Nuprol M4/AR magazines

Many moons ago I was a die-hard fan of High Capacity (Hi Cap, 300BB or over) magazines, which allowed me to happily run all day without having to change out mags too often. When I started playing more BattleSim/MilSim games, the stricter guidelines meant that I had to embrace Mid Capacity (100-150 BBs) magazines, and learn to control my rate of fire more efficiently; ‘spray and pray’ was out! This became even more true when I started to use Real Capacity magazines of just 30 BBs; you really have to be certain of your abilities as a shooter with these when you know you’re still going to come up against players on ‘Hi Caps’ who seemingly are using endless ‘Hollywood’ magazines!

These days, I do tend to use my gas rifles more, and these use dedicated ‘Real Caps’, I now also use them with my AEGs. I always used to always look for steel-bodied magazines, as they were durable and would put up with high levels of abuse, just like the ‘real deal’, so good quality ‘steelies’ were always a sensible investment.

Polymer alternative

Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise and rise of polymer-bodied magazines, even in military use, and new technologies and materials have set an increasingly high standard in terms of longevity and durability when it comes to non-metal magazines.

I’ve had the opportunity to fully try out NUPROLs new N-Mags (HiCap, Flash, and adjustable Mid/Real), which are absolutely excellent. As well as introducing their super new range of AEGs, NUPROL have looked to the accessories that you need most, and unquestionably reliable magazines are top of the list; it is absolutely NOT A GOOD THING to run out of ammo in a skirmish!

To complement their steel mags, there are three new ‘polymer’ style magazines in their ‘N-Mag’ range and all of them share a commonality of design when it comes to the outer shell. The three models come in either Black or Tan, are solidly made, and feature a tactile mix of cross-hatching and stippling to the lower two thirds of the shell. The classic ‘Hi Cap’ holds 350BBs; the BBs are fed into the magazine via a ‘trap-door’ on the top and then wound into the feed tube by way of an industry standard wheel on the base. Priced around £15 per magazine, these feed and function perfectly.

At a similar price, the 350BB ‘Flash Mag’ is identical in look and loading to the classic ‘Hi Cap’; the ‘Flash’ however differs in the winding mechanism. Rather than the laborious wheel, the base-plate of the ‘Flash’ slides forward to reveal a metal pull cord; pulling this downwards several times loads the BBs in a fast and furious manner.

All rounder

Priced around £13 a mag though are my absolute favourites, which offer superb functionality and versatility in that they are a hybrid 30BB/125BB Real/Mid capacity. To change the capacity, you simply slide the base-plate off; once this is done you can slide out the inner ‘cassette’, which features a sliding button on the side that easily allows you to set the capacity you desire. To make ready, you simply reverse the process to re-assemble the magazine.

This magazine offers the very best of both worlds, as for MilSim use you can choose to ‘bomb-up’ a ‘real world’ load of just 30 BBs, but to hold you own on a skirmish day, with a few of these placed on the 125 setting, you’ll be good to go!

Conclusion

These super magazines are already with most good retailers. They’re well priced, well put together, and feed perfectly; what more do you need?