About twenty or so years ago, the quality of aftermarket magazines could be ranked on a scale from horrible to barely passable. Aftermarket magazines were the extras you kept in your range bag, suitable for saving some time on the range but not for actual use as backup reloads. The actual backup magazines you carried were factory magazines. Factory magazines were and are usually more expensive than aftermarket magazines, and rightly so. Today, however, aftermarket magazine quality has improved significantly. You can get excellent, full-featured and quite inexpensive aftermarket magazines. So you can say “yes” to aftermarket magazines for both range and duty.
Jagemann Sporting Group manufactures magazines for .22 1911s as well as a host of Glocks. My Jagemann magazines are meant for Glock 17s and 19s, and I use both to back up my Glock 19. A typical setup for me involves a factory magazine in my Glock 19 and a Jagemann Glock 17 magazine in a magazine holster carried weak-side. The Jagemann Glock 17 magazine holds 18 rounds of 9mm, and the Glock 19 factory magazine holds 15 rounds. If I go plus one in the chamber, that’s 34 rounds.
Some Jagemann magazine base plates are ⅝ of an inch tall, which is significant. On a Glock 19, it provides a little extra real estate for a pinky finger. Of course, if you’re using a Glock 17 magazine in a Glock 19, the magazine will extend quite a bit past the pistol stocks. But if you’ve had to reload in a critical situation, I think you’ll appreciate the extra ammo instead of being concerned about how far the base of the magazine hangs below the stocks. According to Jagemann, the baseplates serve a purpose: They allow for quicker and more responsive loading.
Jagemann magazines are made from reinforced automotive-grade engineered resin, resulting in increased strength and stability. This is an exceptionally strong magazine. Fully loaded, there’s no side swelling. You’d swear it was metal-lined if you didn’t know better. There are other technical specifications worth noting, but let me jump ahead to the most important part: reliability.
At a local range, I took the Jagemann magazines out of their packaging, loaded them up with every kind of cartridge I could find (in the right caliber, of course), inserted one into my Glock 19, and fired away. I did it again and again. Every round fed, seated, fired and ejected from every Jagemann magazine. They work perfectly, as good as the factory magazines from Glock.
One more point worth noting: Jagemann magazines are available in black, green and brown and retail for $13.49 at Natchezss.com. You could get two for less than the price of one Glock factory magazine — just another reason to say “yes” to these aftermarket magazines.
