Shield arms announced a new 15 rounds magazine in summer 2019. This magazine was made for Glock 43x and Glock 48x. But the information was not very noteworthy.
If you take a deeper look at the shields announcement, you must have realized that something significant is coming. The s15 is a steel mag that can hold 15 round bullets but the regular mags of a Glock 43x or 48 could hold 10 rounds. Now the question is about shield 15 round mags- reliability and any court related downside?
Key Differences Between a Shield 15 Round Mag and a Regular Glock 43x Or 48 Mag
The shield 15 mag was not like a regular after-market substitution mag. There are some important and key dissimilarities. The shield 15 magazines were made of stainless steel and this can hold 15 rounds of bullets where a normal factory Glock 43x or 48 mags can hold 10 rounds. Another impressive thing is though the shield 15 mags can hold 15 rounds, it has the same height as the regular mags.
Many people thought it was impossible. People thought that the only way to insert 15 bullets inside the space of 10 is only with sorcery. This is not sorcery at all but actually, it is very simple. The factory Glock 43x and 48 magazines are made by a layer of polymer fused or molded around the metal shell. Due to the polymer molding, the walls of the magazine become thick.
This thickness causes the limitation of holding only one stack of ammunition not more than 10 rounds of bullets. Shield arms mainly thought about the thickness and began to experiment with a steel mag. The steel mag was of thin wall and it permitted the ammunition to be two stacked inside the space. Simply it allowed two columns of ammunition inside the space of ones.
Shield 15 Round Mags Reliability
Shield arms do not just release a mag directly after making it. They test thousands of rounds of bullets before making the mag available for the public. They have updated many things and did a lot of design changes to reach the final design. Their initial batch mags were rejected due to the lack of proper finish. Proper finishing was a great deal with the first batch of mags. Loading the stacks is very easier when the mag has a very smooth finishing.
It causes a lot of tension if the mags do not have a glass-like smooth finish. Though rough finishing makes the mag harder to load, it does not have an influence on reliability. After that, they send their mags to a Federal Law Enforcement agency for testing the mags. They have a unique testing procedure for the mags.
They use around 5000 rounds in two mags and if there are no issues, then it seems the test is okay. Some other parties tested the mags with a higher round than 5000 to get more ensured. There is one issue that was found out by the Shield arms that the mags do not come out of the gun easily whether it is full or empty. This is because the shield 15 mag is much wider than a factory mag and the frame variations of the pistols.
It was a big challenge for the shield arms to get all the shield 15 round mags to run with all pistols. The good news is later they fixed this issue by bringing some changes and updates to the mag. To carry a pistol, I will surely take 15 rounds of shield 15 mags.
It is obvious that I will not carry a 10 round mag where I have a better option of carrying 15 rounds. Even if the mag is hard to load, I don’t care because this is allowing me to have extra 5 bullets.
If you do not need to load your pistol more often, this will be a very minor issue. Another surprising thing is an empty shield 15 mag is much lighter than the regular factory mag. For being lightweight and with more capacity, the shield 15 is surely a game-changer! In one word, Shield 15 mags have the same reliability but with increased capacity.
The second-generation shield 15 round mag comes with a black oxide coating that is very minimal corrosion resistant. To prevent the mags corrosion, Shield arms suggest wiping the external surface of the mag with their gun lubricant EEZOX.
What Mag Catch Should You Use With A Shield 15 Round Mag?
To maintain the same reliability, Shield arms recommends the shield 15 mag users to use their steel mag catch instead of using plastic original equipment manufacturer mag catch. They also said that you might face reliability issues if you use a third-party mag catch for shield 15 round mags. The 2nd generation round mags are designed to adapt with shield arms steel mag catch.
Court Related Downside Of Shield 15 Round Mags
Most of the police nowadays carry high-capacity magazines. They need this for public protection against the local criminals. During a war, there is no substitute for the mags that are of high capacity. High-capacity mag is a great choice for self-defense against the enemy. Though there are tons of benefits of a shield 15 round mag, you might face difficulties carrying one if you are in a 10 round magazine state.
If carrying a 15 round magazine is forbidden by your state’s law, you will be accused of breaking that specific law and you might get a penalty. If a 15 round mag is legal in your state, you can carry shields round 15 magazines with yourself. It will not be safe to carry a round 15 magazine even you are traveling through a state that has the law of carrying a 10-round magazine.
Conclusion
Shield round 15 magazines is undoubtedly a great advancement in ammunition development. This gives an extra 50% bullet carrying capacity by keeping the exact same length of a 10-round magazine. Shield 15 round mags give the same reliability with increased capacity. If your state’s law does not forbid you to carry a 15 round mag, the shield 15 round mag can be a great choice for you.
Frequently Asked Question:
1.What Magazines Will Fit A Glock 43?
Ans: There are a few magazines that will fit the Glock 43. However, not all magazines for 7 mm Glocks can be adapted to work with this gun because the capacity and other issues stem from being designed around 9 mm pistols.
2.Which Mag Is Better, Black Or Tungsten?
Ans: It all depends upon the type of shooting you’re going to be doing. If it’s a competition scenario where you will have many rounds fired at targets, then pick up a Tungsten designed for magazines with large capacity and reloading capabilities.
However, go with Black if your goal is self-defense or to increase accuracy without additional weight on the firearm itself. Various manufacturers have tested it time after time to be the most superior in terms of increasing accuracy with less weight.
3.Do All Guns With 7 mm Can Use These Glock Accessories?
Ans: Indeed, but only through the modification process. These accessories will fit non-Glock magazines and make them shoot like a standard G43 magazine whose pin is removed from inside the gun’s grip frame. Though you won’t fire your handgun without removing it because its barrel comes out when fired, it can be removed using a punch tool to push its barrel back inside the slide.
4.Is It Possible To Use More Than One Mag At A Time?
Ans: Theoretically, you could change between two mags to allow a magazine swap. You can also use a Glock 42 magazine or G41 Longslide from another firearm because once the magazines are reattached to this gun, they have been specifically modified to function as one piece with no play when inserted into its slots inside the pistol’s grip frame itself. Essentially these adapters look like standard Glocks and only differ from standard Glock magazines in size.
5.How Many Rounds Does A Mag Hold In Total?
Ans: The max amount of rounds in each magazine is nine and will fill to the bottom. With this type of setup, 17-shot total capacity has been maintained (9×17 = 1 + 8 -1 for a ~14 round full auto mode) Example: if you were loading five-shot magazines into these Glock G21 Magazines Guaranteed Capacity Loads Total Rounds 22 23 Blank 7 9 Full Auto Power+ 30 31