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WTK: the Truth about AGP mags


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After researching these mags here and other places on the Internet, I have no more knowledge for a decision than when I started. Please, give me some real world info.

 

Do the new 2nd gen mags without mods to the gun? To me, any product that requires modification is not worth having (that is why I am waiting on the MD drum instead of buying the WM).

 

Assuming question above is yes, are they reliable? A FTF only once in 10 rds is still unacceptable.

 

Should I spend my money on factory 5's. Honest input is appreciated.

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I have several first batch mags and a few second. I personally have not had problems with them at all. I know other's warn against this, but mine functioned smoother after leaving them loaded a little while. The main problem they had with the first batch of mags is some tapered near the top and it caused the follower to stick. That problem was addressed in the batch 2 mags and I had no problems with the new mags from the get-go. I haven't had to do any modifications to my gun or the mags. The only failures I've had are with the Winchester bulk ammo that don't even like to function in the factory mags. I understand you're confusion, people love to post the negative aspects of a product and rarely the good things, so the product ends up getting a bad rep, even though the problems were usually somewhat isolated.

Edited by keyser
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This subject has recently been beaten to death on the forum. Not meaning to avoid your question, but I don't see what else can be said that wasn't already said about them in a couple of recent threads.

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This subject has recently been beaten to death on the forum. Not meaning to avoid your question, but I don't see what else can be said that wasn't already said about them in a couple of recent threads.

 

 

Yes, I know - some people say they are garbage, some love them. I was trying to get specifics on those that like them - did they work out of the box, or were mods done.

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I've used the AGP mags and they are great. I love taking them out shooting and watching the smoke billow out of them when they are empty.

 

Tight at first but easy to load and lock in to the gun nicely.

 

The problems I've had with my gun have been mostly related to me not polishing my fire control group to make it as smooth as possible and sticking an un-needed recoil buffer in there.

 

For always working the factory 5s and 8s can't be beat.

 

The AGPs though honestly work just fine.

 

It depends on what ammo your gun likes too though. My gun cycles high brass rounds and slugs without fail every time.

 

Though you stick in the low brass el-cheapo winchester wal-mart box rounds and the damn thing jams up ejecting/feeding. The plastic shell is so flimsy and crappy, I even had trouble with them in an 870. Its like trying to feed mini-hotdogs into the gun, flimsy, gross, and worthless.

 

AGP is worth it. If anything the problem is the mags come too tight and might need to be broke in first (I haven't had to mess with any of mine yet) but you shouldn't have to mod your gun for any reason unless you want to.

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Yes, I know - some people say they are garbage, some love them. I was trying to get specifics on those that like them - did they work out of the box, or were mods done.

 

 

Stating it like that sounds like it is half and half positive to negative. But in reality, I think that out of several thousand produced so far, there have only been a few problems, which were minor defects that were easy to solve. So it will most likely work out of the box, and if it doesn't, you won't have a problem getting it to.

 

Bottom line is that it's a good product and the satisfaction rating is probably close to 95%

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So far I love mine. I did sand down the lip a little bit to the same level that my heavily used 5 rounders were at so that they would click into place on a closed bolt easier.

 

BUT, here's the thing: There is less extra space at the bottom of the agp 10 rounders than the factory 5s, so if you put a full mag in on an open bolt, the top round will deform from being squished in there so tightly and give an FTF after the first shot. The solution is to just insert the 10 rounder with the bolt open and chamber the first round. The next shell down doesn't deform because it's not being squeezed so much, and I have zero FTFs. When I shoot it, I take it out of the closet with the same 10 rounds in the gun and it's fine.

 

So for home defense, I have 10 rounds instead of 11 available. That OUGHT TO be enough. If not, reload.

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I like AGP mags as you can tell,

 

This is no BS I bought a total of 10 mags, and have shot in 5 or 6 tactical shotgun matches this summer, not one single jam in my gun or my son's gun not one!

 

What I did was a little sanding on the sides of the mags just a little, and took my dremmel and smoothed the bullet path to the chamber just a bit some older Saiga shotguns had a few snag points.

 

BTW my mags were the first batch so I do not know about the next genoration of mags.

 

Ron, Kenneth have you had any jams with AGPs? Eric and I have not.

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I have 2 first batch ones that originally came with stainless feedlips, and I've run hundreds of rounds though each without any mods except some graphite lube and the replacement spring steel feedlips. They have never given me a problem with 2-3/4" shells (haven't tried 3"). The only jams I get are due to underpowered birdshot, and that isn't the mag's fault as it happens with the Russian mags as well. A while back I ordered another batch of AGP mags but haven't had a reason to touch them yet as the first 2 mags serve me just fine for now.

Edited by kahrak
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I have four gen 2 AGP mags and they are fine. Zero complaints. I bought mine through a group buy on arizonashooting.com so I wasn't sure what generation they were. Luckily, I live about six blocks away from AGP so I took them in and asked if mine had been brought up to speed with the spring steel feed lips. These guys were super nice and gave me the lowdown. Turns out that when they made the switch from stainless feed lips to spring steel they found that the spring steel pinched the top of the mag a little which SOMETIMES puts a little drag on the follower. They told me what to do if I had this problem. I took the mags to the range and tested them. One of my four needed to be taken apart and have the inside walls sanded to free up the follower a little. Worked like a charm. The only failures I experience are with really, really cheap ammo. Now... I think it's time to start being a little more fair with AGP. Box magazines are always problematic. Think about it... any device that lines up shell casings, moves them along smoothly and spits them out at precisely the right angle every time has got to be hard to make. I can't count how many times I've gotten ahold of a "bad" pistol or rifle mag. Every once in a blue moon I can tweak one and make it work but most of the time no amount of fixing, tweaking or tuning will make a bad magazine relialable.

Twenty plus years of experience with this tells me that AGP is pretty much on the right track. Sure, it would be nice if they had been able to identify every single possible issue with the ten round mags. I believe that if that were the case they would still be testing prototypes. Thats just how the small/medium startup manufacturing cookie crumbles sometimes. Buy the mags. Take comfort in knowing that AGP will help you if you have any major problems. Take comfort also, in knowing that any of the relatively few problems can be fixed EASILY!!!

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Currently holding 16 AGP's. I love them all!! fit & function are great without any mods on my end to the mag or weapon. As previously stated in other posts I have not had any problems unless I was running a weak bird/clay load and even then maybe I'd get 1 in 50 FTE. Most of the time they rip like the were meant to be FA. (sorry inside joke :lolol: )

 

A link to my video for your viewing pleasure

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That was pretty slow if you ask me... ;)

I've seen ya dump a whole mag at least twice that fast.

 

I tested the very first AGP 10 rd mag and it passed with flying colors. (red, green, clear, brown, etc...lol)

 

I've always stood behind AGP and their mags when they were under attack by idiots (and those with genuine problems mind you, those are SMALL problems that can be easily fixed). Any real problems will be handled with excellent customer service by the manufacturer.

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dont waste your time or money.

 

I sold all of mine, I sure as hell wasent going to test fire all 21 AGP mags I had to find out which ones function and toss the rest, then load and test fire the ones that functioned again, and again, and again, just so i know which ones I Think will work. In the process firing off like 1,000 rounds through my tromix shotgun.... Then repeat on my other guns.

 

save your pennys and buy the more expencive russian 8rd mags like I did and be happy with magazines that work.

 

8rds that feed reliably is better than 10rds in a magazine that dosent work.

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dont waste your time or money.

 

I sold all of mine, I sure as hell wasent going to test fire all 21 AGP mags I had to find out which ones function and toss the rest, then load and test fire the ones that functioned again, and again, and again, just so i know which ones I Think will work. In the process firing off like 1,000 rounds through my tromix shotgun.... Then repeat on my other guns.

 

save your pennys and buy the more expencive russian 8rd mags like I did and be happy with magazines that work.

 

8rds that feed reliably is better than 10rds in a magazine that dosent work.

 

 

Where can the 8-rounders be found. Gunbroker does not have any (their stuff is way too high anyway).

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I have six AGP mags from the initial production run and they all function flawlessly. No problemos. You're going to pay through the nose for factory eight-rounders. I have 6 Izhmash factory eight-rounders, I'll let one of those go for $160 shipped if you really want one that badly. Or you can pay $115 plus shipping to Rusmilitary if you prefer to wait a long time for one. Personally I think you're nuts for passing on the AGPs but if you got the money I got a mag. :rolleyes:

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My 4 AGP mags have been flawless in my 2001 S-12. However I go over any mag i buy, the plastic ones get the followers sanded of all mold flash and lubed with dry silicone. The ONLY issue that I have found is that Barnul steel hulls will only feed from the top position due to their thicker rims. This isn't a problem at this time, as there is no current source for this ammo, therefore Isave what I have for the top round in Hd mags.

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dont waste your time or money.

 

I sold all of mine, I sure as hell wasent going to test fire all 21 AGP mags I had to find out which ones function and toss the rest, then load and test fire the ones that functioned again, and again, and again, just so i know which ones I Think will work. In the process firing off like 1,000 rounds through my tromix shotgun.... Then repeat on my other guns.

 

save your pennys and buy the more expencive russian 8rd mags like I did and be happy with magazines that work.

 

8rds that feed reliably is better than 10rds in a magazine that dosent work.

 

 

Hmmm...would have been more then happy to trade you for a WM drum. :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol:

 

And as far as worrying about putting thousands of rounds through your Tromix shotty...come on. I go through 200-300 rounds every other weekend. I'm sure Tromix or not Saiga's hold their own weight up just fine.

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I ordered all of mine over time, three different shipments from rusmilitary.com They have them from time to time. They will ship them to you disassembled in two different boxes.

COMRADE

We disagree on the AGPs that is fine, I also have a large number of Russian 5 round mags and 3 eight round mags, some times the Russian factory mags would snag the top feed guide and cause a jam not often but it has happened. The jam is easily fixed but it is annoying.

 

This is not to say one is better than the other, cause I did not say that I only said I have had trouble with factory mags in the past or rare occasions.

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dont waste your time or money.

 

I sold all of mine, I sure as hell wasent going to test fire all 21 AGP mags I had to find out which ones function and toss the rest, then load and test fire the ones that functioned again, and again, and again, just so i know which ones I Think will work. In the process firing off like 1,000 rounds through my tromix shotgun.... Then repeat on my other guns.

 

save your pennys and buy the more expencive russian 8rd mags like I did and be happy with magazines that work.

 

8rds that feed reliably is better than 10rds in a magazine that dosent work.

 

 

Hmmm...would have been more then happy to trade you for a WM drum. :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol:

 

And as far as worrying about putting thousands of rounds through your Tromix shotty...come on. I go through 200-300 rounds every other weekend. I'm sure Tromix or not Saiga's hold their own weight up just fine.

 

You can come over here any time you want and do that!! :smoke:

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dont waste your time or money.

 

I sold all of mine, I sure as hell wasent going to test fire all 21 AGP mags I had to find out which ones function and toss the rest, then load and test fire the ones that functioned again, and again, and again, just so i know which ones I Think will work. In the process firing off like 1,000 rounds through my tromix shotgun.... Then repeat on my other guns.

 

save your pennys and buy the more expencive russian 8rd mags like I did and be happy with magazines that work.

 

8rds that feed reliably is better than 10rds in a magazine that dosent work.

 

 

Hmmm...would have been more then happy to trade you for a WM drum. :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol: :lolol:

 

And as far as worrying about putting thousands of rounds through your Tromix shotty...come on. I go through 200-300 rounds every other weekend. I'm sure Tromix or not Saiga's hold their own weight up just fine.

 

You can come over here any time you want and do that!! :smoke:

 

Lets plan something for around my B-Day? Veterans Day!! What do you think?

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