The magazines come from a company in Taiwan, and Wilson Lee (the owner) can be contacted at wilson22@ms18.hinet.net. The new magazine is a hi capacity replica of a "Thermold" magazine. I know little about the real magazine, other than I gather it should be fairly popular with anyone with a Canadian interest as their military use it ^_^ : "...Thermold magazines were developed by Master Molder in Wilson, South Carolina, and were "pitched" to the US military as a replacement to aluminum "USGI" mags, but the US military was unable to come to an agreement with the owner. Master Molder then licensed the design to the Canadian military, who manufactured a version of the Thermold 30-rounder as the standard-issue magazine for their military. Thermold magazines are made from a dark gray polymer and have anti-tilt followers. They have several reinforcement ribs across the lower half of the mag body..." Troy's mag FAQ Looks: Here's a TM M733 with the Thermold mag compared to the standard metal mag we are used to seeing (and another chance to show off my rather overused hall carpet).
The Thermold mags certainly look very different, and a welcome change from the "norm".
Next up, you need to separate the two halves that make up the internals. First remove the screws and the cir-clip that hold the central wheel on. Make a careful note of the positions of the non return spring and the top spring.
Now I found on mine that the little wheel that ensures one BB at a time get's into the feed hop had come loose, and that the spring that held it in place (doubles as a non-return latch on the main wheel) had come out of place.
In the left hand shot (above) the wheel is loose and sprung against the loading wheel, and in the right hand side it is back in place. I am very sure that this has happened in shipping after it arrived in the UK. The parcel probably received a sharp nock getting moved from van to van. When reassembling, I kept the non return spring in place with the point of a screwdriver to ensure that it stayed put while I assembled the two halves. Reassembly is dead easy really, just be sure to get both the springs back into place, and gently turn the wheel to align the gears when you reattach the two halves of the mechanism together. To ensure that it couldn't happen again, I put a slight bow in the spring to bend it tighter against the gearbox. Sure the item might have been faulty out the box, but it was dead easy to fix.. and sadly was more that likely down to the courier, so don't let the minor niggle put you off. Build quality: The mags have been assembled from an ABS style plastic not dissimilar from that of the stuff used to build the 'Heavy Weight' TM springers. The base is held on by a philips head screw, which is very nice to see.
Hands up everyone that's lost the bottom of their TM hicap at some point? Yeah though so.. the G3 series seem to be particularly bad at this. I've had 2 out of 5 that have needed the good old gaffer-tape solution to keep the bottom on. Suffice to say there's little chance of that with this new mag. If you want to be sooper-dooper safe you could take the screw out and stick it back in with a little lock-tite, but it is in fairly tight to begin with. The lower wheel is easy enough to turn (although it might not be so easy with gloves as it's recessed), and handily has an arrow printed on it to indicate the rotational direction to turn it. Okay.. I knew which way to turn it anyway, but try the same thing on a Saturday morning skirmish "the day after the night before". Yup we've all been there. The good news is that if you have difficulty winding the lower wheel, a complete wind empties the entire mag, so you won't need to wind it in the field (in theory).
There is a mould seam along the side where the two halves have been mounted together. If you are bothered about it, a quick touch with a Dremel sanding/buffing tool will sort that one out for you. Functionality: Weight is 150g (empty), compared to the TM M4 standard mag's 200g (empty) - so it's roughly 25% lighter. Fitment into the M4's mag well is a nice secure fit - there's almost no lateral or horizontal movement. The mag will not fit into a ClassicArmy M15 (the new M4) mag well without adjustment. It seems the CA mag well is slightly shorter (from front to back) by about 0.5mm.
The feed hole at the top of the mag is the usual shape and size, but the latch cover is a nice tight fit. This is due to the presence of a lip at the rear of the sliding cover that ensures the cover stays closed.
You will find that the M4 mag catch drags over the top of the mag and catches slightly on the top seam. It's not so much a mag flaw as just an issue with the mag loading system really. As you can see in the photos of both the TM mag and the Thermold mag, the catch drags seriously on both mags causing a groove to appear on both, so you should find any catching problems will fade away after light usage (these mags shown have seen less than 10 changes). Conclusion Well the new mags will certainly bring a rather unique look to any M4-alike they are fitted to and not only are they cheaper, but they take 350 rounds, 50 rounds more than the TM 300 normal round hi-cap. I suppose the only downside at the moment is that there are no mid-cap or lo-cap versions available, but you never know on that one. The minor niggle with the feed mech is not one that I I would worry about. If you do get one that doesn't work the solution is easy, and my problem was more than likely caused by the courier dropping the parcel. Nice one Wilson! With an expected RRP of much less than the TM equivalent M4 300rnd hi-cap (I won't publish the dealer prices so as not to offend anyone), not only are they cheap, but provide a completely different look and feel to any M4.
External Links: Wilson Lee (the owner/manufacturer) can be contacted at wilson22@ms18.hinet.net. Site links: TBA Comment on this review in the forums Last modified: Friday, May 30, 2003 8:42 PM Copyright 2003 ArniesAirsoft
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