Lack of Evolution of Rifle Magazines?

J

Jamie Young

New member
We see Single Stack and Double Stack rifle and Pistol magazines but has there ever been a a triple or Quadruple stack magazine? I often wonder why Rifle Magazines get longer instead of wider. If a Rifle mag could be designed wider (Like the width of two magazines put together) it would be easier to fire from a Sandbag,Trench or Table.
If you don't get what I'm saying think about how so many guys use those Mag clamps to hold 2 20rd or 2 30rd mags together. If you could have one Mag body the same width as two 20rd mags side by side you would have a 40rd magazine only as long as a 20rd mag. I think you could probable design the magazine so it kind of funneled into any Rifle out there Ak, AR, Fal, Mini 14 without changing the gun.
Do I make any Sense? Just something I was Finking about.
 
There are such items. The Suomi has a 50-rnd quadruple stack magazine, where each stack has its own follower and spring. It's pretty wide.

The Vol3#9 issue of Small Arms Review has a story about a conversion done to a 9mm AR, so that it can accept these.
 
Don't forget about the Liberty 100 (I think that's what it's called), that has 100 rounds in a box mag above the gun and it pushes them forward in a spiral. If you could make a 7.62, or a 5.45/.223 version of this, that would make a great carbine IMHO..
 
Here is why I don't think you see them very often. See, in a single stack magazine, one cartridge is above the next so one is always higher than another. In a double stack magazine, one cartridge is always ½ a cartridge width above the one below it. They feed from the center and the width of the magazine is less than the width of two cartridges so there is no way that both cartridges can be at the same level at the same time. If you made a magazine that was more than the width of two cartridges, it would be possible for two cartridges to be at the same level at the same time. Two cartridges may try to enter the feed lips simultaneously. This would result in a jam. I wouldn't trust my life to one. The best thing for an ultra-high capacity, if width is not an issue, is a drum magazine. Up to 100 rounds in a rolled double stack fashion? It's almost too good to be true.
 
The only successful rifle mags of over 30 round capacity that I am aware of are drum mags used with the Thompson and Russian SMGs. Also the flat pan mags in the Lewis guns and the Degtyarev LMG. For high capacity in the MG they went to belts. Mags over a certain size are hard to load, hard to carry and expensive, thats why belts are better.
 
With the 1994 ban on anything over ten rounds, we won't see much research...but I am looking forward to compact 25-30 round drums. They'd be much handier than longer bozes, though also more complex.
 
Besides Calico's Liberty with its 50 or 100 round helical drum, there's also FN P90 with its top feeding mag which stores the ammunition sideways. The HK 11 mag also falls into this category.
 
There is/was an Italian Submachine gun called the Spectre that was out in the late 80's that used a magazine feed similar to the Suomi SMG. It was available in pistol and carbine versions in the US for civilians for a year or two until the Import ban stopped them. The magazine had 30 and 50 round capacities and had four columns that were referred to as a '4 file system' by the parent company.
Heckler and Koch had a 50 round drum for their model 91 based rifles and SAWs that was in a recent edition of Guns and Weapons For Law Enforcement, but it did not appear to be a new design for drum magazines.
H&K also had the Advanced Combat Rifle candidate that used a box magazine that fit above and parallel the the longitudinal axis of the barrel, and fed into a rotating chamber. It also used a caseless round that was smaller in caliber and O/A length than the 5.56 NATO round.
FN had the same method of feed on their P90 Personal Defense Weapon, except the cartridges were stacked on their sides instead of upright as the H&K rifle.
Sweden has a PDW (the Saab Bofors CBJ-MS) that resembles the mini UZI SMG that uses a 90 or 100 round drum that protruded from the magazine well/grip as far as a 32 round magazine, but projected forward about 4-6 inches.
The former Soviet Union has had the Bizon (Bison) SMG that uses a helical feed magazine like the Calico pistols, carbines and SMGs, but it is below the barrel (imagine an AK Krinkov or chopped down AK, put something the size of a 40mm grenade launcher barrel under the receiver and fore end forward of the trigger guard, and that is roughly what a Bizon looks like).
Another thing that I would like to see is improvements in the magazine followers. Instead of a one piece stamped or injection molded piece, how about working along the lines of the Sterling/Patchett followers that used a pair of rollers that were positioned like a pair of double stacked cartridges? I have not encountered any complaints of the Sterling/Patchett magazine design or its lack of reliability. I know that increases cost and number of parts in the magazine, and the design was in a side feed SMG as opposed to a bottom fed rifle, but is there a means to work this design into rifle mags?
 
PreserveFreedom- I see yoru point about not being able to fit 4 rounds side by side in 1 magazine body "quadruple Stack". But how about a magazine that is basically two magazines with two separate springs and after one empties the other clicks over. It might sound like its too complicated but I don't think it would be that difficult to do?
Don't all drums have to be wound up? You can't speed load them once there empty so there impractical for foot soldiers to carry. I Think my idea is more practical and it doesn't take up any more space than using a mag clamp to hold two mags together.
 
Soda, with a magazine change taking about 1 second, what is the utility of a 50 or 100 round box magazine? Sustained automatic fire in a Rifle heats up the barrel too quickly anyhow. Ever held a full drum magazine? When the Army is pushing the M-4 and the 3 round burst, do you think that they would be willing to weigh the system down with big, fat, unreliable magazines? The drum is a good system for capacites higher than 30 rounds and the standard box is just fine for 30 and under. Where's the niche? It's easier to build a 50 round drum as has been suggested than to get a 4 column magazine to work. Also, I'll echo that the Soumi and Spectre magazines worked most of the time, but the need is a bit questionable.

There is a reason why there is a lack of new concepts in the rifle magazine. Double stack mags work better than any other concept ever brought forward. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. Improvements HAVE been made in the form of constant force springs, composition magazines such as the AK-74 and Glock magazines, and plastics which have completely eliminated metal in the body of magazines.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top