After posting the article about the SCAR 17S magazine by Moses Mag, Moses Mag reached out to me to see if I would like to review their magazine. Of course I would, I love my SCAR 17S and I am always eager to find new and interesting upgrades.

I received the magazines back in the middle of August. I planned to use them exclusively at the 2015 FNH USA 3 Gun Championship match which was just last week. I brought my factory SCAR 17S mags along just in case. Well, the Moses Mag SCAR mags worked beautifully and not once did I use the factory FNH mags.

The mags are polymer and due to the design, they weigh 45% less than the factory FNH SCAR17S steel magazines. According to Moses Mag, their mags weigh 4.8 oz and the FNH mags are 8.5 oz.

Here are two photos taken by a fellow SCAR17S owner. He used his digital scale to weigh the mags. His numbers are sightly different than those by Moses Mag. The FNH Mag is heavier at 8.9 oz and the Moses Mag is even lighter at 4.6 oz.

During the 2015 FNH USA 3Gun match I noticed that I could load 21 bullets into the Moses Mag. However if you do this, the magazine spring is fully compressed and you will not be able to seat the full magazine while the bolt is closed. I then downloaded to 20 and found it easy to insert the magazine on a closed bolt.

During the FNH USA 3Gun match, something came up during stage 9 for both me and Joe Satterfield, FNH Pro Team shooter, who also shoots a SCAR17S. We both had some form of magazine issue. My issue was trying to use a Molon Labe 25 rd magazine as support when shooting off of a giant log on stage 9 for the long distance targets. My Molon Labe magazine stopped feeding after 3 rounds and had a double feed. I quickly removed it and used the Moses Mag without any further issues.

Joe Satterfield did the same thing only with his factory FNH mag. He jammed the magazine into the log and managed to dislodge his magazine floor plate. You can see in the photo below, the floor plate is 3/4 off the magazine.

While he was shooting, the baseplate completely fell off. I was expecting the spring, follower and bullets to fall out.

However, due to the design of the magazine the folded tabs helped to hold the magazine spring in place. Joe Satterfield kept shooting and eventually reloaded with a fresh magazine. It was truly amazing to see that the magazine could still function without the baseplate.

The Moses mag did not have any malfunctions for me during the match. I shoved that magazine into logs for support. Here is a photo from stage 10 where I shot the six long range targets one for one. 120 – 400 yards and everything in between. You can sort of see that I am resting the magazine baseplate onto the log. My weight is on the gun pushing the magazine forward into the log. No malfunctions at all.

While the FNH mag baseplate did fall off Satterfield’s magazine, the mag kept working. Not possible with the Moses Mag. The baseplate design is similar to a PMAG where it locks onto the spring floorplate. It is a more positive locking design than the SCAR17S Mag design. The SCAR17S Mag is actually a modified FAL magazine and the floorplate is like that of an AR-15. It is held in place by an indentation in the metal plate.The SCAR17S mags have a polyer pull tab that is screwed onto the floorplate. As you saw with Joe Satterfield, the pull tab can cause a possible magazine malfunction. However, there is nothing else holding the Moses Mag spring in place. While highly unlikely, if the baseplate managed to be dislodged from the mag body then the spring, follower and ammo will fall out of the magazine.

When looking at the three magazine designs: Molon Labe, FNH and Moses Mag; the Moses Mag stands out. The baseplate is not parallel with the top of the magazine. The Molon Labe mags look great and feel robust in the hand. They also weigh a bit more than the Moses mags at 6.5 oz for the 20 rd version and 7.8 for the 25 rd version. Their baseplate design is flat and wide; making the magazine great as a monopod. Too bad they don’t feed reliably, at least mine don’t. I would like this style of baseplate incorporated into the Moses Mag. You can still monopod the Moses Mag, but only the heel of the baseplate is in contact with a flat surface. The FNH baseplate has a pull tab that works well when monopoding the SCAR17S but it is rounded and not as stable as the Molon Labe design. Perhaps something along the lines of a Magpod for the Moses Mag then you could monopod off the moses mag for a more stable shooting position.

The FDE follower is a nice visual indication when looking into the chamber after the bolt locks to the rear. I would like to see blaze orange or yellow as an option for the follower just as a cosmetic upgrade for easier identification when looking into the chamber via the ejection port.

The Mosesmag feels thin at the top half of the magazine. In the photo above, you can see there are no ridges for reinforcement like the bottom half of the magazine.  However it feels more rigid than the Molon Labe magazine. When loading .308 cartridges into the Molon Labe magazine, I can feel the sides of the mag swell and bulge a bit. It is very noticeable when you load it full and insert the magazine into the SCAR17S mag well. The Molon Labe magazine feels like a non-full metal lined glock magazine being inserted into a Glock 17. The magazine swell causes additional friction and inhibits the magazine from dropping free if there are rounds still in it. The FNH mag of course does not have this issue and surprisingly neither does the Moses mag due to its rigidity.

The Moses Mag magazines are fantastic. At $27.99 they are a reasonably priced. I eagerly await for them to make these completely FDE but Black is not the end of the world. If you have a SCAR17S I highly recommend these. If you carry four of these, you save over a pound in weight savings over the FNH steel mags.  If you are interested in buying them, they are available on the Moses Mag website.

I would like to see them make a 25 rd magazine, a mag coupler, and a base plate like that of a magpod so you can monopod the SCAR17S.