A few weeks ago Nicholas C posted an article written for GunMag Warehouse about dyeing PMAGS and it got me thinking about whether or not the type of dye mattered when dyeing polymer. Just about every online guide specifies the use of the liquid Rit brand dye, but at about five bucks per color the cost can add up quick if you are dyeing several different colors.

While I was buying the blue dye to identify my range mags from every one else’s I decided to pick up some powdered golden yellow Rit and a bottle of the off brand liquid dye in an obnoxious fuchsia color. Since both of the bottles of liquid were good for about double the amount of fabric as the powder I picked up two of those to make measurements easy.   

I dug 3 Sand PMAGs out of my stash and started a pot on the stove with 96 ounces of water. First up was the two packets of powdered yellow dye, after dumping them into the water I stirred it until I felt that everything was properly mixed. I unceremoniously dumped the mag body, floor plate and dust cover into the pot without any wire supports. 

Next was the off brand liquid fuchsia, after staining my fingers Simpson yellow with the last mag I decided it might be best to glove up before my hand started to look like an Easter egg. 

Lastly the Aquamarine Rit liquid. This stuff was dark as hell and made fishing the parts out a bit of a chore. 

After getting all the dye rinsed off the mags, letting them dry and reassembling them I was left with three newly colorful mags. The powdered dye seemed to have the best penetration of the polymer with no splotchy areas, the off brand came in second as far as even color and the Rit liquid brought up the rear. I noticed several small areas where the sand color was visible under very thin dye.   

Tulip brand liquid fuchsia 

Rit powdered golden yellow

Rit liquid aquamarine

I have come to the conclusion that when I go through the dyeing process again with the next batch of sand PMAGs I will be buying the powdered dye from here on out. There is no reason to spend the extra few dollars on the liquid and the powdered is less likely to seriously stain your skin, counter top or clothing if you get a splash when pouring it into the pot. I also do not believe the wires to keep it off the bottom of the pot are necessary as long as you flip the parts halfway through.

If you want to check out the GEN 3 sand PMAGs you can check out Magpul’s site here, the non windowed mags have a MSRP of $14.95. The Rit liquid dye has a MSRP of $4.49, click here to see the colors. Rit powered dye has a MSRP of $2.99, click here to see the colors.