity. It took me about three weeks before I could comfortably to its full capacity. On the Glock magazines, I could load it to its full capacity after about a week of staging them with rounds on them.
'Actual Magazine Capacity'
KCI advertises this magazine as a "31-round" magazine, but the counter at the back of the magazine only goes down to 29 rounds, so probably they are referring to the "Plus 2" baseplate which this magazine has similar to the "Plus 2" baseplates on the original Glock magazines. However, I would go with loading just 29 rounds on it, mainly because the spring is so stiff it is quite hard to go down to 31 rounds. It will also give me a more accurate number of rounds in the magazine, matching the indicator at the rear of the magazine.
'Magazine Weight'
Another thing you notice as you reach and go beyond the 24 round mark is how heavy the magazine can be. I suspect this is one reason why Glock only offered up to 22 rounds on their magazines. The KCI magazine is long enough and can get heavy enough for you to use as a club. When loaded into your Glock, all that weight is concentrated on the handle area only, making the gun quite rear heavy and not as easy to move around.
You can use that weight to your advantage when breaking in the magazine, though. Just keep the gun upright, allowing the heavy weight of those bullets to work downwards on the spring and making them lighter. Alternatively, when the spring has been broken in, you would not want to store the gun vertically for all those bullets to keep trying to compress the spring. I think it is best to store the magazines horizontally so as not to wear out or overly weaken the spring.
'Malfunctions'
Initially the magazine worked well for a couple of months, and a couple of hundred rounds, with no malfunctions. So I ended up loading them to 29 rounds, then leaving them for a week or so before using them again. Eventually, though, the magazine started to FAIL. This came in the form of a FAILURE TO FEED. After a couple of rounds of cycling, the gun would just stop firing. When I open the slide back to check the chamber, it is EMPTY. What was happening was that the magazine spring was not pushing the rounds into the chamber.
Apparently, the spring had weakened too much to the point where it was not capable to consistently pushing the rounds up into the chamber anymore. The bullets would load when you close the chamber, and the gun would fire a couple of rounds, and then the FTF issue would happen again. This happens about 3-4 times per magazine.
Note that I did store the fully loaded magazine horizontally to help preserve the spring, but that did not help as much. After the failures started happening, I just stored the magazines empty, and then loaded them when I use them on the range. Since then, the FTF problem has not re-occured, the magazine has cycled reliably.
'Loose Bottom Plate Issue'
Another issue which showed itself only after some time was the bottom plate sliding off as you are loading to the magazine. Initially, that magazine plate as NOT easy to move around. However, after some time, it became easier and easier to take off, to the point that it kept happening during loading.
Another thing you notice as you reach and go beyond the 24 round mark is how heavy the magazine can be. I suspect this is one reason why Glock only offered up to 22 rounds on their magazines. The KCI magazine is long enough and can get heavy enough for you to use as a club. When loaded into your Glock, all that weight is concentrated on the handle area only, making the gun quite rear heavy and not as easy to move around.
You can use that weight to your advantage when breaking in the magazine, though. Just keep the gun upright, allowing the heavy weight of those bullets to work downwards on the spring and making them lighter. Alternatively, when the spring has been broken in, you would not want to store the gun vertically for all those bullets to keep trying to compress the spring. I think it is best to store the magazines horizontally so as not to wear out or overly weaken the spring.
'Malfunctions'
Initially the magazine worked well for a couple of months, and a couple of hundred rounds, with no malfunctions. So I ended up loading them to 29 rounds, then leaving them for a week or so before using them again. Eventually, though, the magazine started to FAIL. This came in the form of a FAILURE TO FEED. After a couple of rounds of cycling, the gun would just stop firing. When I open the slide back to check the chamber, it is EMPTY. What was happening was that the magazine spring was not pushing the rounds into the chamber.
Apparently, the spring had weakened too much to the point where it was not capable to consistently pushing the rounds up into the chamber anymore. The bullets would load when you close the chamber, and the gun would fire a couple of rounds, and then the FTF issue would happen again. This happens about 3-4 times per magazine.
Note that I did store the fully loaded magazine horizontally to help preserve the spring, but that did not help as much. After the failures started happening, I just stored the magazines empty, and then loaded them when I use them on the range. Since then, the FTF problem has not re-occured, the magazine has cycled reliably.
'Loose Bottom Plate Issue'
Another issue which showed itself only after some time was the bottom plate sliding off as you are loading to the magazine. Initially, that magazine plate as NOT easy to move around. However, after some time, it became easier and easier to take off, to the point that it kept happening during loading.
The major culprit for this issue is the fact that the bottom part of the magazine holding that plate in place has WEAKENED enough to the point that it is now easy to deform slightly. Just pressing on it will deform it, hence its inability to keep the bottom plate in place during loading of bullets.
'Parting Shot'
If you are thinking about buying this magazine, FORGET ABOUT IT. They are relatively cheaper than the other brands, but LONG TERM they are an absolute WASTE OF MONEY. I am glad I bought only one of them, and not a couple. Save your money for other Glock accessories. If you are looking for a reliable, high capacity magazine, then stick with the original Glock magazines. Or you could use the Arredondo magazine extensions with the original Glock magazines, they have worked well for me so far even during long storage with them loaded.
I still keep my KCI magazine, though, mainly for show off purposes, LOL. It looks great because of its long length, but it can be embarrassing trying to load bullets into it and the bottom plate keeps popping out. I don't think I can sell this magazine if I want to get rid of it, it will probably end up in the thrash can when I finally get tired with it. Again, STAY AWAY from this brand.
I still keep my KCI magazine, though, mainly for show off purposes, LOL. It looks great because of its long length, but it can be embarrassing trying to load bullets into it and the bottom plate keeps popping out. I don't think I can sell this magazine if I want to get rid of it, it will probably end up in the thrash can when I finally get tired with it. Again, STAY AWAY from this brand.
No comments:
Post a Comment