Magpul’s New TMAG 20-Round Translucent AR/M4 GEN M3 Magazines

Magpuls translucent TMAG hit this past fall, ensuring you can easily see your remaining ammo, without loosing the renowned reliability of Magpul’s PMAGs. They also look pretty cool. Now they’ve announced the more compact 20 round TMAG 20.

The TMAG 20

From Magpul . . .

The TMAG 20 AR/M4 GEN M3 is a… translucent, 20-round magazine for STANAG-compatible weapons chambered in 5.56×45 NATO/.223 Remington. Molded from a durable translucent material with an olive drab hue, it provides shooters the ability to visibly verify various ammunition types and the current round count. Featuring ribbed front and rear straps for improved purchase during magazine changes, the sides are left smooth to enhance visibility.

So, in other words it’s just like the 30-round TMAG, but it holds 20 rounds. And it’s shorter. Which is a good thing.

The 30-round TMAGs look good, but I hadn’t grabbed any yet. I have a ton of 30-round mags already — as you should, too — including bunches of various generation PMAGs. I figured I’d get some eventually. But I do like 20-rounders…

Twenty rounds is still a lot of shooting and I appreciate the compact size of the magazine. I like that it doesn’t project below the pistol grip on an AR. It’s nice shooting from a bench with them, or shooting from a prone position (okay, maybe that doesn’t actually matter as much for me any more). They also fit in a a lot of gun cases better with a 20-round mag in place.

When I was a detective we didn’t have rifle racks in our unmarked cars, so we carried our patrol rifles in cases in the trunk. I left mine patrol-ready (empty chamber, but full magazine in the mag well) and carried 30-rounders as spares. My SIG M400 fit better in my rifle case with a 20-round mag in place. It didn’t catch when I pulled it out like a 30 sometimes would. Anyway, I like 20-rounders. They work for me.

The 20-round TMAG is part of the GEN M3 family of magazines. It has similar internal geometry according to Magpul which they say is the secret sauce for their reliability. Or at least they say something like that. The TMAG’s use a four-way, anti-tilt follower and stainless-steel spring for corrosion resistance. There’s a paint-pen dot matrix allows that let’s you mark your mags how you like. The TMAG’s low-profile floor plate is also compatible with all of Magpul’s  PMAG AR/M4 GEN M3 floor-plate accessories.

The TMAG is optimized for Colt-spec AR15/M4 platforms, but Magpul has modified internal and external geometry so that they work with other weapons such as the HK 416/MR556A1/M27 IAR, FN SCAR MK 16/16S, and others. Like the rest of Magpul’s products the TMAGs are made in the USA.

MSRP is $23.95 and they should be shipping soon. I’ll grab some of these when they’re available so don’t be surprised if you start seeing them pop up in my pics. Although I’ll still use my old straight body 20-round PMAGs as well since they’ve developed an odd cult following over the past year or so.

For more information check out the Magpul Website and watch the video below.

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