Texas Sheepdawg wrote:My factory mag has that little steel plate in it.
I can't speak for current production, but for a few years each factory mag had two of those stamped steel tabs inside below the lips to form a set of centering shims, to encourage the bullets to sit in the exact center of the stack before rising into position to be stripped. From the results I've gotten from aftermarket bodies without those shims, they were not really needed. The slight dish of the follower top accomplished that. Perhaps the additional help was needed due to the
excessive spring tension they didn't need, squishing the cartridges until they began to stagger.
The shame of that part of the design was the wimpy spot weld that secured the shims to the body. Oh well, if you didn't read the linked thread, Bushmaster made good and sent me another mag free of charge. I harvested the follower from the defective one to make another mag from an AR Stoner mag 20 rounder I had.
Hoot