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View Full Version : Mako E-Lander 30 Round Magazine (updated for Rev3)



Eric
28 January 2013, 21:02
Full capacity magazines for the AR15/M4/M16 are just about worth their weight in gold right now. Manufacturers are putting out product as fast as they can, but still not keeping up with consumer demand. The Mako Group has recently introduced a 30 round magazine with some impressive claims:



E-LANDER MAGS are high-performance durable steel magazines.

30 round steel magazines for AR-15/M16/M4 magazines.

Made in Israel for the Tavor, M16, and common sidearms, they were tested by special military forces
and anti-terror units. These magazines have proven to withstand severe combat conditions and requirements.

Backed by over six decades of experience the company has specialized in the manufacturing of precision-stamped metal parts and tools with an uncompromising commitment to quality and reliability. A wide range of the company’s products are exported to worldwide customers.

• High performance steel body - strong heavy-gauge steel
• Tested by special military forces and anti-terror units
• Fine resistance body coating, enduring up to 96 hours salt-spray test.
This exceeds the military salt-spray test requirements.
• State-of-the-art anti-tilt self-leveling followers in several colors.
• Improved reinforced floorplate.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_2968.jpg

Since there wasn't much information available on these, I limited my purchase to 6 magazines, which came directly from Mako. The cost of about $19 each was more than what I had been paying for USGI, Magpul Pmags, Lancer AWM and D&H magazines. However, $19 was full MSPR and the other mags have an MSRP that is approaching this price-point as well. Keep in mind that most of us rarely pay MSRP, with street prices often being about 20% less. Many of the other mags are so far back-ordered that some vendors have inflated their prices to well over that of MSRP.

The finish and weight of the E-Lander magazines was somewhat reminiscent of the HK maritime magazines. Both are steel construction, but the HK mags are actually a bit heavier and cost substantially more. Just out of curiosity I threw a few magazines on the scale to get an idea how much of a weight difference there was between steel, aluminum and polymer mags. Are weights listed are for empty 30 round magazines.
HK: 8.8 ounces
E-Lander: 7.6 ounces
C Products Stainless: 5.8 ounces
Pmag (rev m w/o cover): 5.2 ounces
Lancer AWM: 4.4 ounces
D&H (Magpul follower): 4.0 ounces
USGI (Okay w/green follower): 3.8 ounces

E-Lander mags are cleanly constructed with uniform welds and lines. The finish is evenly applied and rather glossy, more so than what I would prefer to see. Disassembly is accomplished by removing the captured floorplate and insert, then pulling the spring. The insert and follower stay attached to the spring and there isn't any need for further disassembly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_2974.jpg

The follower is an anti-tilt design which is very similar to the Magpul version. The spring is similar to USGI, but the bottom coil is configured to attach to the insert. I did swap the spring and followers between an E-Lander mag and a USGI mag and they appeared that they each would function, but no live fire testing was done.

The length of the E-Lander (top) mag appeared to be about the same as typical USGI as well as C Products Stainless Steel mags (middle), but the HK version (bottom) is a fraction of an inch longer.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_2996.jpg

Prior to hitting the range I test fit several of the E-lander magazines in a variety of rifles, which included Colt, Armalite, Stag and Bushmaster. The mags seated and dropped free okay when empty, but not when loaded. Loaded magazines, whether loaded to a full 30 rounds or downloaded to 28, were difficult to seat with the bolt forward. While this would be easy to dismiss as an anomaly specific to one magazine or one rifle, it was fairly consistent with a variety of combinations. Using a push/pull wasn't getting them seated and a solid slap on the bottom of the mag was required to get then magazine catch to engage and retain the magazine. This made doing tac loads just about impossible. Loading from an open bolt (bolt locked back) did not cause any issues.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_2987.jpg

At the range I experienced no feeding issues once the mags were successfully seated. Quite frankly, I was disappointed in the seating issues with the E-Lander magazines. I had high hopes for them. These particular mags were stamped with a "14" and laser engraved with "M.D. 12/12" which I assume is a production date. A couple more unusual, but not critical observations were made. When loaded with 6 or more rounds, there is something that rattles inside the mag. Also, unloading live rounds manually from the mag was unusually difficult.

My preference would have been to get more range time with the E-Lander magazines prior to sharing this information, but I figured this was a good starting point and I'll be sure to include an updates as more rounds are put downrange.

I tried to make a video to demonstrate the issue of getting the mag to lock in place on a closed bolt. I only had the point-n-shoot camera handy and poor lighting, but you get the idea. Each of the mags were loaded with 30 rounds.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HbTMkmE3GU&feature=youtu.be

Eric
18 November 2013, 21:54
Not much of an update, but these mags have remained in the rotation for range use. Mako indicated they would seat easier after they remained loaded for a while, but they don't. They do feed okay. Email inquiries to Mako are unanswered. Luckily the magazine shortage that we faced in the beginning of the year is long gone. Currently mags are plentiful and inexpensive. At this point I would be inclined to stick with Magpul Pmags, Lancer AWM or USGI mags.

Eric
9 April 2014, 20:09
About a year ago Mako released what they are calling a Revision 3 of their E-Lander magazine.

Info from Mako:

E-Lander Mod 3 magazines are identical in every dimension except one to the already proven Mod1 and Mod2 magazines.

The E-Lander Mod3 Mags have the same features as all previous E-Lander mags, including:
• Strong, heavy-guage steel construction
• Reinforced floorplate construction
• True MIL-SPEC dimensions
• Self-leveling and self-lubricating latest generation anti-tilt followers
• Extremely durable KTL coating that exceeds all MIL-SPEC requirements
• Strong, long-lasting extra-power springs
• Like the E-Lander Mod2 magazines, the Mod3 Magazines have a closed magazine catch window.

Markings are now engraved prior to coating, instead of being surface-marked in white.

One dimension has been changed to ensure perfect function with the varied dimensions of commercial-market AR-15 rifles.

While most users found that Mod1 and Mod2 magazines worked perfectly in their civilian-market AR 15 rifles, around 1% found that the magazines were hard to seat in particular rifles. We discovered this to be common in magazines built to exact military specs, so one dimension was changed slightly in order to keep the Mod3 magazines within spec, but to allow a little more room in commercial rifles with tighter dimensions. The Mod3 magazines are built for the US market, while Mod2 magazines are used for military contracts and sold in markets in which all rifles are MIL-SPEC government contract rifles.

E-Lander Mod3 magazines have undergone the same MIL-SPEC required testing as previous versions did to assure quality and reliability.

All orders shipping now will be Revision 3.

I finally got around to checking out a couple of the new Rev3 mags, which externally appear to be nearly identical to the previous version, with the exception of the markings being subdued. The tweaking of the magazine catch dimensions are not apparent to the naked eye. Mako indicates this slight change was done to accommodate the civilian market rifles, but that their magazines worked fine in mil-spec rifles. These mags were marked “M.D: 04/13.”

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_5185.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/AR15forme/media/Magazines/IMG_5185.jpg.html)

I test fit the Rev3 mags in the same carbines as previously used and there was an obvious improvement. Seating loaded mags on an open bolt bolt was easy. The magazine catch engaged the mags with a push and on a closed bolt, either a forceful push or a tap was needed. Downloading to 28 rounds made seating them in place on a closed bolt even more workable, similar to a new USGI mag. As with the Gen2 mags, there were no function issues. Live fire was done with a mixture of steel case Wolf 55 gr, M193, M855 and a bit of Fiocchi 77 gr HPBT.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_5160.png (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/AR15forme/media/Magazines/IMG_5160.png.html)

Mako claims these are high quality, high strength mags that are military and LE tested. I'm unclear on what that specifically means, but I figured I would engage in some unscientific abuse of one of the mags. I had several tests in mind, but that didn't pan out. The first one was a drop test using a fully loaded magazine, dropped onto cement at a distance of about 6 feet. The mag landed on the top rear, deforming the back of the feed lips. This locked the rounds into the mag and caused it to swell enough to prevent the mag from being inserted into the mag well of a Colt 6920 and a 6720. End of destructive testing. Don't read too much into this sample of one test.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_5284.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/AR15forme/media/Magazines/IMG_5284.jpg.html)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v503/AR15forme/Magazines/IMG_5280.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/AR15forme/media/Magazines/IMG_5280.jpg.html)

So there's the update. It appears to me that the new mags are more usable than the prior version.