Magazine Classifications

[Gaffa]

Okay, seen a lot of people say "mid cap" and "low cap" and people getting a little confused with the terms...
If it's any help to you guys, I'm going to post some information about the different types of magazine now.

Low Capacity Magazine/ Real Cap mags:

No winder on the bottom of the magazine, normally hold 10 - 35 rounds, depending on the weapon type.

Advantages:
Normally cheaper to buy.
Low maintenance.
BB's don't rattle in the magazine.
Sometimes smaller (depending on the weapon) which means you can carry more.
Very quick and easy to load.
More military simulation - reloading required as often as the real thing.

Disadvantages:
Harder to find these magazines now.
Relatively low mag capacity means players tend to choose standard or mid cap magazines.
Many are made of plastic which don't last as long or will eventually show signs of splitting when if you force bb's in to get the full 30rounds.

Standard Capacity Magazine:

These are the magazines that come as STANDARD with the TM guns, for example, the M16, and hold 68 rounds each. No winder on the bottom.

Advantages:
Same features as the low cap magazine, but holds more ammunition.
Still no rattling.
Many are made of metal.
Very quick to load

Disadvantages:
Relatively expensive for what you get; TM seem to be the only company that do them and at £20 a magazine....
You may need to get an M16 style bb loader.

Mid Capacity Magazine:

These magazines normally hold a 3 figured number of rounds. The King Arms FAL midcap only holds 90 rounds however. On the other hand, most hold between 100 rounds and 160 rounds. No winder on the bottom, but require more maintenance if you fill them up ready for a skirmish. Don't store these with ammunition in.

Advantages:
Less reloading usually means you can stay in a firefight longer.
No need to carry as many magazines for a mil sim overnighter game.
Cheap, Box sets can be bought from about £35.
No rattle.
Some are metal.

Disadvantages:
Most are plastic, with the metal ones being more expensive.
You're definitely going to want an M16 style bb loader if you have more than 1 mid cap magazine.
More maintenance, bad spring = no feeding to the gun, which can be very problematic in a firefight.
Some brands are picky about what ammo you use (the brand of ammo).


High Capacity Magazine:

These magazines normally hold an awful lot of ammunition. You fill the magazine up by opening a sliding door which will reveal an empty storage space to hold the bb's. When you fill this space up, you must find the winder (sometimes on the bottom of the magazine, sometimes require an allen key to wind from the side) and this winding will push the bb's round the magazine and up into the feed tube.
Depending on the weapon, these will normally hold between 180 and 700 rounds.

Advantages:
Allows you to carry one or two magazines around for the whole day, which reduces load.
Carry a much higher amount of ammunition.
Less reloading (can be seen as a disadvantage)
Normally metal providing a longer service life as long as they don't rust!
Low maintenance.
Lots of china clones that work and are very affordable.

Disadvantages:
They rattle, so forget stealth if you've only got these.
Winding is annoying, unrealistic, and sometimes doesn't work.
One full wind usually only means about 50 bbs will feed.
They can jam (mess up the feeding) of BB's.
High rate of fire guns (35+ rps) can't feed bb's quick enough.
Can be expensive.

Double/ Dual High Cap

These normally hold around 1000 rounds, but it is possible to purchase the one for the MP5 which holds around 500 rounds. These magazines don't normally have a winder, but are electronically wound using a button, or a switch on the magazine. They would appear visually as two magazines joined together. Battleaxe is one of the main producers of these type of magazine.

Advantages:
Massive amount of ammo capacity.
No winding - most are electronic.
Auto winding also means that you shouldn't be dry firing in a firefight if you've still got ammo in the mag.
Generally high quality and long lasting.
Available for the most popular types of gun.
"Doubles" the ammo you can carry (eg, an M14 High cap is 400 - 500 rounds, the Battleaxe Double M14 magazine holds 1000 rounds).

Disadvantages
More ammo means more rattling.
Sometimes push to wind switch fails.
Requires batteries.
More expensive.
Bulkier design would make it difficult to fit in any mag pouch.
Makes the gun more bulky and less versatile.
Increasingly harder to find.

Drum Magazine/ Box mag/ Beta C mag

These are normally only found fitted to Automatic Rifles, otherwise known as Machineguns. The most popular being the M249 SAW, the M60 and the RPK-74. The magazines normally hold more than 10 times the real life counterpart.
Drum magazines will be found on RPK-74's, Box mags found on SAW's and M60's, and Beta C mags can be bought for various types of weapon, like the M16.
They hold anything from 2000 rounds up to 7500 rounds of ammunition, plenty enough to keep you going for a whole day (at least).

Advantages
With all that ammo, you can really make use of your weapon in the Support Gunner role and keep the trigger down.
Some designs of box magazines help to reduce the rattle (cloth mags).
Automatic/ Sound Sensing winder, which is battery powered.

Disadvantages
Often make the gun difficult to hold.
Storing them on your kit is very difficult, unless you have the right pouches.
Can be expensive - you can pay £120 just for the magazine.
Can be a bit fiddly getting them to feed perfectly.
Hard to reload.


Hope this helps with anyone that had queries about magazines.