[Squantos]

I think some of the issues "used" to be spring set. Thus in 20 rounders we used 18 as the steel in the mag lips bent with a max 20. New metalurgy or phenolics may be better. My experience with plastic mags such as the AUG's you speak of was such that when abraded with sand or mud they got "fuzzy" and didn't fit the mag well. The C6 rifle that the Canuks used had plastic mags and they tried to horse trade us out of the aluminum mags we had . They didn't like em either in the big sand box.

I would like to see the magazine concept approached in a different way. The FP-90 mags are possible by top loading, and ammo carried sideways as in the 5n7 rounds they use. A bull pup design with the ammo mag on top acting as a cheek weld versus the mag in the bottom might also be looked at.

Bull pups have their place IMHO. They deserve a better arraingment/design but the concept is valid I believe.

Stay Safe !

[Travis McGee]

What's the govt cost of 40 X 5.56 bullets? What would be the cost of a one-time-use plastic mag? Probably no more than the bullets.

Getting abraded with sand etc won't be a problem if they come in sealed battle packs, and you toss them after one firing.

(Of course the enviro weenies won't like that battlefield littered with 'non returnable' mags, among the corpses.)