Several months ago Plinker Tactical sent me a free, 35-round magazine in response to my less than complimentary report to them on their 15-22 charging handle. A report on that magazine can be found here:

Plinker Tactical 35 Round Magazine

A month or so ago I received a call from PT, asking me how I liked the magazine. I gave them a quick and dirty synopsis of what I posted here. Needless to say, they were not particularly happy and said they would send me another, because "they had sold hundreds and no one ever reported any problems." I received the magazine, and a charging tool, a few days later.

I finally had a chance to get to the range today and give both of them a workout. The loading tool is an absolute must! The magazines load quickly with it; without it, loading is a very unpleasant experience. Even with the tool, I could only get 34 rounds in each one.

As happened the first time around, the first few rounds were problematic - failures to feed and jams. This happened on BOTH magazines. However, after ten rounds, the rest fed through with little additional problem. I reloaded both with just 25 rounds and only had feed problems with the first two or three rounds. This leads me to conclude that these magazines are, from a practical standpoint, really 20 or 25 round magazines, not 35.

One additional remark: both do not just slide into the mag well and lock, as S&W magazines do. They must either be forcefully slammed into place or the magazine release be held down while inserting them. This tells me the latch cut is either too tight or slightly out of place, or a combination of the two. I did not bother to mike the slots to compare them to factory magazines.

As most of you know by now, I will praise good products day and night, but not hesitate to condemn poor ones. So far, with the exception of the ambi latch on PT's charging handle, I think their products, including the charging handle, are poorly implemented designs and buying them is a poor choice.

Just one shooter's opinion ...

We all want good products that work. Many times that is the case and all is fine.


When they don't we also want fair and accurate reports. Thanks for the heads up and the update.

Nice. You have to call em' as you see em'. Nice heads up. Thanks.

Are they expecting you to get back to them about the new mag they sent?

They said they would give me a call after I had a chance to use the magazines. I am going to box everything up and send it all back to them on Monday or Tuesday. I have no reason to keep them.

I will send them an email containing both this review and my original one when I mail the magazines.

The gentleman I have been dealing with on the phone is very nice and pleasant to talk to, so I do owe them the courtesy of telling them what I have posted here.

That's fair. Well, hopefully they take you seriously and really try to improve things. I can't imagine you are the only one having issues.

There have been a couple of others that have posted complaints, but I don't remember a single person defending them.

Mine feeds ok. I've only used it a few times because of the few times I've used it I had some sort of issue. Once or twice the last round failed to feed then most of the time the bolt will not stay open on the last round. I have about 13 S&W mags and procomp that work so no real need to have/use the Plinker that has issues. Anyone wanna trade the plinker for some AR magpuls ????? haha!

I myself have not used a PT magazine and I'm not here to bad talk a company I know nothing about. Based on everyones reviews on this forum and 2 others it looks like they just made a high capacity product with no real testing. They could have tested it but to have so many issues sounds like it was rushed into production based on the extra capacity.

Just my opinion folks.

I am in complete agreement with your assessment. Same deal on the fit and finish of their charging handle. I have no doubt they are nice people personally, though.

To their credit, they felt pretty substantial and I'm thinking the body of the magazine could probably withstand alot of abuse. Unfortunately for me all they seemed to be was an efficient ammo destruction accessory and/or durable paperweight.

Based on my own experience w/ 2 of them I can only come to the conclusion that these magazines are either subject REALLY poor QA or the product of a design that was never tested.

On the plus side, Midway had no issues w/ accepting an RMA for mine and I have replaced them w/ several more S&W mags.

That is good to hear.

Good review, I appreciate honest reviews even if they have cons.

I bought the charging handle from this company. I'm currently looking for something to replace it for something that states on the packaging it is a dedicated 15-22 item it fits like #!*t. Needless to say I won't be getting a mag from them and thanks for the review major .

I'm sorry you had the same experience I did. I wish you could buy the one from NDZ; you would be very pleased. As for dedicated , the PT handle is dedicated to the 15-22, just a very poor implementation.

NO Problems with Plinker Tactical Products!

No issues with my three the Plinker Tactical magazines w/load assist tool.

No Problems with the charging handle or latch.

No problem loading, no problems with mag insertion,locking or release.

The 15-22 and the PT mags are both PLASTIC.... high tech poly carb, not metal. Finished material is a little beefier.

The magazine are heavy duty. after loading/shooting the magazines a dozen or so times, if they stick, look for the shiny spot and LIGHTLY use some 400/ 600 wet-dry paper to take down the area of the mag sticking in the magwell. I have poly mags for my 1911 22 conversion, I run the 400 wet/dry over all of my poly mags... no sticking, lock and drop like .45 metal magazines.

My seven year old grandson loves to shoot the PT magazines....All 35 rounds. He gets to shoot the 15-22 after he has a set of 10 rds inside of a 3" ring on target at 25 yrs with his little cricket with open sights. Two weeks ago, He ran five (35rd) sets with the PT mags though my 15-22 w/PA red dot M3 clone. Zero feed problems, zero fail to ejects for all five sets. OBTW - 175 rounds in a 2.5" area.

Fail to feed or jams, it's usually the ammo, the shooter - using the magazine as a grip or a mono pod/rest, worn parts (including mags), or a combination of the previous problems.

USING a magazine as a support grip or rest are NOT GOOD. Gripping the magazine will cause a misalignment for bolt to catch the new round--- RESULT: Jam/failure to feed. Using the mag as a rest causes upward pressure on the mag lips and the mag catch. this will change the cycle timing and alignment for the bolt to catch a new round--- RESULT: Jam/ failure to feed.

If you want to grip an AR around the front of the lower receiver, then grip the front of the magwell, but not the magazines. If you need to rest the weapon, then rest the forearm of the weapon and not the magazine.

Remember, not all the .22 bullets or cartridges are the same. I can't run Winchester bulk through any of my .22 autos ... pistols or rifles without a miss feed or FTE.

- Yes, the PT anodizing could be deeper and darker. Hick, even accessory pieces for 5.56mm ARs from major parts manufacturers are no better then Plinker's finish. In fact, I've had to refinish two Badger Ordnance latches straight out of the package. Also the metal finish will wear and eventually need refinishing, unless you don't shoot the gun.

I didn't like the finish (slight casting/forging seam on the trigger face) of a expensive trigger (brand will not be named) I installed on an AR-4 carbine I built. I didn't B..ch, moan, and complain about the product or business. The trigger passed the company's standard, but not mine. a little sanding, polishing, and bluing and the trigger is outstanding.

I had some feed problems with 10 of my range mags (Chip McCormick Power Mags), the split finger followers were an issue. (my son-in- uses the same CM Power magazines as his duty mags...no problems... go figure) Now I have ten McCormick/Wilson hybrid 1911 magazines....Wilson Combat followers and springs in the McCormick magazine cases. No problems ... over 3K rounds through these mags. My loaded "Go To" mags are Wilson Combat, Les Baer, and Kimber.


The Plinker Tactical products are great....
Recommendation: YES
Continue to use: YES


TAT

"The Plinker Tactical products are great.... Recommendation: YES Continue to use: YES

TAT"

I am so thrilled you are happy with PT products, but you seem to be in the minority. FOR ME, they DIDN'T work and I cannot and do not recommend products to others than I have personally had problems, especially repeat problems, with. After 40 years of shooting, I have a pretty good feel for what is good and what isn't.

That's why we have choices.

My issues were consistent and spectacular failures to feed using 4 different varieties of quality ammo (Aguila Super Extra, CCI Mini Mags and AR Tactical, and Winchester Super X) while hand loading both PT magazines to full capacity and to 30 rounds w/ a non-mechanically modified, more or less brand new and clean M&P 15-22. Every single round I attempted to chamber would get chomped between the breech and the bolt right at the end of the casing. Didn't matter whether the magazine was inserted w/ bolt open or closed.

I could take the remaining rounds out of the PT mag, place them into any one of my S&W 25 round or 10 round short mags and using the same technique (standing w/ support hand on AFG mounted all the way to the muzzle end of the bottom rail) experience no issues w/ feeding. I've yet to have a single FTF to date using the S&W mags regardless of posture or grip in over 2500 rounds.

I'm glad the magazines are working for someone, but they certainly were defective for me.