Possibly the best well known AR15 Magazine is the PMAG by Magpul along with your typical USGI Steel magazine and other larger brands such as the HexMag.
The Toolman Tactical magazine sold by PAMAX Tactical at www.pmtactical.com catches the attention at the reasonable price point of less then $7.00 per magazine. While many see this price and assume that this is nothing more then a cheap magazine the design and our testing shows otherwise.
OVERALL DESIGN
The very first aspect that attracts our interest is the magazines capacity. The Toolman magazine holds 32 rounds instead of the industry standard of 30 rounds. Why? Well thats because the Toolman features a true No-Tilt follower design that is more compact then other brands. This design offers an extra (2) rounds to be loaded without making the magazine bigger. While the capacity is enhanced it is not the primary purpose. The Toolman Magazine is 32rds so that you can load the magazine to a 30rd capacity and store the magazine without worrying about the feed lip "creep". Even military issued Gen3 PMAGS and later versions have issues with developing "creep" in the feed lip if left loaded for extended periods of time. Feed lip "creep" is the slow widening of the feed lip under compression. This leads to failure to feed, double feeds, and failure to insert the magazine into the rifle. This is a common polymer magazine problem that Toolman has solved. Our stored samples loaded to 30rd capacity has shown no feed lip "creep" after (3) years storage time. Dated 2017.
The overall appearence of the Toolman Magazine is a unique two tone texture which offers a slick upper half for a smooth and quick insert and clean magazine drop while allowing for a positive retention of the magazine at the bottom half.
The Toolman Magazine offers a very simple design for field stripping. It is similar to other brands in overall design but is easier to take apart and reassemble.
PERFORMANCE
For costing only $7 a piece we expected very little from the magazine. However upon testing we found that the Toolman magazine not only functions flawlessly with both brass and steel case 5.56/.223 ammunition, it also offers reliable feed and function of .300 blackout. This is a plus as other leading brands have difficulty with reliable functionality with the .300 blackout cartridge.
We have runs thousands of rounds through various magazines and found the Toolman stands up to the big brand names. Its overall durability is very high. Although not quiet as durable as Magpul the Toolman magazine design does allow it to take quiet alot of abuse. The Toolman will undoubtedly perform just as well as any USGI magazine on the market. It can be stomped on, thrown, dropped, and beaten in both warmer and colder temperatures without issue. We ran it over while empty (no ammunition or device inside) with a jeep wrangler and it survived repeated passes.
The Toolman magazine, while not Magpul is rapifly growing in popularity and comes in at an excellent value. The $7 magazine comes in black or FDE and is backed by a FULL (2) YEAR WARRANTY regardless of issue. A small company has a USA made product for a popular platform and offers a reliable and durable performance. We recommend purchasing at least one to try out to formulate your own opinion.
While offered online elsewhere the best current price we are aware of is at the PAMAX Tactical website: www.pmtactical.com