Have you ever tried to use the magazine of your AR 15 as a monopod? If you have, you know that it doesn’t do a very good job of supporting your rifle. It’ll work in a pinch, but there’s some lateral movement, and generally speaking, there’s usually a better and more stable way to shoot your rifle. But if you’re hellbent on using your magazine as a shooting aid, Mag-Pod has a solution for those who seek near-monopod stability from their magazines . . .
The Mag-Pod is a single piece of plastic, formed in such a way that it easily replaces the bottom of Gen2 and older Magpul PMAGs. Installation is a snap and takes mere minutes, less if you’re familiar with the procedure. Once in place, the Mag-Pod is just as secure as the bottom of your magazine was before, but it now provides a wider and flatter footprint than the bottom of the magazine normally would. In fact, it is so stable that it allows you to do this with your rifle.
That’s right. Find a level surface and assuming that your rifle is fairly evenly balanced, the rifle will stand on its own. But it isn’t just for photo ops y’all. On the range and in the field, the Mag-Pod lives up to its claims and allows you a stable monopod from which to shoot. It is by no means a proper bipod, or set of sand bags, but it does provide a field expedient shooting solution with no real penalties in weight, form, or function.
Mag-Pod also advertises the fact that it makes a good indexing point for reloads and gripping mags and such, but I didn’t feel like I was much faster or smoother on a reload because of the Mag-Pod. Naturally, your mileage might vary.
The last time IÂ was out in Georgia visiting my friend and awesome photographer Richard King, he took me to Chick-fil-A to meet up with Mag-Pod CEO, Shane Keng. Shane’s a nice guy with a wicked cool fox body mustang. Chick-fil-A is not the place you normally meet up with CEOs. All that to say that for the cost of three Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich Combos, you can add three stability aids to three of your PMAGs.
Specifications: Mag-Pod
- Compatible with Gen2 MOE® (or older) PMAG®
- Durable 15% Glass Fiber reinforced PA6 material
- Double injection molded TPU basepad for improved traction on hard surfaces
- Price: ~$20 for a 3 pack
Rating (out of five stars):
Overall * * * * *
While using a magazine as a monopod is certainly a debatable shooting method, I never had any failures to feed. Some might argue that if you put some stress on the mag that’ll induce a failure. What I found was that my magazine became a stability aid in the prone position. I used this to great success in one of the stages of the Pecos Run n Gun where I had to lay out prone on a downhill slope and engage four targets at ~120 yards. My rifle was stable enough to make those shots and I think the Magpod certainly helped with that.
The selfie stick of the gun world.
I don’t know I could see some utility in this as long as it doesnt cause malfunction. At the very least it can’t hurt and might make a longer shot possible with a lightweight carbine.
Its a cloven foot for your magazine – the Hoof-pod.
This actually looks pretty cool. I’d want one for my Gen3 P-Mags and my .308 P-Mags. It also does double duty as a ranger plate. I’m surprised Magpul didn’t come up with this on their own.
True. I love those, but 3/$20? That seems a bit steep to me, for a little device that’s no more complex than a magazine cover/lid. There are times when you can almost find 3 P-Mags for twenty bucks. Well, not quite, but you get my point.
Ranger plates are street price of 3 for $15, so this isn’t out of the ballpark, especially given how much more useful these look. No one’s advocating that you need them on ALL your magazines, I think.
This seems like a clever idea. Unfortunately, there are no legal 30-round P-Mags here in MA, so I won’t get the chance to try out this little widget.
Can you use 30 rounders that have been modified to only accept 10 rounds?
You wouldn’t be able to replace the bottom plate with one, but I could modify some 30 rounders to only accept ten rounds and glue this plate to the bottom next time I’m my Nevada shop.
In California, there are plenty of 30 round PMags that only accept 10 rounds.
Can you use 30 rounders that have been modified to only accept 10 rounds?
It’s a good question for which I cannot provide a definitive answer. My instinct says that once a 30, always a 30, since what has been modified can always be unmodified.
Most of us here in the Commonwealth are on a perpetual search for pre-ban 30-round AR mags. They are legal under state law. And sometimes we find them.
How do you identify these magical 30 round magazines? Most USGI mags that I’ve seen don’t have dates on them…
In Canada (where the limit is 5 for rifles), the so-called “5/30” magazines, which is to say 30-rounders pinned to only hold 5, are the most common variety. And I’ve heard that people usually pin 20- or 30-rd ones in Colorado to comply with the 15-limit law, since very few magazine manufacturers actually make dedicated 15-rounders (the only ones I can think off the top of my head are Mako with their E-Lander mags).
Obviously what goes in one state doesn’t necessary go in the other, but it’s worth checking the laws.
Won’t these fit the Massachusetts-legal one-round magazines?
All that, and he got to plug Chik-fil-a too. ; P
Assault Rifle, on a stik. Hooyah. But now people are going to mount lights on mags, lasers, IR candles, picatinny rails. . .
: )
So if I had 12 Magpul magazines I could spend 80 bucks on these or just get a bipod. I choose bipod. But I don’t have 12 Magpuls, only 2 and the rest are an assortment of GI mags, Tapco’s, and Troy battle mags. So once again, I choose bipod.
One thing to consider is system weight. This adds almost nothing. A bipod is adding almost a pound (or more) the to front end of your rifle.
If I’m at the range where there are flat surfaces I don’t care about the weight, I choose bipod and if I’m out and about where there are no flat surfaces this does nothing for me, an unmodified magazine will do just as well. I choose bipod or a log or fence post or tree.
I’m thinking more competitive shooting / tactical applications. I run almost exclusively P-Mags and this might be a good addition to a general purpose rifle or a feather weight race gun. For a general purpose rifle, I don’t want to lug around a bipod I will almost never use and for a race gun, this is going to save you considerable time in setup and, again… weight.
I would put one of these on a 20-round pmag.. but those are all gen 3. For 30s I can just couple two together and that serves the same purpose. (The magpul coupler won’t work on the 20s)
No where as stable as a bipod. Unless you are shooting at the exact angle as the device (highly unlikely) you will need to tilt the rifle, thus eliminating all benefits. In orther words , useless
So will three mags with that hicky on them fit in a mag pouch?
Snap of Velcro? I think you get my point. With the Velcro, I don’t think it could ever cause a problem. And if yours have snaps, you should consider trading ’em in for the Velcro ones.
Uh using the Mag as a monopod won’t create failures to feed. That’s what the new chambers are for with the cuts. Original ones were straight stars which is why it jammed alot. No need to worry about it nowadays. Used it plenty of times in the army and never had a malfunction because of it. Only malfunction I had was moving with an open chamber causing a rock to enter my chamber…not fun.
I have them and use them all the time. The leading edge digs into (or provides traction on) just about any surface and allows not only a more stable position but a bit of loading to enable faster follow ups. I just competed in the Fallen Brethren Multigun match, which is on a natural terrain range. Magpods literally shortened my times, whether on a rock shooting 610 yards, on the bottom of an overturned car shooting 200 yards or proned out shooting 400 yards. In Tac Optics classification, you can’t use a bipod – and I don’t like lugging around the bulk of my Atlas anyway, unless I’m just killing paper for groups. In the truck, hog hunt or coyote hunt (or 3gun stage) the Magpod is a huge advantage. It works.
Works excellent on my 300 BLK and 556 SBR’s. The Magpod isn’t meant for super precision/stability like a bipod. But it really does improve precision over free-hand shooting in an instant.
Gen2-only is a deal breaker. But I’m hoping that they’re looking into covering other varieties. If they come up with something like this for Lancers, it would be really awesome.
Drum magazine anyone? The only gun control law there should be is that criminals can’t have any firearms. No double standards put DC politicians on Obamacare and SS.Thanks for your support and vote.Pass the word. mrpresident2016.com
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