I love my Magpul drum mag for my AR-15 more than Jeremy loves 6.5 Creedmoor which, by the way, won’t feed in the new Magpul AR-10 drum mags. Sorry, Jeremy.

Is it reliable? We don’t know yet, but it’s a Magpul product, so I have high expectations.

From Magpul’s press release:

At approximately 1.5 lbs. empty, and 4.5 lbs. loaded, the Magpul D-50 is one of the lightest 50-round 7.62×51/.308 drums available and is priced well below current competition. Designed specifically for 7.62×51 NATO/.308 Winchester ammunition and use with other calibers such as .260 Remington or 6.5 Creedmoor is not recommended.

So it’s a bit heavy, wide and costs $149.95. Some will say you might as well just carry three 20-round mags and save the money. But there’s something about a good drum mag. I’m sure I will buy one and do 50 rounds dumps ASAP.

It’s only available in black, which looks more like very dark grey to me.

The Magpul website lists them as out of stock, but coming soon.

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25 COMMENTS

  2. Um, how about 2, 25 rnd mags and save the money?

    Honestly having used these, i think that they are cool but impractical and pricey. I dont really trust them not to jam either.

    • You can get Taran baseplates and turn your Pmag25s into 30-rounders. Might need to change to a longer, swiveling bipod if you plan on shooting prone.

    • Kinda think the market for these is competitive shooters who are trying to minimize time spent on reloading, not the ‘operators operating operationally’ types.

    • Yep, I use 25 round mags. They fit my old M16 pouches and leg rig… although only one mag per pouch :(.

    • I still want the drum, its just out of my price range. I like having a big fat mag loaded into my rifle, keep the normal mags for later.

    • Depends, AK drum mags work just fine, zero issues. But they make so much damn noise while you carry them it sounds ridiculous.

    • agree. drums are too bulky. but then again i dont think they ever expected any kind of actual operator to buy those. if drums were so advantageous the militaries around the world would not have passed on them for the last 100 years.

      • I really think they could have their place but it has to be understood they’re for niches. 2 Magpul 25s with 168gr ammo in em is right around 3.5lbs based on weighing my mag loaded with 243 and adding 25*68 grains to make up for the bullet weight. As cool as I think something like this would be, man if I need 50 rds no reload I’m hoping I’m not armed with just an AR-10.

        That said it would be not bad from a fixed emplacement or something.

        • Yep, odds are 50 rounds into it your over run and dead and your killers now have an AR10 with a 50 round drum. Probably with some unfired rounds left in it.

      • The D60 has seen a decent amount of use with “actual operators” in Afghanistan. I own one; while it is heavy, its vertical profile is quite small and it is very reliable. Carrying one in your weapon while on a patrol makes a certain amount of sense, especially in a react-to-contact context. It won’t replace my conventional box magazines, but it has a role.

        • Different beast. The D60 is used in FA guns, where a 60 round burst is qualitatively different from 2 30 rounds and lands it somewhere between an M4 and SAW. There are few FA AR-10, and those probably aren’t very controllable in sustained FA. 50 rounds of semiauto 7.62 takes a while, so 2 seconds to swap mags isn’ significant.

  5. I’m getting too old to run with the young fighters of today. Therefore I’m stuck at home base most of the time. Since weight isn’t a factor, having 50 rounds without reload may be an advantage for home base protection.

    • Guardian angel, suppressing targets, its got uses. Someone on overwatch could use this and everyone would benefit since its one or two less reloads.

  6. Practical schmatical…. Cmon guys, BE HONEST..! Everyone wants one of these and you know it! Otherwise it wouldn’t be on back-order already! Besides, when has ‘practical’ ever been a factor for us ‘gun nuts’…hmm..?

  8. I associate drum mags with jams, and they’re a ridiculous amount of weight when fully loaded. I could see it if you’re setting up a nest on top of your house or store for a riot, but pretty impractical to carry around. But they’re cool and they trigger liberals, so, I say buy it.

  9. The 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5 anything right is overwhelmingly popular and Magpul makes a product that should work with those cartridges and it doesn’t. How is that a wise business move again? I would think bringing a new product to market you would want to do it in such a way as to sell as much of that product as possible. For instance when Magpul brought their cheaper reliable AICS pattern magazines to market. Just made good business sence. They missed the kaboos on this one I’m afraid.

  10. The existence of such a glorious contraption raises cancer risk for every 2nd Amendment hating liberal by 30%, so I ordered 100 of them.

  12. MagPul probably didn’t go for 6.5 Creedmoor due to fact that few do mag dump with those long range rounds.
    There might be a conversion later on, who knows. I think some of them will fit based on how long the overall cartridge is.

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