I’ve recently started marking all my gun magazines. I’m doing this for a couple different reasons.
First – if I have any type of firearm performance issue I will be able to differentiate the suspect magazine from other mags for the same gun. This will help narrow down if the performance issue is related to a specific magazine or possibly ammunition or a gun problem.
Second – ownership is a consideration. Numerous times I have been shooting with friends and having common armament has led to confusion on who owns which magazine. Marking them solves that dilemma.
For rifle magazines I use a stencil with numbers/letters. As can be seen above the first few I had some overspray. I took the plastic front cover off a 3-ring binder and cut a square to place the stencil. This stopped the overspray issue.
I am using large characters on the AR magazines for easy recognition. A small number on the floor plate would work but I want maximum visibility.
For pistol magazines a simple Sharpie does the trick.
Some shooters I know only mark magazines they have problems with and then chuck ’em if the problem repeats. That’s fine just not my preference. I’ve seen in forums that some people put their initials and even their address on them. Gotta pass on those two choices.
One last use of magazine markings is to identify the type of ammunition used in the magazine. It may be advantageous to know that Magazine #4 is loaded with 28 rounds of XM855 while the others have standard XM183’s.
Rourke
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Good points in this article, I use symbology to code out my mags followed by numerics.
I’ve never felt the urge to mark mine but if it works for you – have fun. At most I might stick on some low adhesive tape or mark the bottoms with a hard to read black magic marker (to distinguish between AP and JSP).
The black magic marker is good for any exposed ends of stainless magazines as well.
PR
something to think about .. I like the idea of separating AP from Ball etc.. by color for immediate reference. I will likely use Sharpies to anonymously identify “My” stuff from others.. Identifying myself definitively is not a good choice for personal security ..
Dam Rourke have you been in my gun locker again ? I mark my mags for ap, sp and fmj .makes it easier to figure what to through at said target.
Ok, So what is with marking one with a “zero”? Also what happen with you get past 10 or 100 for that fact. I think your markings are to large and will present a problem as the numbers go up!!!!!
“Zero” is a number 3rdMan. Do you have something against poor ole Zero? He gets no respect.
I have lots of numbers and stencils of different sizes. Larger numbers can be added using smaller stencils so they fit. I also have a secret weapon – letters!! Yup – I can go A through Z as well.
Well I have to admit “Zero” hold no value to me!!!! I’ve always been a 3 guy.
Great idea!