The EMA Tactical CountDown mag: If I've got time to look at my magazine and check its little gas gauge, I'm thinking I've probably got time to just prophylactically reload.
The Cammenga EasyMag: Because I was looking at my magazines the other day and thinking "What these things really need are more moving parts."
The EMA Tactical CountDown mag: Because I'm tired of waiting for my M41A pulse rifle.
ReplyDeleteKen pretty much nailed it. Good concept, still needs work though.
ReplyDeletePmag mag levels have simplicity going for them, just glance at where the orange is and you've got a quick idea (same could be argued for the EMAs, since there is also a color code); or if you must know you could just go with the Lancer System ones (but from my experience they haven't heard of them new fangled anti-tilt follower thingies yet)
Of course the correct thing to do is just put a fresh one in if you've shot any rounds and you have a moment.
I noted the CountDown mag the other day, I guess with the AR market what it is, they will likely sell em, just not to me
ReplyDeleteI like the EasyMag as a range toy, actually.
ReplyDeleteOf course the correct thing to do is just put a fresh one in if you've shot any rounds and you have a moment.
ReplyDeleteThat. Ammo goes pretty quick on burst, even faster on auto, if it's that kinda game you will be out before you think to check.
I will admit to having some of the P-mags with windows, but that's because they were $10 each and they were out of the non-window versions. But the only time I use the window is to make sure that they are fully loaded before putting it in the rifle.
Honestly, I've never used a Cammenga mag, but the first look at one convinced me of its utter uselessness as an reliable ammunition feeding device.
ReplyDeleteTell me, is loading up mags the conventional way really that frikkin' hard?
Sweet, this means health bars are just around the corner!
ReplyDelete'cause some ideas are just too big to fail.
ReplyDeleteThe "EMA" mags were, IIRC, CAA brand mags a short while ago. One piece of advice: RUN!
ReplyDeleteI think Tam or another blogger talked about the Cammenga Easymag a while back, as in "Why would you want a magazine designed to come apart and dump it's rounds out?"
A $25 MagLula makes a lot more sense and can be used on all your magazines. And if I can't keep my supply of magazines loaded while at the range with the Maglula, it means I'm burning way more money than I earn.
Because a foolproof invention just means that somebody will build a better fool.
ReplyDeleteWell, whaddaya want? Any product description where the first bullet point is "High Impact Polymer..." already sounds like a Billy Mays teevee spot, so you gotta jazz it up with More Features:
ReplyDelete"Patented Color Coded Visual Indicator...but order right now and get a Second Color Coded Visual Indicator! And don't forget our 100% Unconditional Lifetime Warranty! Which you will never need because we have 100% Magazine Reliability!" (What the hell does that even mean?).
So why be bored with simple, forgiving reliability and functionality when cheap construction and gimmicky complications are way more fun and profitable?
Unrelated aside: Thanks so much for the recent word-usage-of-the-day remediation. Having dealt with a few real estate transactions where "riparian" (adjective) rights were an issue, I am familiar with the word and its meaning, or one of them. Never, however, had I heard the term used as a (vaguely derisive) noun, in this case to describe the denizens of your trendy district. But of course that usage turns out to be entirely appropriate since, as it were, a river runs through it.
That was yesterday. Then today of course we have "prophylactically". Not sure how many out there would um, insert that term to describe proactively and protectively keeping your feeders fed. Not me, but of course again it is in perfect context.
So thanks, Teach. Keep 'em coming.
AT
Pretty sure the Japanese type 99 had something similar, I don't think it's a new idea.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you could run a fiber optic peek-a-boo cable from the mag well up to the red dot sight and display round count there.
"Pretty sure the Japanese type 99 had something similar, I don't think it's a new idea."
ReplyDeleteYou're thinking of the Savage 99; a lever-action rifle with a rotary mag and a "gas gauge", as it were...
+1 to just plain & simple "changing the mag" as well as M41A references (dangit Cameron, this latest one wasn't what I had in mind when I wished for a movie about the Colonial Marines.) Also especially to the MagLula, which is my favorite accessory besides the bore snakes. Granted, it won't work with my Sport King magazines; fortunately my thumbs have no issues with .22 LR to date.
ReplyDeleteWV: Stens. Yes, please!
Actually, I think that the countdown mag is brilliant in an actual tactical situation, involving a unit, where a squad leader can say, "Pyle, reload your damned weapon" because he can see the yellow dot on the side from 10 yards away. For home defense, not really.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it would be even better for those purposes if the indicator was on the sides, rather than the spine of the magazine.
You're thinking of the Savage 99; a lever-action rifle with a rotary mag and a "gas gauge", as it were...
ReplyDeleteSo it does. I have learned something new.
It also turns out that I was not on crack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH0i6DW7fQc&feature=related
The type 96 had a round counter, don't know if the 99 did as well.
A round counter in the HUD/sight picture, a la any number of computer games (though I first ran across the concept in the Shadowrun tabletop game) has (some) merit. On the magazine, not so much.
ReplyDeleteThough if the round counter on the mag will tell you how many rounds you have left in your partial-empties after having tactically-reloaded through your mag pouch, it's not a totally brain-dead idea.