Magpul PTS Ranger Plates

Fallschirmjager

Magpul industries has produced this as a way of holding and removing your M range of mags (apparently there are ones for pistols as well). It has become quite popular in the movies and adds a cool look to the base of a mag and indeed like the real steel allows you to carry a mag on your finger as a quick replacement. Okay, i agree thats a pretty dire excuse to but something....in fact the only real reason is they look cool...shallow? absolutely, pointless?, maybe, but if you want to try them here is some things you should be aware of.

In case you are wondering what i am talking about its these:



Some Guidelines

there are 4 types (for the particularly pedantic types out there). there is the real steel magpul ones (and copies), there is the airsoft equivalent by magpul and the copies (sometimes called magpaul-- go figure). Be careful which ones you buy. I have by accident bought on a well known auction site real steel ones that were shall we say of peculiar quality. The real steel ones will need a lot of modification to get them to fit and i would not recommend it. The airsoft ones by magpul are i suspect, outsourced and are available on ehobby. These work a treat. They are supplied with 3 components, the plate, a longer screw and a rubber grommit. here is some of the details to consider:

the plates will only work with full metal magazines
the plates are designed for the hi cap variety
the plates should work with the range of full metal ACM mags (well i can vouch for dboys )

To replace the current plate on the bottom of a metal mag you need to do 2 things

1. remove the screw and you will invariably need an allen key for these
If its a hi cap you can remove the inner workings (it will be now obvious why they sound like a giant pepper mill. these come out in one piece. you may need to press in two tabs at the top of the mag to get it out. If its a metal mid cap, the same approach is needed. Keep all the bits, you will need some of them later

2. using quite a bit of force remove the existing bottom plate.
This is tricky. One side of the mag has a lip and that the direction to slide the base off. Its obvious when you look at the base of the mag. Some of the manufacturers spray paint the mags after this process and there is 4 fold over tabs holding the base in place. You man have to lever these a bit to break the paint seal but dont do it too much or the ranger plate will be loose. These four tabs stop the pressure being put on the screw when you pull a mag out using the plate in game. The screw is to hold the inner workings of the mag in place and nothing more.

3. slot in the ranger plate and using the screw attach
this is difficult to explain but the way the plate is made is actually very smart. The base of the ranger plate has a metal piece the slides into 4 tabs on the bottom of the mag. you can actually hook the tabs on the mags on the left side, press it down and slide backwards...bingo..plate is locked in place. It takes a little bit of time but you get fast at it later. With the real magpul airsoft ones this is very easy to do. with the copies, its a bit more tricky due to the excess of rubber and you may have to lever up the metal tabs on the mag. With the longer screw supplied with the real magpul plates, you push it thru the screwhole and slide in the inner piece of your mag, screw it tightly (not too tightly as the screw hole on the inner piece of the mag is plastic, but tightly enough that there is no movement and put the rubber grommit in to cover the screw. on the copies you normally dont get a longer screw...this poses some difficulty as you have to use the original screw and there might not be enough thread to catch the inner sleeve of the mag. The other issue with the magpul copies is the screw holes dont align very well and this can cause a bit of difficulty. If you happen (like i did) to have bought the real steel ones magpul copies...you have to make the screw hole and that is not nice and indeed trim off a lot of rubber to get a good fit. It is doable but consider they are the same price, why would you not get the airsoft ones?

So what the verdict

Here the kicker. The airsoft versions are made for the metal hi caps and this is what i modded originally. I eventually removed them. If you look at a hi cap magazine you will see that the wheel to load the mag is quite small. If you add the ranger plate which actually had a gap to allow the wheel to fit, the amount of grip you can get on the wheel with your finger is halved. Now add your glove, the fact that it is raining, someone is firing at you, you are ducked down, your goggles are fogged a little and the grip you get on the wheel to load your bbs and well i think you get the picture. So i would not recommend these for hi caps. There is good news though. If you have real metal mags like the GP094 mags which are midcaps with 130 rounds, they are built exactly the same as high caps except they dont have a wheel. The same goes for the G&P illuminated mags. To replace the base with the ranger place is exactly as above. They are ideal for these. In fact they work really well. When i play i normally mix and match. I have say 6 or 7 mid caps and 1 or 2 high caps...I only use the high caps when i run out of everything else. But in the heat of game, how do you know which is which. Now i normally work on my vest from right to left and the last 2 are high caps..but now it doesnt matter. The mid caps have the plates, anything with no plate is a high cap. Incidentally there is one other issue, make sure the flap on your vest is long enough with enough velcro to take the plate as they add about an inch to the length of the mag.

Summary
Well they look cool and since that was the point i guess the score very highly. I dont think they are viable for high caps at all, you may find different. They are not cheap. The real magpul ones are 30 or so dollars including shipping for 3 plates, the copies are about the same for 5 plates (please remember the screw issue unless you like cursing, which i suppose is an integral component to airsoft modification). Now if like me you are carrying 6 or 8 mags, you will need to go full metal and add the plates. Thats the price or large component of a good priced aeg right there.

looks 10/10
hi cap viability 3/10 (3 for the small fingered brigade out there with fingerless gloves)