The Truth About 29 Rounds | Back to Basics 

I always load 29 rounds....then I put the 30th in

I love this. Good info. No douchieness, no foul language, no visible ego. Might have to sub.

I think doing a Back to Basics series is a great idea! There's a lot of people joining the gun community everyday, and they need this kind of fundamental info

This guy is clear, concise and an amazing communicator! Fieldcraft did well to hire this guy! A lot of gun educators are not well suited to communicating with people. And tend to like to hear themselves talk. It takes a fair amount of commitment and concentration, paying attention to instruction. And learning. This guy does not just know his stuff. He is excellent at conveying that information in a clear and concise manner. That keeps you focused on what he is teaching. Just the information you need. No fluff. No needless banter. But still entertaining. And most of all clear and concise. I say we need to see much more of this guy. I just learned more about mags in 13 minutes than I ever knew. I did not once lose interest in what he was saying. Good job!

This is the best explanation of AR mags and PMags I have seen. Very refreshing to see someone finally telling it like it is regarding the relatively minor issues with the Gen 1 PMags. Worked for a large agency that purchased a lot of Gen 1's and discovered they started to crack in the top-rear between the lips when left loaded for long periods of time (contributing to the "don't load to 30" mentality). Magpul reps got involved. Long story short, that stupid dust cover that everyone chucks in the garbage is actually functional. when used properly, the dust cover pushes down slightly on the top round to simulate the bottom of the BCG when a mag is inserted in a rifle. Without the spring tension being relieved from the top of the mag, the pressure on the lips pushed outward caused cracking at the back of the mag (Gen 1). Magpul now ships their mags with the dust cover. Earned a Sub!

As a former Paratrooper of the 82nd, we treated our mags as an integral part of the weapon system. Very important part. Disassemble and maintain. DX if a fail.

I had a few generation 2 pmags that were loaded with 30 rounds for almost 15 years, went out and emptied them out with absolutely no issues..

From my experience while I was in, I was a 91F, the blue ones are made for blanks. My supply NCO ordered all blue ones… cuz they were cheaper I think. I had kept my older metal mags that had all tan followers and we figured this out one day at the range when our whole company kept having feed malfunctions. The blue ones usually have a spring that doesn’t fill the magazine from front to back. When you put a regular ball round in those mags, the extra weight of the ball ammo tend to make the front dip and then jam. You have to take apart the mag and inspect the spring. If the spring does not touch the front AND back of the metal magazine, it will dip and jam no matter what color the follower is.

I admire the heck out of how you teach, and what you share. No filler, right on point, and insightful. Thanks a bunch. I will remember not to load pop tarts into my mag. I learned something new.

That was one of the most unbiased and best explanations I've heard in quite a while. We also taught the even count. So after chambering a round, the 'press check' was simply removing the mag and noticing it now being 'odd round' ensuring a round was chambered without taking the gun out of battery...thus avoiding a possible jam.

If you had squared away drill instructor, this was basic info. If you had a squared away trainer, this was basic info. If you were unfortunate to not have those, this is basic info that needs to be known, great video, fundamentals is where it’s at and also overlooked and convoluted with all the wiz bang kids on social media

Like the video, and like how you encourage training even if it’s not with you, that’s a real one

Love the Lancer mags

Great video, more informative than the title suggests👍🏻

Huh. Back in the 70's I always loaded 30 rounds in magazines - no one ever told me not to - and never had a ftf or other malfunction. I still have some of those USGI 30-rd magazines, the followers are neither black nor green nor tan but gray, the same gray steel as the magazines themselves. I still load them with 30 and have no issues.

WOW! Learned stuff today! Thank you!

THANK-YOU! I stopped the video and checked my AR that is staged with two mags. One of them was the older style P-mag. Much appreciated...

Very few people talk about mags like this. Very informative. Thanks!

Thanks, great info and I was totally unaware of the older P Mag problem. I’m an old guy and I have mags that are over 50 years old I need to check.

Excellent video! outstanding instructor with nothing but the facts!!!

Magpul M3s, Daniel Defense & Lancers reliably allow 30 rounds loaded 24/7. This is why Duramag should make 32 round mags so that 30 rounds reliably loaded is an option.

I was an army infantryman from 1983-1988. We loaded 28 in a 30 and 18 in a 20. Never had an issue….we had M16A1 rifles….they worked well. We kept them clean and lubed….used them in the DMZ …a real world mission…tho nothing note worthy

FWIW, I’ve owned a variety of different types of mag over the years to include copious P-mags, a few Hex Mags, some Mission First Tactical and an assortment of unknown brand GI mags. Most stay loaded with 30 rounds continuously and quite a few have been constantly loaded for approaching 10 years. The only polymer mag I’ve experienced a problem with is Amend 2. They all had extremely weak fed lips and mag dumped their contents in my range bag. All of them. I understand later versions have addressed this flaw, but I’ll likely never give them another chance.

Very basic...still very well done. For those who have not carried much, or those that are just misinformed by so-called experts, this will REALLY help them. Will watch for more of your stuff...

Great vid…thank you!!! Might sound weird but my VTAC Christensen arms AR doesn’t like magpul mags but runs flawlessly on GI mags but now you’ve given me food for thought 👍🏼

I was skeptical when I read the video title. Usually these days "the basics" with trainers means a double ninja backflip while rope gripping your $7k AR. Your notes are reasonable and true, and boil down to using decent equipment and taking care of it. Something that is lost these days and replaced with color coordinating the gear or how many patches a person has purchased. HA!. Good vid. I'll check out another and see if there is consistency.

This is one of the absolute best video on the Tube!! Thanks Mr. Greg my brain grew some! Knowledge Transfer is sexy AF!!!

That final mag he is talking about with the thin and flexible feed lips are Troy mags. I can verify what he says about them and have cracked 2 of their mags feed lips. I love PMAGS and look forward to their new TMAGS. The only other mag I will buy are Daniel Defense magazines. Just slightly longer than a PMAG and hold 32 rounds and they can be inserted with 32 rounds loaded with the push of literally one finger.

Great video. It's amazing how SPORTS address so many issues with the AR platform in general. Obviously there's some engineering on the back end that helped improve things over time basically where we don't even really need a forward assist anymore. Almost every time I've had a failure with my rifle it was an issue with the magazines. Either cracked lips on a PMAG or alternatively follower snag on a old mags. I got into a habit of always tapping my bullets to the rear since the springs on old mags are just junk. I think it started as a weird ritual because I seen old Soldiers do it in movies and stuff and then I noticed that I would have generally less issues. It's one thing that's interesting about the AR magazine is that there's a little bit of forward and back play on the ammunition and if you have your rounds too far forward you'll have problems

In the early 90s- Mid 2000s the Suck used OKay and AR Stoner Mags. We always loaded with 28 rounds. I continue to used the AR Stoner mags as they're metal and I can leave charged without the lips splayed out. Great video brother.

There are certain guns, like the Beretta ARX100, that will not accept gen 3 PMAGS with the over-insertion tab. Know what fits your gun then load them properly. No problems.

I've been handling AR's since 1970, and i didn't know most of that. Very relevant and authoritative. Thanks!

Excellent video very informative , Thank you. 🎯

I’m on the Autism spectrum so, I’ve learned quite a bit about AR mags over the years. This video pointed out some aspects I either didn’t know at all or didn’t consider. Great info presented well. The only point I would add is that the Lancer hybrid mags are just as reliable, arguably more reliable than PMags. They are lightweight high quality polymer with all the same benefits as a PMag, but the top is aluminum so the mag catch “divot” and feed lips are aluminum, which means less wear from the mag catch (very minimal impact) and they do not need anything to prevent the feed lips from flexing and warping from long term fully loaded storage, where the PMags need the little cover to depress the rounds and remove tension from the feed lips. In order of my preference, I like Lancer, Gen M3 PMags, and aluminum or steel mags with upgraded followers. I’m seeing positive things from Hexmags, but have used them long term or hard enough to completely trust or recommend them just yet.

He touched briefly on the single biggest reason many of us load to 28 rounds, it has nothing to do with the weapon cycling reliably, it is about vastly increasing the likelihood that your magazine seats in the weapon, especially on a closed bolt. Now the internet commandos will come out here and tell me it is a training issue or I need to work out and then go on to drop a mag during class (if they actually come to training) because they are under stress or overcompensate by slapping the living hell out of the magazine to make sure it seats and knock a round loose before the bolt closes and cause a double feed. This is going to happen every time but it happens a lot and for that reason, I'd prefer to have 28 rounds in my weapon than 1 or zero because the magazine dropped out.

Great video, thanks Greg. Never too old to learn something!

I load 30 rounds, when you buy 5.56mm NATO they come in a little cardboard box with 10 rounds per strip clip & 3 strips clip per box which is 30 rounds. Good information, a ton of people don't know this, I since run the old G.I. mags with anti-tilt. Thanks for spreading this information.

The reason I load 29 is because most of my mags don’t seat properly or are extremely hard to seat with 30. Especially in GI mags but I’ve seen it in magpul and other modern brands. This is because of a design flaw where there’s not enough room for the spring to compress further when fully loaded, and the spring needs to compress fully to seat the mag.

Great video. I would have liked to seen the Lancer mags in the topic.

This was so helpful! Never knew the trick about right/left = odd/even round count

Great review for me, plus I learned a couple of new things.

You said a mouth full. I specifically asked my shooting buddies, "do you clean your mags as well as clean your rifle? The answer was no. It is a very important part of a fully fictional weapons platform and they, the mags need the same care as the rifle. It really doesn't add that much more time to weapon's cleaning regiment.

Great back to basics video!

I was in Iraq from 2005-2009 with a few months break in there. I went through many rounds, and we had a range day every Sunday from 0600-0900 with cleaning after if we didn't have a mission. I always loaded 30 rounds in my old issued metal mags, and never had a magazine induced malfunction. Now in law enforcement on K9 patrol with reserve SWAT status, I have had several malfunctions with USGI Colt metal mags (old follower) whether it was 6 rounds loaded or 28. I swapped to MagPul P-Mags, and I've had to slap the shit out of it to get it to seat if there were 30 rounds in it. The P-Mags have been reliable, but I don't load more than 28. I'm all about new tech, but I'm going to look at getting new followers for the metal mags to get my 30 rounds per mag reliably.

The overinsertion stop that Magpul added also stopped the cracking of the feed lips on the older generation of mags. We tested the old mags with dryfire speed reloads and they all developed cracked feed lips after 13-15 reps. This was fed back to Magpul. Gen 3 P-Mag solved this problem.

Thank you. I have not been paying enough attention to my mags. That stopped today! And yes, I am one of the 28 rd guys. Jack

Great no nonsense content!

Great information brother thanks. Stay safe.

@4:00 That's not true for every magazine. The Okay Surefeed mags (aluminum with the bump texture on the sides) have a follower with the bump on the left. With these mags, an even number of rounds put the top round on the left.

Thanks for the video. I went and checked, and ordered 4 new Pmags......never knew about the old gen.

Old school 18rds in 20 rd mag. Good for the corps , good for me. 67-68 in the Nam

Excellent video. Great, useful info, and presented well. RockOn.StayFree.

Great video!! Subscribed.

Awesome presentation brother. Really great info.

thanks for the great info back to the basics is always good. Not enough companies do it.

Well spoken and concise. With a lot of concentrated good information. Shared in an appropriate way And without course/foul language 👍

Are we not going to introduce the dog? Clearly the main character

Great review and good information.

Good information, thank you 👍

That's why 29 way to go. Thanks Bud!

20rd magazines.....because MK12 life 😁

Very informative..thank you much

I don't worry about this . I use P mags and I use the impact /dust covers . They take the pressure off the feed lips and keep dirt out .

This was great. Thanks

Excellent Class....

Thank you!

Thank you so much for this video. I wasn't even looking for answers, but this video helped me figure out why I was having so many malfunctions this past range day. For some reason I had loaded 31 rounds into most of my mags and I have not done that before.

I always loaded 28 when I was in the box back in 04-05. We learned pretty quickly that’s what would work best with moon dust and old GI mags.

If yer gonna keep pmags loaded for a long time get the "dust covers" and snap em over the ends, it presses the top round down off the feed lips and prevents em from de forming. Pmags and Lancers are all i run. 👍🙌

That first year in Iraq...... the dirt/dust was so bad that I took five rounds out of 5 of my 7 mags and then grabbed an 8th mag and loaded that with the 25 rounds I stripped out of the other 5 mags. But now at home under ideal conditions, I keep all my mags loaded with 30 rds. Haven't had any issues with good, clean equipment.

Magpul T-Mags "translucent" mags just dropped today ☠️

To me, consistency is more important than how many you load. Consistently load the same amount in each of your magazines and know how many you load. If you want 30, load them all with 30, and the same if you another amount.

Outstanding. Most people fail to realize that mags are a consumable item. They have a shorter service life than the weapon itself, and also require maintenance. This goes for unit armorers in some cases. I've had to go as far as have my wife mail me some of my personal mags while in Iraq to square away the soldiers in my section of a unit I was attached to. Most malfunctions are magazine based.

I usually load my mags to full capacity and strip two off. Great information!! Sadly, I've seen a lot of spine cracked Amend 2 AR magazines so I avoid them like the plague. Pmags and ETS steel lipped AR mags are the kings.

Thanks, learned something new today. I've been buying the Gen.2 Pmags because i heard somewhere the polymer was better never realizing the bump stop was there, may be time to upgrade

Personal anecdote here. For shtf I kept several brand new 100 round surefire mags loaded with roughly 95 rounds for several years. I fired them in full auto after they sat maybe 5 years loaded, they worked fine but busted when I tried to reload them lol

Basics but a very good and important info. Nice and clear video.👍👍

Good stuff, learthat Pmag has the update. See a lot of gen2 for sale often, now understand. Thought the gen 3 only advantage was the window. Now know the tab to prevent over insertion. Also, did not know troy mags have less strong lips, now see why they are also on sale. Agreed, god training equipment.

Great info! Thanks G.

Damn! Chris Costa got jacked! 😊

Good stuff, ty! Ive asked Magpul about why they made the gen 3. I was told besides the baseplate change , that the over insertion rib was mainly for foreign ar platforms that had a slightly different mag well. But in an American made ar it made no difference. That said, I imagine that thru wear, the rib may offer some protection on US made lowers.

Thank you, basics are important, and I did not know a fair amount of the material:)😊

Good video; thanks

On point! Thorough as hell.

The follower progression is black-green-tan-blue. Each increment is better, but the biggest improvement is from black to green.

Good mag review! 👍

I tend to load my primary mag full, but all others one less for reloads. For me I know when that bolt or slide is closed it can be slightly more difficult to seat the mag. I do this primarily on my carry pistols. For me and my hands I know sometimes the slide may not lock back. For example on my S&W Shield Plus, more often than not the slide doesn’t close because on my hands/grip on the small frame hitting the slide release. And with the Shield a full magazine requires extra effort on a closed slide. If it’s open a full mag slides in no problem. So I personally with that gun for example always have two full mags and put one round in the chamber, release that mag and that’s my back up. Put the other full mag in and I’m good to go. Again, comes down to training. Know your gun and how it works. If for example you have a Shield and it always locks back for you or you have no issues putting a full mag into it with the slide closed then it doesn’t matter what I do. Not really on the topic of AR Mags, but mags and round count. Just my two cents.

Pmag, problem solved. They are proven, affordable, and available.

I've been digging those Brownells AR mags 👍🏼

Great video thanks

Great class from a very professional technician

To specify the gen M3 PMAGs have the lip. Gen M2 had the notch made for Scars at the top rear of the mag

Good stuff. I have heard arguments for both. I have both types of mags but I prefer the old metal ones for piece of mind. I haven’t had any problems with either tbo. Much love from Raeford NC , right beside beautiful Ft Bragg🤙🤙🇺🇸🇺🇸

Very informative video! Thanks for the breakdown and explanation.

Back when I competed a lot I numbered my mags. Another competitor told me to do this. Then you could keep track of which mag was malfunctioning when you had a jam. Keeps jamming on the same mag it’s probably the magazine.

All my USGI mags have been upgraded to anti-tilt followers (if they didn’t already come with them). All my PMags already have them. Everything is loaded to 30 rounds.

Just experienced that over insertion with a polymer mag the other day. Never had that kinda malfunction before when we still had steel mags in service. Had to pry that mag down from the ejection port with a screw driver. Not fun.

Pmags and Lancer mags i load 30rds in GI style mags i load 29 for closed bolt easy tactical reloads.

Good information, I wish I would have known this before a bought 2 HexMags. I have a couple of DuraMags and that rest are Pmags

This was much more informative than I expected