A review of diffrent brands of p90 midcaps

[the_monkey]

So, for those of you who use p90's im sure you are aware that the hicaps..regardless of brand are crap..utterly utterly crap. they are hard to wind, have a habit of unwinding and need to be taken off the gun to be wound on. They could have been beautiful..but they arnt..

Still, hi caps are for the weak, so yeay

But what we are left with is a mind boggling array of midcaps, some good some bad. So I am going to compare the following three midcaps against each other in the hope of helping people avoid the same pitfalls I have. This review is based on a good year and a half ownership of a TM p90 using all three magazines.


midcaps (2).jpg

So above we have from left to right
TM stock 68 round
Silver back 140 round
MAG 170 round

capacity
SO the first thing about these is that two of them state ammo capacities above what is useable. the TM stock will fit 68 rounds exactly..as it says on the tin, but both the MAG and silverback take less. the MAG magazine takes approximately 140 rounds before it will feed slowly for about 30 rounds or so before fixing itself. The silver back, 100 rounds..infact more like 90 before you get into problems. So while both the silver back and MAG will technically hold 140 and 170 respectivley, dont expect this number to actually function.

build quality
The build quality of the TM version is great, it feels solid but with a little flex, the MAG version is more solid again. Infact I am almost confident you could hammer in nails with it. It feels reliable. Both the TM and MAG have an almost identical texture and feel. The silver back magazines, well they feel mostly solid, but they do flex and creak. this because obvious when you are loading quickly as the magazine can jam as it is placed onto the gun.

Internally, wel they are all much of a muchness. each magazine comes apart totally differently. the TM and silverback you un do screws, try not to loose the springey thing that stops bbs pouring out until they are on your gun and pull out a centre piece. with the TM this is efficient and easily done..with the silverback it is horrible and very scary. you feel worried you will snap the thing in half. however when you get out the internal package, there is a quick release for the spring..yeay. The MAG, undo millions of screws take apart to release the various parts. all three are much of muchness, springey thing with a plastic guide thingee on the end and some joiners in between the springs.

when loading these magazines both the TM and the MAG are very easy to do with almost no resistance..although with both it increases exponentially at near maximum capacity. The silverback is hard to load and requires some force to do so..but we will come to that more later. A nice feature of the MAG magazine is it is the only one of the three where you can see just how many BBS are in the magazine, a really really useful tool and saves that embarrassing moment where you try to take a room with an empty magazine. The state of the magazine when on the gun is easiest seen when you tilt the gun to the right and look through the side, you can clearly see how many BBS are in it in the photo below:

midcaps (3).jpg

In this photo you can see the magazine filled up to about maximum capacity. Handily enough when you fill the magazine, the point at which the side of the magazine is full represents about as many BBS as you want to put in it. also in this state is about 140 rounds, when the entire side of the magazine is empty you have about 40 rounds left.

midcaps (1).jpg

feeding
The TM and the MAG magazines feed beautifully, even after use and battering. out of the two, the TM feeds a tiny tiny bit faster but neither magazine misses a beat and both feed to the last round

The silverback, when i first bought them the fed, quite well never missing a beat and feeding to the last round or two. But, an oddity of the silverback is that it has quite a long feedneck, so 2 or 3 bbs can be left in the neck with no means of chambering them into the gun. However....it went a little wrong with extended use:

extended use
over time, the TM p90 mags dont change, they feed as well as they do the day they were bought. The MAG magazines appear to be the same, feed now the same as they did on day 1, but i will let you know more when ive used them for a little while longer.

the silverback, like i said, new they were great. 100 rounds ish into them and away you went. however over time, they have all failed..IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!. remember how i said they were hard to load? well at the feed neck of the magazine where it mates onto the gun there is a 90' turn to push the BBS down into the chamber. on the TM version its quite a sharp turn, on the MAG its actually a very smooth sort of swan neck affair..on the silverback..its just a 90' turn, no grace or subtlety and it is at this point that every single magazine has broken. So...yeah..great. we now have a magazine that cant be loaded, unloaded or canabalised for parts.

price
well none of the mags are cheap.. infact they all cost a bomb compared to other magazines for other guns

The TM is the most expensive, varying between £22 and £29 quid depending on retailer

the MAG is the second priciest, at either £16 quid per mag or £55 to £79 for a box of 4...

the silverback is the cheapest..in so many ways, varying between £14 and £16 quid a pop. but with the feeding, capacity and longevity issues..also the worst.


conclusion

Well out of the three ive tried, to be honest, the one i think will be around in 5 years is the stock TM magazines, unfortunately with a capacity of 68 rounds and a p90 that does upwards of 15RPS, you can quickly run out of ammo if you arnt careful.

The silverback are a massive disappointment, hugely so. no where near the stated capacity in reliable use, and all 5 broke identically. probally why no one has them in stock anymore.

The MAG seem to be a good magazine that allows you to see the internal capacity, there by increasing some situational awareness and avoiding that embarrassing moment i mentioned before. The quality of the internals seems good and the externals make you want to stroke it and mutter something incoherent about "my preciousssss". will they continue to work as long as the TM, well history tells us that after the apocalypse there are likely to only be cockroaches and TM parts, so im not convinced. however I am convinced that these magazines are well worth having. certainly one or two in your collection to bolster up the 68 rounders for those special moments cant hurt can it?

[dadio]

Re: A review of diffrent brands of p90 midcaps

good review and i have to echo you'r results ,TM absolutely flawless but only 68rnds,Mag very good indeed but only about 150rnds not 170 and the silverback ,well i only got one and was disappointed by both finish,function and capacity, although mine is yet to break.overall the Mag is the best due to the capacity and visible ammo really being a bonus.