TFB Review: Magpul TMAG 30 Magazines - Translucent Olive Drab Hue

This is a review of the new Magpul TMAG 30 AR/M4 GEN M3 magazines, which has a translucent olive drab hue according to the manufacturer. Like other translucent mags, these mags allow users to easily identify ammunition types and monitor the amount of remaining rounds. The TMAGs have been around only for a short period of time, but let’s have a look at what they look like and how they work in a variety of scenarios and temperatures.

Magpul @ TFB:

• The Magpul FMG-9 is FINALLY HERE: The Magpul/ZEV FDP & FDC
• TFB Review: R44 Magpul DAKA Hard Case – A Better Rifle Case
• Ruger & Magpul are Making a Glock Clone? The Ruger RXM

As you all know, Magpul has long been a trusted name in the world of firearm accessories making high-quality products, and their TMAG should be no exception. That’s unless something extraordinary happens to them in the long run, which our testing possibly cannot find out in this relatively short period of time.

For the record, my local shop received 800 TMAGs and I bought two out of my own pocket. The manufacturer of these magazines does not know about this review until they read it. 

Magpul Magazines: Reliable Workhorses - With One Exception

I have most if not all of Magpul’s magazines for AR15/M4/A10/AICS and Glock, in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes. When Magpul’s own color selection didn’t do it for me, I had a few Cerakoted because it looks cool or more unique when I compete or take images for TFB. I cannot remember one single time where a Magpul magazine has caused any of my guns to malfunction. I do have friends who experienced cracked feeding lips, but it has never happened to me.

There’s one main exception, and that’s the Magpul PMAG D-60. I do have trust issues with that drum, and I think I witnessed one Finn lose his 3rd place in the IPSC Rifle World Shoot due to what looked like a feeding issue. Luckily mine worked, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen issues with the D60. For the record, I also prefer the original Glock magazines before the Magpul ones, but I’ve never had any issues with any.

So all-in-all, the Magpul magazines are my first choice whenever I shoot a long gun. I like the Lancer magazines as well, and never had any issues with those either. I have used both brands mixed at three IPSC Rifle World Shoots, without failures.

In terms of durability, the transparent PMAG 30 (TMAG) is said to retain the same robust polymer construction that Magpul is famous for. It feels solid in the hand and withstands drops, impacts, and rough handling without issue. 

The translucent material allows users to easily see how many rounds are left in the magazine, or at least give a quick indication in a stressful situation if it’s about time to reload or not. Depending on the color or possibly the shape of the tip, it’s also possible to identify different types of ammunition, at least in daylight.

The material is scratch-resistant, but the sharp point of a knife will scratch them (no surprise!). How they will perform and look over time is perhaps something TFB will have to come back to in say 2-3 years. Perhaps we’ll take our time and talk to some users in Yuma, Arizona - recognized as the sunniest city in the world by the Guinness World Records?

At the time of writing, we just had the winter solstice here in the Nordic countries, with only a few hours of daylight (mostly with rain or clouds). This is the best I can do until midsummer.

TMAG and The Cold

Once upon a time, I used to have access to a climate chamber to test the effects of specific climatic conditions, on a certain translucent magazine for instance. I feel pretty certain Magpul already put the TMAG through that, as they don’t want to risk their reputation by releasing inferior products.

With the mildest winter ever (so far), the closest I can come to testing the TMAG in the cold is my freezer. So I put my magazines there for a long while.

AR15 Zeroing With The TMAG

Not that I think the TMAG had anything to do with it really, but I shot a few groups to zero my slightly modified JP Rifles CTR-02 in .223 Wylde before a DMR competition. This is 5 rounds of GGG 69 gr. shot at 300 meters in +2C, shooting prone with a B&T bipod front and a bean back in the back. I used an IPSC micro target with a black patch on it, and a Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II to find it. This target is only 40% (18x22.8 cm) the size of an IPSC Classic, seen as the brown background. If you increase the distance, you have to make the target smaller…

This is a 50 mm (1.97”) grouping at 300 meters, with an AR15 clone. This group was the best of four, but the result, or nearby, is repeatable with purchased ammunition. Every hit was in the A zone of the micro target, in all groups. Unfortunately, I missed all five rounds, as the black patch was the ultimate hit zone…

The TFB patch will cover all rounds, so I will keep telling my students who don’t hit the normal A zone at 8 meters with a red dot equipped handgun that they should not be satisfied - because I’m not!

Price - Is The Translucency Worth It?

In terms of price, the TMAG30 is 60% more expensive than the normal PMAG30, and more than 30% more expensive than the PMAG30 Window. I find that difference quite steep, but I don’t know the underlying factors behind the pricing structure. There could be tooling and material costs that drive the price up, which has to be spread over lower volumes. Typically transparent parts are more expensive. Regardless of the price, the TMAG seems sold out all of the time, and the cost of magazines is almost negligible for the majority of gun owners. I don’t usually wear out or throw Magpul magazines away because I don’t have to. I consider magazines to be a consumable, but I invest in quality ones.

Conclusion

What do you do as a manufacturer once you have perfected your magazine? Well, you add colors, and once that need has been fulfilled you add transparency. Enter the Magpul TMAG series, and the buyers seem to welcome them.

A magazine’s main function is to keep feeding bullets to the bolt and to do that without failure until the end of time. Until the end of time means until you run out of ammunition, but it can also mean storing your ammunition for decades in a less than ideal bug-out storage, for when you really need it. If a magazine doesn’t work, we might as well go back to single-shot weapons.

I can only really test that first part of the description above, and I cannot fire an endless amount of ammunition due to cost. However, there are a few other TFBers that have the TMAGs, and together we have a good number of rounds through them. No one is reporting any short-term problems or issues - even in full auto, and while I’m writing a lot of other stuff in this 1,800+ word review this one sentence is perhaps the most important one to remember.

Magazines can look cool too, and enhance the look of your firearm, and the pictures you take of it. That’s not something that should be underestimated in the marketplace, or for the owner/influencer. I think the TMAG does that well. When you can see the contents and insides of a magazine, it makes the image more interesting. Not to mention a video, where you can see the spring and rounds moving.