lancer magazine issues in AR10

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  • outobie

    Active Member
    Mar 7, 2012
    142
    Annapolis
    Hello all, I've got an Aero precision AR10/308 that works and cycles 100% every time through a few hundred rounds of anything I can find loaded in 8 different Hexmags and Pmags of various round counts from 10 to 25.

    I just bought some Lancer 10 round mags and I'm getting feed issues 6 out of 10 times with both of the new lancer mags. I sent two emails to lancer over the last 2 weeks with no response.

    the only thing that I can tell that seems different about the lancer mags is the spring pressure seems significantly greater to me than my other mags.

    does anyone have any experience with 10 round AR10 lancer mags?
     

    SkiPatrolDude

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 24, 2017
    3,332
    Timonium-Lutherville
    This is not totally uncommon with the AR platform.

    A few of my AR15's really do not like Magpul Gen2 mags. They function fine but they take a real slap on the ass to get them seated, more so than I am comfortable with if I found myself under stress.
     

    outobie

    Active Member
    Mar 7, 2012
    142
    Annapolis
    Any idea what's different? what's the fix?

    I was thinking that maybe my springs are too strong and I should cut off a loop
     

    jrumann59

    DILLIGAF
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 17, 2011
    14,024
    My AR-15 Lancer mags seemed "short" from front to pack, the nose of the round would would be pretty close to the front wall of the mag, so close that I actually have scratches from the tips rubbing. I don't know if that is a similar issue you are having with the AR-10mags.
     

    SkiPatrolDude

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 24, 2017
    3,332
    Timonium-Lutherville
    Any idea what's different? what's the fix?

    I was thinking that maybe my springs are too strong and I should cut off a loop

    I would think that extra feeling of tension would be more likely from the Lancer's metal feed lips rather than the spring. Perhaps some tolerance stacking is going on.

    AFAIK they use standard mil-spec springs, so no reason that would cause the issue.

    My Lancer mags work fine in my rifles, but I only have a few of them.

    If you think it's a spring issue, swap the spring with one of your other magazines before cutting it shorter.
     

    Ikaros240

    Member
    Aug 11, 2020
    76
    are you tapping or hitting the bottom of the lancer mags? I know lancer mags have an issue where it will eject a few rounds everytime you tap the bottom
     

    outobie

    Active Member
    Mar 7, 2012
    142
    Annapolis
    The lancer mag is short… a true 10 rounder. I have hexmag 20 hexmag 10/20 and Pmag 25

    I bought an extra spring for the hexmag 20 that I will experiment with

    I have bunch of 10 round short lancer mags in 300 Blk that are by far the best mags I own. I was hoping for the same experience with their ar10 mags
     

    ZeroCool

    Active Member
    Nov 8, 2006
    330
    Glen Burnie
    If it's a true 10 Rd mag length then maybe it still has a 20 Rd spring length in them and the pressure is too much for the bolt to overcome?

    Just throwing it out there... No idea. My 556 Lancer AR mags have been flawless and by far my fav mags.
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Mags for AR10/AR308 platforms can be hit or miss in general being there is no mil-spec. Lancers sit a little different than Pmags, if the rounds sit a little higher due to the thinner steel lips, they can drag and slow the bolt a little. Might be able to get them to run with a gas adjustment or different buffer, but probably no point, if Pmags work, just stick to Pmags. I had a mix of old and new Pmags I use on my Aero M5s, had a few older ones that wouldn't drop free, and a pile of new 20 and 25rd mags that did. Asked Magpul if there was a change, they said they make minor changes to ensure function as new receivers come out, and rev 10 was specifically for Aero M5s. They gave me an RMA, I sent in the older mags, they replaced them with the new revised version at no charge. Already ran Pmags on my AR15/AR308s, but now won't bother looking for anything else.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    I would think that extra feeling of tension would be more likely from the Lancer's metal feed lips rather than the spring. Perhaps some tolerance stacking is going on.

    AFAIK they use standard mil-spec springs, so no reason that would cause the issue.

    My Lancer mags work fine in my rifles, but I only have a few of them.

    If you think it's a spring issue, swap the spring with one of your other magazines before cutting it shorter.

    I can’t speak to SR-25 lancer mags. In my AR-15s the few I have I like and run flawlessly. That said, if I have them loaded to max (the 10 and 20 round mags) I can’t really seat them on a closed bolt. I have to hit them HARD. Like they owe me money. Even then, I’ve had failures to pickup rounds because they weren’t seated and I had to hit them again with the bolt open.

    -1 round from max or bolt open and they seat just fine. I don’t see how that is a metal vs polymer feed lip issue. I’ve used steel and aluminum mags and none do that in any of my ARs. At a guess the springs are different, or something about the follower or body causes there to be a lot more force on the stack or less give when it is completely full.

    When completely full the stack seems to budge a lot less. Most of my mags I can get it to half depress trying to get a +1 in. Lancers it barely moves at all if I try to depress them once they are full.
     

    ted76

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 20, 2013
    3,151
    Frederick
    Try leaving them fully loaded for a couple of weeks, and then retry them. cutting the spring tension down a little may help.
     

    slsc98

    Ultimate Member
    May 24, 2012
    6,750
    Escaped MD-stan to WNC Smokies
    ....does anyone have any experience with 10 round AR10 lancer mags?

    No but, all’s I do know is THE ONLY mags that will work in my DPMS G-II are Lancer 20- and 25- rdrs. NOT PMag, not SR-10, Nada ....

    Lancer 20- and 25- rdrs? All. Day. Long.

    Unfortunately, out of all the mag-buying I’ve been doing, I do not believe I have purchased any 10-rd in 7.62.

    As mentioned up-thread, you may find your 7.62 AR is quite specific. If that is the case, Buy In Bulk (as in waist deep) while one still can!
     

    damosan

    Active Member
    Feb 21, 2009
    261
    AR-15 experience doesn't apply so much to AR-10s when it comes to mags. As there is no single standard you need to find a mag that works and stick with them.

    I cut an 80% AR-10 lower and tried to run an AP upper. Nothing really worked with this configuration as the bolt face didn't reliably engage the rounds from any magazine. I could get it to work 100% if I applied rearward pressure on the mag (raising the ass end of the round high enough to ensure bolt face engagement).

    I could of modified my magazines to make the combo work but I ended up just buying a stripped AP lower. So far it seems to love pmags and surplus steel mags. So I stick with them.
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    It's entirely possible you have some sort of magazine catch tolerance issue. If you have another mag catch, perhaps try replacing it.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    No but, all’s I do know is THE ONLY mags that will work in my DPMS G-II are Lancer 20- and 25- rdrs. NOT PMag, not SR-10, Nada ....

    Lancer 20- and 25- rdrs? All. Day. Long.

    Unfortunately, out of all the mag-buying I’ve been doing, I do not believe I have purchased any 10-rd in 7.62.

    As mentioned up-thread, you may find your 7.62 AR is quite specific. If that is the case, Buy In Bulk (as in waist deep) while one still can!

    This. That does suck that as those are $$$ for an AR-10.

    At least so far all of the 20 rounds and 10 round PMAGs I've tried in my AR-10 work fine (Aero M5 upper and lower, Brownell's bolt). I do need to try hexmags. I've got some 20s that I haven't tested yet. They are TIGHT in the magwell. Need some force to seat fully, though not terrible. My Pmags slide right in and drop free. The hexmags need to be pushed in and pulled out. Probably a couple minutes with some fine sand paper (on the mags!) would fix that. But I don't really need to stack mags higher and deeper for my AR-10.

    I've probably got enough, though I wouldn't mind picking up a couple more 20s and a couple of 25s at some point. It isn't my go to and I don't feel like I need a battle load or something of them. I'd try Lancers just to pick up a couple, but at more than 2x the price compared to PMags that I know work, I'd rather just pickup 4 more PMags :-)
     

    slsc98

    Ultimate Member
    May 24, 2012
    6,750
    Escaped MD-stan to WNC Smokies
    I think I’ll try trimming the spring down by a loop and see if that helps…nothing to loose

    Left field catch ... but, do you have any other 10-rdr mags (that you’ve confirmed work) and which you can simply swap the spring out of (again, that you’ve confirmed works) and into one of the lancer mags?

    I’d try that before snipping any coils, off a mag spring ...
     

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