Pistol Magazines for Sale and Quality: What to Look for

Any mag fed firearm that lacks a functioning mag is little more than a single-shot platform until that functionality is restored.

Yet, though we offer a wide range of pistol magazines for sale, not all mags are created equal. This short post should help you get to the bottom of quality.

The Most Important Determinant of Quality

There is ultimately only one thing that determines quality in pistol magazines for sale, and all else can fall by the wayside if you don’t meet this requirement.

It must be compatible with the firearm with which you intend to use it.

Who cares if the mag has a high-tensile strength spring and a nitrided steel body if it doesn’t fit in the gun?

This is the most important thing you need to recognize. Be aware also that not all pistol magazines designed for one model are compatible for it. Consider, for instance, Glock pistols; not all Glock magazines are compatible with all Glocks. You need a model and generation-specific mag to ensure compatibility.

Anyway, once you’ve squared that away, here are the other things to look for.

Beyond That…

Here are some of the other things you can look for to determine whether or not a given pistol magazine for sale is worth its proverbial salt.

• A steel or aluminum mag body

Some pistol magazines for sale are made with polymer tubes or bodies. Now, to be clear, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with them and in fact, plastic has some advantages. It is lightweight, flexible, and most importantly, plastic, unlike steel and aluminum, does not corrode.

But it is also much weaker than both these alloys, and more importantly, no plastic is as abrasion resistant as steel and aluminum. Plastic also cracks, and on top of that, some solvents commonly used to clean firearms can be damaging to some polymers.

So, take that for what it’s worth. Rigidity and wear resistance are two of the most important attributes of firearm magazines, making both steel and aluminum categorically superior to synthetics, despite the extra weight.

• A high-strength mag spring

Under normal conditions, the first and only part of your mag that will realistically ever fail is the magazine spring. Whenever you have a gun that’s jamming or failing to feed reliably, one of the first things you should look at is the mag spring.

Now, some pistol magazines for sale, like our 1911 mags, are made with high-tensile strength mag springs. That’s not bland marketing copy, it’s backed up with testing. As many as 20,000 cycles of testing, in fact. That’s how long these mags last. They might even outlast the other springs in your gun. Anyway, this is one of the most important things to look for in quality pistol magazines for sale.

• A steel follower

Not a huge deal if you can’t find one, but all in all, they’re better than plastic followers. Under stress and high temperatures, plastic followers can deform, and a deformed follower, like a fatigued mag spring, is also going to complicate feeding. It might even cause jams and failures.

Not that you shouldn’t buy a mag if it doesn’t have a steel follower, but rest assured in this: a steel follower is going to last longer than literally everything else except the frame of the gun. Even the barrel will wear out first.

• Corrosion-resistant treatment

Since one of our pointers was to look for pistol magazines for sale that have steel or aluminum bodies, it follows that you should also look for mags with a corrosion resistant finish.

There are all sorts of these: parkerized finishes, nitride finishes (like black nitride and titanium nitride) and even Cerakote and anodized aluminum are all good options. They will protect the steel or aluminum underneath and prevent or slow wear, scratching, and corrosion.

• Round count indicators

Like the follower, this is not a dealbreaker, but if you can find a mag that has round count indicators it’s just a convenient feature that’s nice to have and will let you know if the mag is loaded and how fully, at a glance.

• Where possible, a design that incorporates parallel feed lips

Parallel feed lips are not just consistent, but they are durable and long lasting. Also, parallel feed lips offer smoother, more consistent feeding with handgun rounds like wadcutters.

• A design that allows for easy maintenance

Last but not least, keep in mind that some magazines, especially affordable ones, are made from stamped and rolled steel or aluminum that doesn’t allow for easy assembly. Some designs require you to pull the follower and spring out the top, which is not easy.

It’s better if you can find a mag with a base plate that drops out the bottom, making it easier to remove the spring and follower for cleaning, and where necessary, replacement.

Shop a Massive Inventory of Pistol Magazines for Sale

This list of pointers should help you settle on a pistol magazine for sale that isn’t just compatible with your handgun - but which is built to a high degree of quality. Start your search here; we carry a huge assortment of pistol and rifle magazines, and if you can’t find what you’re looking for, get in touch with us at 610-250-3960.