Korean-made magazines for Glocks, short review

[CR Williams]

PROS: Inexpensive.

CONS: They will start to fail after usage. With most that I have, it's been simply a failure to lock the slide back when empty. On others, there have been feed problems and in one or two the follower has 'locked' up or the rounds have been jammed up within the magazine.

RECOMMENDATION: Fine for practice and training. Don't trust them for carry.

Note: With Glock magazines still inexpensive, a gradual accumulation of factory mags is not a bad idea at all.

[Silveressa]

While they may be cheaper, the fact they wear out and need to be replaced more often makes them something of a poor investment in the long run; especially if you spend a lot of time at the range. (For the price of two cheap Korean mags you can get a single quality Glock mag that will last and be good for EDC in the event one of your "regular" mags breaks or need some maintenance.)

Also, with cheaper mags laying around there's always the risk of mixing them up and loading a junk mag  in your Glock or spare pouch for EDC by mistake. (Unless you clearly mark them on the base/side to differentiate them from your reliable ones anyway.)

[Coastie]

While they may be cheaper, the fact they wear out and need to be replaced more often makes them something of a poor investment in the long run; especially if you spend a lot of time at the range. (For the price of two cheap Korean mags you can get a single quality Glock mag that will last and be good for EDC in the event one of your "regular" mags breaks or need some maintenance.)

Also, with cheaper mags laying around there's always the risk of mixing them up and loading a junk mag  in your Glock or spare pouch for EDC by mistake. (Unless you clearly mark them on the base/side to differentiate them from your reliable ones anyway.)

The US made ones I have don't wear out.  So why waste the $ and
 time with a foreign mag?

[CR Williams]

You can get anywhere from three to five Korean mags for the price of one Glock mag. When you're dealing with courses that involve high round counts, this can be helpful. The work most of the time, and it's not like they completely freeze even when they stop working normally. I'm not opposed to the unplanned stoppages as training idea, either. I am considering the idea that you could take the mag bodies and substitute different springs and perhaps followers to gain reliability. When I was getting started, it was a useful thing. And not locking back on empty is not a deal-killer for me for a range-use item.

At this point, I can if desired ditch the Korean mags. I now have mags to work on mag changes and certain other manipulations with as well. That said, I'm still not opposed to the purchase of additional units. I just won't use them for EDC, that's all. That would be a true false economy.

[RayMich]

Although I don't have any cheap magazines, the other advantage I could see for then, besides their lower price, is that for training only, they allow you a greater opportunity to practice clearing malfunctions. Cheap magazine malfunctions tend to be more random than if you intentionally added a snap cap or other item to artificially induce a malfunction.
 
But I would never carry a Korean or otherwise "cheap" magazine for EDC.