Originally posted by Hawkeye59:
Both mags have the following markings on floor plate.
.223 cal/5.56 mm
NHMTG S/42
HARTFORD CT
33710 marking on mag
one dated 7-08 the other 12-08
Those magazines are made by Okay Industries in Hartford, CT, the longest-term supplier of M16 magazines to the government. Okay's "CAGE Code" (
Commercial
and
Government
Entity Code = supplier identifier) is "33710". The 7-08 and 12-08 are dates of manufacture.
Please note that the finish on these aluminum-bodied magazines is a dry film lubricant (DFL) called Perma-Slik on top of anodizing. The Perma-Slik DFL is made by E-M Lubricants, and was specified in the early 1960s for M16 magazines. Perma-Slik DFL starts out looking like a flat gray paint and it very readily "burnishes" to a dull metallic appearance by any contact, such as if rubbed with a cloth, bumped by another mag, or is inserted into and removed from an AR/M16 receiver. EXPECT THE MAG FINISH TO BE or BECOME ALL MARKED UP. It is the nature of the coating. A mag that is covered in contact marks on the finish is NOT necessarily a used mag. Used mags will have powder gas residue on the green follower and on the inside surfaces of the magazine body. There will be finish wear on the top of the front wall of the mag and evidence of brass tracking there as well. There may be linear dirt/soot smuding on the green follower, suggestive of a cartridge having been loaded. And the ribs of the mag body on the inside of the mag will be burnished bright from cyclic contact of the follower and spring.
Don't forget, if you rifle was on the shelf in a store, it's possible that the mag was inserted one or more times as a demonstration to prospective buyers. This will increase burnishing and contact marks on a magazine that is so treated.
Further, I am aware of some retail dealers who make a practice of taking the new NHTMG 30-rd mag out of the S&W case and replace it with a WELL and TRULY USED 30-rd USGI magazine, then sell the new NHTMG mags separately in their shop. S&W cannot be held responsible for that practice.
Your NHMTG-marked mags are recent production, as evidenced by the mfg dates. If anyone is interested, I can take a photo of the unused NHTMG mag that came with my latest M&P15, showing the degree of contact marking on the Perma-Slik finish.
HTH,
Noah