If you have an AEG M4 that shoots at a fairly high RPS (rounds per second), chances are that many magazines will fail to keep up with your gun, and it might be time for some better magazines.
There are some other variables thrown in the mix, too, such as ammo weight. People who run heavier-weight ammo will see this problem even more, as the stock springs inside your typical midcaps might not be able to push the heavy ammo as effectively when you fire radiply.
There are a few options out there, and most commonly, these magazines will feature a strong spring that will allow them to keep up with your guns. We have found in our testing that while this is required to get the job done, sometimes the springs being too stiff causes another problem with the hopup. You see, when something is pressing the hopup hard, you might get feeding issues on the first couple of rounds or, worse yet, experience the drag of the nozzle against the hop-up. Either situation is far from ideal and can cause anything from jams to low velocity or inconsistent shooting on the first few rounds. How do people deal with it? Loading short by 10-20 rounds is the way to work around that. That is far from ideal, but that is something people don't tell you when they run their $30 mid-caps, which are touted as the best.
Lancer Tactical comes with budget-friendly mid-caps that are claimed to be high-speed. These are inexpensive, coming in at around 15 dollars each or 50-60 or so for a 5-pack. They hold 130 rounds and have many little features built into them. First of all, how do they feed? I tested it with my 40rps gun with .28, and so far, it is so good. I don't have a wide variety to test with, so we will leave it to airsoft scientists to do complete and comprehensive empirical testing. I will say that the gun fed without skipping a beat, and it did not exhibit any of the problems I mentioned earlier found in mags with ridiculously overpowered springs. So what does that mean?
The spring tension is better than your average mid-cap but not so overpowered as these "high-end" mid-caps, such as PTS or others we've seen. Even ICS factory midcaps can be too much for the hop-up chamber on the first few shots. But my initial impression of these LT mags is that they are in a good spot.
The magazine body is constructed entirely out of polymer. It feels light, so it's not as substantial as a pro-line-level magazine like a VFC QRS magazine or ICS TMAG. It's built with a budget in mind. However, I would not rule these out as flimsy -- just lighter. The body features textures and grooves for easier gripping. The baseplate has a raised flat portion to allow you to set your gun on the deck and act as a monopod, and it has a built-in loop that could function like a pull tab, much like a Magpul or something. The magazine features a number matrix imprint you can fill in to mark and identify your magazines. The baseplate comes off easily for maintenance, which is important to any mid-cap. The colors available are black, tan, or grey. At Fox, we currently stock black and tan.
This costs more than the Elite Force midcaps we commonly sell. What's better? If your gun is outrunning your magazines, you have to get better magazines; otherwise, those upgrades will be pointless. With that, you do have to spend a bit more for the Lancer mags, but now that option exists, you don't have to break the bank. The Elite Force ones are my go-to when the budget is important and your gun shoots within the window of what most magazines can feed, meaning unless your gun is built for speed and high rate of fire, you might not see the need. Either way, now you have more options, which is always good. Even on my fastest shooting AEGs, I am not a big fan of the overpowered midcaps. They create more problems for me than solve, and no one talks about it, and I do not know why. This is not a slam on any particular brand or model but something I have encountered when trying to feed my AEGs with the best. Sometimes, I have been let down by the most hyped thing; in this instance, the cheaper versions have worked out. What are your experiences with different magazines out there?
