Best AR-15 Magazines: Standard, High-Capacity, 10-Round

Once you have your shiny new AR-15 (or two or three or...), it’s time to take it out and shoot it.  

While your rifle may have come with a magazine or two, you’ll likely want many more so you can load them up at home.

The challenge with going magazine shopping is that there seems to be a hundred different varieties. Unlike handguns, where you pretty much are stuck with what your manufacturer makes...everyone seems to make AR magazines.

It’s the strength and weakness of the AR platform.  

Everyone and their brother seems to make parts and accessories for it, and some of them are even good.  So how can you tell which ones you should buy? Well, we're to help. We're going to walk you through how to choose the right magazine for your platform.

So keep reading!

AR-15 Magazine Comparison Chart

How We Tested the Best AR-15 Magazines

Input for this article came from the editorial and freelance writing team at Pew Pew Tactical. Every magazine on this list has spent hands-on time with someone on our staff, undergoing 500+ rounds of testing.

The models listed below have been evaluated based on their accuracy, features, and value. 

Our team comprises former military and law enforcement, competition shooters, and instructors certified on the AR-15.

What Makes a Magazine “Good?”

Fortunately, for magazines, it’s not terribly difficult to identify a quality magazine. Most modern AR magazines are relatively decent, so long as they can pass a few straightforward tests.

First, does the magazine look like it’s in decent shape?  

This may seem obvious, but a magazine that is dented or cracked is unlikely to work reliably. Make sure you check it all over, too.

You don’t need to take the magazine apart, but look at the feed lips and follower in addition to the body of the magazine itself. They shouldn’t look bent or chipped.

Then fill up the magazine with ammunition and tap the bottom of it sharply. You can slap with your hand or use a padded surface (guess which one hurts less?), just don’t be shy about how hard you hit.  

Either way, you’re looking to see if rounds pop up and out of the magazine from the impact. If they do, your feed lips may be out of spec and may not feed properly as a result.

Next, you’ll want to see if the magazine drops freely from your AR. That means you need to insert it into the gun, hold the gun up, hit the magazine release, and see if the magazine drops from your gun without assistance.  

You should try this with both empty and full magazines, although full magazines should be reserved for the range or when facing a safe direction that can adequately contain a rifle round in case of an oops moment.  

If they don’t fall freely, your magazine is out of spec, and you will be forced to remove it manually, slowing your reload time.

Finally, you need to find out if your AR’s bolt will lock back on the empty magazine. The fun way to do this is to shoot until a magazine is empty.

After the last shot is fired, the bolt should lock to the rear. This enables you to drop the empty magazine, load a fresh one, and start firing again quickly after you drop the bolt. 

If you can't shoot to check your magazines, insert an empty one and pull the charging handle back. The bolt should lock in place to the rear.

If it doesn't, you should discard that magazine. You can use these tests to see if individual magazines you already own are good to go, as well as to see if a new-to-you brand of magazine will work with your AR.

Why Do I Need More Mags?

You always need more magazines for every gun you own. It’s not just because having to stuff mags at the range can be a drag or because of potential shifting political winds.  

They’re also a consumable resource, so they won’t last forever.  You can keep them usable for longer if you follow a few basic guidelines, though.

Remember how I mentioned magazines that look beat up probably won’t work well? The first rule of magazines is--do not beat them up unnecessarily.

If you shoot your AR in matches or classes or practice dynamic shooting, you’re almost certain to drop them a time or four hundred. That’s fine.

What you’re trying to avoid is intentionally stomping on them, drop-kicking them across the range, or dropping them for fun (especially on the feed lips!).  

Do that a few too many times, and you’re certain to start having magazines go out of spec. And don’t forget, you don’t need to immediately throw out magazines that fail the tests above, satisfying as it might be.  

However, you do need to make sure you take them out of the rotation for important uses like matches or home defense.  

For practice or for plinking at the range, an occasional failure won’t be a problem, so you can keep those magazines a little longer.

Best Standard Capacity AR-15 Magazines

1. Magpul PMAG M3 - Editor's Pick

Editor's Pick

Magpul 30 Round PMAG Gen M3

$13

at GunMag Warehouse

Prices accurate at time of writing

$13 at GunMag Warehouse

The MagShack (see price)

Magpul (see price)

Brownells (see price)

Perhaps the most popular AR magazine on the market, with the most name recognition, is the Magpul PMAG.

They’re reasonably priced, easy to find, and generally quite reliable. It’s difficult to go wrong picking up a pack of PMAGs, and that’s assuming you don’t already have a few floating around.

Where you might get confused is that there are a lot of different varieties of PMAGs out there these days. The most common is the standard 30-round magazines, which come in both a Gen M2 and a Gen M3 variety.  

The Gen M3 are the latest and greatest, and there’s no reason to go hunting for the Gen M2; Magpul has only bettered its design over the years.

However, M2 PMAGs are often found for a decent amount cheaper, and there isn't anything wrong with them.

PSA usually has a coupon deal on the M2s making them around $8, along with free shipping on 10+ mags.

The M3 design was made to address some very specific issues that the military had in conjunction with their exact model of AR-15, namely the H&K 416 and derivatives of that platform.

While these design improvements are nice to have for the average user, they are by no means critical or necessary.

For a deep dive into the differences between the Gen 2 and Gen 3 PMAGS, check out Magpul PMAG M2 vs M3 [Does It Even Matter?]!

Magpul also offers 10, 20, and 40-round versions of the PMAG (not to mention a 60-round drum variation). The 10 and 20-rounders are especially useful for shooting from prone or other positions where a longer magazine might get in the way.

Whatever size you get, you will also need to decide whether you want a windowed PMAG. 

Having a window makes it a little easier to tell how many rounds are left in your magazine, although the counts aren’t perfect.  

Magpul Windowed 30 Round PMAG Gen M3 .223/5.56 Magazine

$13

at GunMag Warehouse

Prices accurate at time of writing

$13 at GunMag Warehouse

The MagShack (see price)

OpticsPlanet (see price)

What's your take on Magpul mags? Rate them below.

2. Lancer Systems AWM - Best Translucent Magazine

Best Translucent Magazine

Lancer Systems 30 RD Magazine

$12

at The MagShack

Prices accurate at time of writing

$12 at The MagShack

GunMag Warehouse (see price)

Primary Arms (see price)

Alternatively, you can get a translucent magazine that makes it possible to see all of the rounds that are inside. My pick--Lancer Systems.

They’ll cost you about the same as a PMAG, aren’t hard to find, and are about as boringly reliable as the PMAG.

The AWMs come in 5, 10, 20, and 30-round varieties to match up to most standard uses for AR-type rifles. All of them come in clear or translucent shades so that you can see through almost the entire magazine, no matter what angle you’re looking from.  

It’s a little less finicky than looking through a small window and even allows you to count rounds individually without emptying the magazine.

Lancer also did something else different with the AWM. Instead of the magazine body being completely polymer like the PMAG, the AWM has steel feed lips attached to its polymer body.  

They’re considered more durable and harder to deform than aluminum feed lips, and, of course, it would take quite a bit more effort to chip them.  

Best Higher Capacity Magazines

3. Magpul D-60 Drum - Best High-Capacity Magazine

Best High Capacity Magazine

Magpul PMAG D-60

$97

at Brownells

Prices accurate at time of writing

$97 at Brownells

GunMag Warehouse (see price)

MagShack (see price)

Magpul (see price)

Superb reliability and worth of the Magpul name, this is hands down the best large-capacity AR-15 magazine on the market.

But it's fairly heavy, and loading it takes some time and effort. These are unavoidable, though, so...just gotta embrace it!

The real downside is that there is just no good way to carry a drum magazine on your person.

They're bulky, oddly shaped, and really heavy when fully loaded.

It's great for keeping in your rifle for the first mag, but you might want to switch to standard capacity magazines when it's time to reload from the belt or vest.

Ban State and Lower Capacity Magazines

Depending on the state you live in, you might be limited to only having 10- or 15-rounds in your magazine. Check your state laws to be sure, but either way, we got you covered.

There are two main styles of magazines for banned states.

One uses the body of a 30-round magazine with some kind of limiter or pin to block the magazine to only accept 10 or 15-rounds. There are also dedicated 10- or 15-round magazines where the body of the magazine itself is also designed to only take that many rounds.

The 10/30 and 15/30 magazines are nice because they look and feel right and also give you the option to convert them to full 30-round magazines if your state laws change or you move to a new state.

But the dedicated lower-capacity magazines are also nice because they are shorter - this makes prone or bench shooting easier for most people.

5. 10/30 and 15/30 Hexmag

10/30 Hexmag

$12

at The MagShack

Prices accurate at time of writing

$12 at The MagShack

Gunmag Warehouse (see price)

We've used a lot of Hexmags over the years and have been very impressed with them. While there were negative reports about their Series 1 magazine design, we've only ever seen/used the Series 2 mags, and they are rock solid!

They come in both 10/30 and 15/30 options.

Hexmag 15/30

$9

at GunMag Warehouse

Prices accurate at time of writing

$9 at GunMag Warehouse

Primary Arms (see price)

OpticsPlanet (see price)

6. 10-Round PMAG - Best Low Capacity Magazine

Best Low Capacity Magazine

Magpul 10-Round Magazine

$11

at Brownells

Prices accurate at time of writing

$11 at Brownells

The MagShack (see price)

GunMag Warehouse (see price)

I know you've seen their name a lot, but that's because they really are one of the best options for magazines, period.

Great for shooting prone or from a bench, the 10-Round PMAG M3 is an option that won't let you down!

Accessories for Accessories

With all of those magazines, you might want to set some aside for a particular use. In addition to mags designated for training only, I also have mags that are dedicated to different kinds of ammunition.  

That would be especially important for me if I had a rifle in .300 Blackout, which looks very similar to .223/5.56 but would be very dangerous to shoot out of a .223/5.56 rifle.

If you’ve decided to do that, you’ll need a way to mark them so that you can keep track. An easy, low-cost, and high-visibility way to label your magazines is to wrap a strip of duct tape around the bottom.  

You just need to make sure it’s positioned to not get into the magazine well when it’s loaded into your rifle.  

For PMAG owners, you can also dye lighter-colored mags with RIT fabric dye.  

It takes little effort and just a few minutes, and the results are permanent. Plus, if you pick a bright or unusual color, nobody will mistake your mags for theirs at the range.  

Cosmetics aren’t the only thing you can change about magazines. Another option is to attach two magazines together so that when one goes empty, you can reload with the other one right there.  

While people have done this by taping mags together, you can also buy purpose-made couplers to do the job, like the one Lancer Systems makes for their own magazines.

Lancer Systems AR-15 Magazine Coupler

$25

at OpticsPlanet

Prices accurate at time of writing

$25 at OpticsPlanet

Brownells (see price)

While you’re adding things to your magazines, extra capacity isn’t the only endgame. With modern magazines and ARs, using your mag as a sort of monopod won’t cause malfunctions.  

It’s so common and trouble-free now that you can even update your baseplate to make the magazine a more stable platform to balance on.  

One example is the Magpul Ranger Plate. It not only gives you a more forgiving surface with better angles to support the gun, but it also acts as a pull tab.  

Magpul PMAG Ranger Floor Plate 3 Pack

$15

at Brownells

Prices accurate at time of writing

$15 at Brownells

On gun belts, mag holders usually leave enough of the body of the magazine exposed to grab it and pull it from the holder. On plate carriers or deep-pocket mag holders, the magazine sits deeper, so you may not be able to access the body of the magazine.

This leaves only the floorplate, which can be tough to grab. Magpul's Ranger Floor Plates give you something to grab and tug that magazine free. Incidentally, this accessory traces its roots to the very name of the company and their first product, the magpul.

Polymer vs. Metal Magazines

When talking about polymer and metal, we're mostly focused on the body of the magazine and the feed lips.

But really, it's the feed lips that are the critical part and really define the magazine. An example of a polymer magazine is, of course, the Magpul PMAG.

And for the metal magazine, take a look at Brownell's 20-round mag.

The quick and dirty version of this discussion is that both styles of magazine will, generally, be very reliable, last a long time, and serve you well on the range and in the field. That said, polymer magazines do have one major advantage over their metal counterparts...the feed lips.

When a magazine breaks or becomes unreliable, it is normally because something happened to the feed lips. They are the weakest part of the magazine and the most critical part when it comes to reliably offering a round for the bolt to chamber.

Metal feed lips are fairly hard to deform, but dropping them or hitting them hard enough will do the job.

Their disadvantage lies in the fact that visually telling that a magazine with metal feed lips is deformed can be hard to do. Many times the deformity is minor enough to pass visual inspection but severe enough to cause unreliability.

This almost never happens with polymer feed lips.

The polymer will either return to its former shape or break entirely. Thus, if it looks good - it is good. But if it is broken, the break will be obvious, and you can discard the magazine.

But...polymer mags don't have that classic look and feel to them. And yes, sometimes that does make a difference.

What Is Better For You?

If you're like us, then the answer is simple. Both.

Metal magazines are normally cheaper, which means you can stock them deeper. But polymer has better visual inspection properties.

Metal magazines are very slightly lighter weight (1 ounce per mag normally). Polymer mags can have windows in them, so it's super easy to see how many rounds you have left.

Metal magazines are classics and are the only choice for retro builds. Polymer mags will never rust or dent. Metal magazines are slightly thinner and can fit in a chest rig better sometimes.

So the answer you're looking for is both.

Meet the Experts

Pew Pew Tactical Content Producer Sean Curtis edited and added to the original article. Sean has been shooting since childhood but began to delve into guns more during his law enforcement career. He spent over two decades in law enforcement, where he became a POST-certified handgun instructor and NLEFIA Red Dot Instructor and received CLEFIA Advanced Firearms Instructor Training and AR-15 armorer training. He has since attended a variety of training, including Tactical Performance Center Handgun Mastery & Carbine Mastery, and earned USCCA rifle instructor certification. Aside from training and prior to joining the Pew Pew Tactical team full-time, Sean wrote for several gun publications evaluating and testing guns and gear and has written hundreds of articles.

Editor-in-Chief Jacki Billings runs our experienced team of reviewers. She is a National Rifle Association Basic Pistol Instructor as well as a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, ACES: Society for Editing, and the Professional Outdoor Media Association. Jacki has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and has worked as a media professional for close to 20 years, specializing in gun media for almost 10 years. With 2,000+ articles to her name, she uses her professional journalism and editing experience to set testing protocols and editorial standards for Pew Pew Tactical.

Final Thoughts

Magazines seem like they should be a simple purchase. After all, they don’t need to do anything more than hold ammunition and feed it to the gun.  

It’s a vital function, though, and a bad magazine will make even the best rifle nothing more than an awkward club. Stick with mags like those described above, and you’ll have a much better day at the range.

What are your favorite AR mags? Let us know in the comments below. You know...you need a rifle to go with those mags. Why not check out our recommendations for the Best AR-15s?

Latest Updates

• July 28, 2025: Removed discontinued Surefire 60-Round Magazine, removed Taran Tactical Base Plate.
• July 7, 2024: Removed USGI-Style Mags and Gunskins from recommendations. Added supplemental data and media to each product. Added more data on how we tested each AR-15 magazine.