I have always been a fan of enhanced magazine plates.  All of my Pmags wear the Magpul Ranger Plates on them.  The main reason is that most of them will, at some point be used in either my plate carrier or my battle belt mag pouches and having the loop makes them much easier to manipulate during a reload.

So as someone that has trained a lot with the ranger plates, I was at first a little skeptical of the Enhanced Magazine Plate because it lacked a loop or extension to grab a hold of.  I was actually pleasantly surprised that they were just as easy to grab and manipulate with the two side grooves that they utilize.

Installation was very easy, but can require a punch to install the two roll pins that hold the plate onto the magazine. Being that this was for a test/review I decided to use a small allen wrench for one, and a slotted screw driver for the other to see if using standard tools would work for those that might not have a punch handy.  Both actually worked just fine.  The screwdriver being the easiest as it gave me leverage to just push the pin though without a hammer.  With the small allen wrench I just used the screw drivers a hammer and had no problems getting the pin into place.

It was really just as simple as any other floor plate that I have installed on either a Pmag or even pistol magazine.  The roll pins were an interesting choice of retention device, but after looking at the design it made sense.  Not only is the plate using the protrusion from the base plate insert for retention, it also uses the roll pins to ensure that the base plate is not going to come off when dropping a magazine.

One cool feature is that the new mag plate is a +2 capacity, so your Pmag is now a 32rd magazine.  While not a lot of capacity, over the 6 mags that I carry in my kit, that is a total of 12 extra rounds while carrying the same amount of mags.  

Lastly, the Enhanced Magazine Plate offers a flat spot on the bottom of the mag.  The flat spot is big enough and the right angle that it allows the mag to be used as a monopod with pretty good success.  The angle allows the user to rest on the magazine and have a stable platform.  I was able to use the monopod on several different surfaces including a shooting bench, log, ground and car hood. All provided a stable hold for accurate shots.

If you are interested in the magazine base plates, check out at Strike Industries.