Why the heck are some pistol mags so expensive?

[carrguy1]

I'm talking about factory mags. Is it just me or does anyone else find $40 a little expensive for what is essentially a squared tube of sheet metal with a spring in it? I know it can depend on where you get them, how many you are buying, how much shipping is, etc.

Here's what set me off: I recently got a SIG SP2022 9mm which is a relatively affordable handgun. They currently only come with one mag so naturally I wanted to get a couple more. Just about everywhere I looked would have been about $40 shipped each give or take which I think is ridiculous. It also bugged me to see that the .357sig/.40 mags for the same gun could be found for under $30. They're about the same dimensions aren't they? They use about the same amount of material and labor to make don't they? So why were they $10-$15 less?

I see similar prices for a lot of other pistol mags too. And if you want to know why I wanted factory mags instead of Mec-Gars (for $20-something) it's because the factory ones for the SP2022 have the grip extension and the Mec-Gars have an ugly squared +2 block on the bottom.

Maybe I'm just a crazy guy going on a rant here but it bugs me. By the way, I wound up getting two from CDNN a few weeks ago when they had a free shipping over $49 coupon so the mags came to $34 each.

[bigdawgbeav]

Or you purchase a 3rd-party made mag and they work just the same for less money.

Personally I never saw the need to buy factory mags. Are they really more reliable than someone else's?

I've bought some cheap ones that have run flawlessly. I have put 100's of rounds through them and would trust them with my life. Just because they aren't stamped "Beretta", "Taurus", etc doesn't mean they are going to fail.

[Shodan]

All spare mags are made by the same company that makes printer ink cartridges.

[MARINE DIVISION TWO]

Tell me about it ! Bersa mags $32,Browning mags $45, etc..........

[LifeInPa]

You know what kills me? I buy 30 rounder Magpul P-Mags for my AR which are some of the best you can buy and they cost me only $14. However to buy 17 rounder magazines for my Smith and Wesson M&P 9 cost me nearly twice the price. The cheapest price I can find is $23 and most places want $30 or more.

[ar15jules]

I have toyed with aftermarket magazines in several different firearms and found them to be unreliable. Maybe just my luck. The magazine, especially in a semi auto hand gun, is probably the most vital link in the feed, fire, extract, eject chain of events. I will pony up the extra cash to know that I am getting something that was made to spec, with a good spring, and factory follower. Training mags may be another story, but I still stick with factory mags. I ONLY use them for training. I never mix training/carry mags.
Jules

[carrguy1]

Or you purchase a 3rd-party made mag and they work just the same for less money.

Personally I never saw the need to buy factory mags. Are they really more reliable than someone else's?..

You'll note in my original post that in this case (SIG SP2022) only the factory mags come with the grip finger extension and the 3rd party ones have an ugly square block at the bottom. 1) It looks terrible and 2) this gun is a medium frame and I have big hands. Without the extension my pinky would hang off the bottom of the grip.

You know what kills me? I buy 30 rounder Magpul P-Mags for my AR which are some of the best you can buy and they cost me only $14. However to buy 17 rounder magazines for my Smith and Wesson M&P 9 cost me nearly twice the price. The cheapest price I can find is $23 and most places want $30 or more.

I thought about this as well when I wrote the original post. Why would AR/AK mags that are several times the size of pistol mags and use more raw materials cost half as much? Im not sure I could answer that for metal rifle mags but in the case of pmags I'm guessing they are injection molded which I'm thinking means they can produce them faster than metal and/or the polymer raw material is cheaper than metal used for pistol mags. Just guessing though.

[RandomTask]

Personally I never saw the need to buy factory mags. Are they really more reliable than someone else's?

In some guns it matters. I know mini-14s are picky, and being an HK P7 series owner, I've *heard* that any mag but factory is is dud.
You wouldn't think it would be rocket science for some company to make an exact duplicate of a factory mag, but apparently it is.

[LifeInPa]

I thought about this as well when I wrote the original post. Why would AR/AK mags that are several times the size of pistol mags and use more raw materials cost half as much? Im not sure I could answer that for metal rifle mags but in the case of pmags I'm guessing they are injection molded which I'm thinking means they can produce them faster than metal and/or the polymer raw material is cheaper than metal used for pistol mags. Just guessing though.

Good point, however you can get metal AK mags for $10-$15 but they're likely to be surplus. Talking about Polymer magazines why can't they make them for pistols?

In some guns it matters. I know mini-14s are picky, and being an HK P7 series owner, I've *heard* that any mag but factory is is dud.
You wouldn't think it would be rocket science for some company to make an exact duplicate of a factory mag, but apparently it is.

On the subject of Mini-14 the Tapco Gen II's are reliable with everything sans steel cased ammo. I opted for a Colt 6920 for this reason.

[afdcomposer]

All spare mags are made by the same company that makes printer ink cartridges.

^^^
Sad, but true. It must be.