Author Topic: Why doesn't Tapco make 30 round magazines?  (Read 3208 times)

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camswilkins

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Why doesn't Tapco make 30 round magazines?
« on: February 13, 2015, 11:39:43 PM »
Just as the title outlines. Why is this?

I could never figure this out - if Tapco made 30s that work as well as their 20s they would sell like hotcakes, and it can't be too difficult to adapt (lengthen) the already existing design to fit more ammo.

7.62Hunter

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Re: Why doesn't Tapco make 30 round magazines?
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2015, 11:43:14 PM »
It's more complicated than that. Trust me they've considered it
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Toad

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Re: Why doesn't Tapco make 30 round magazines?
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2015, 11:50:52 PM »
They did, long ago. The bodies bulged and had loading problems.
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Greatguns

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Re: Why doesn't Tapco make 30 round magazines?
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2015, 12:00:07 AM »
I had spoken to the folks at Tapco about that some years back before Remington bought them out and IIRC their reply was something on the line of extra spring tension and wall thickness at the feed lips causing a lot of breakage as well as the bulging Toad mentioned.
Also, making the feed lips thicker wasn't an option because it would change the dimensions and dynamics of the feed and give potential interference at the bolt. Thus, their conclusion was that 20 rounds for the SKS was optimal.
Also, if you compare it to their AK 30 round mags you will find the thickness of the nylon to be just a little fatter and that the magwell of the AK allows for it whereas the SKS does not.