Beta C-Mag
Encyclopedia
Magazine (firearm)
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device within or attached to a repeating firearm. Magazines may be integral to the firearm or removable . The magazine functions by moving the cartridges stored in the magazine into a position where they may be loaded into the chamber by the action...
designed by Jim Sullivan
L. James Sullivan
Leroy James Sullivan is an American firearms inventor. Going by Jim Sullivan, he is noted as the designer of several 'scaled-down' versions of larger firearms. He is largely responsible for the M16, Stoner 63, and Ruger Mini-14 rifles as well as the Ultimax 100 light machine gun and Ruger M77...
and adapted for use in numerous firearms firing the 5.56×45mm NATO, 7.62×51mm NATO
7.62×51mm NATO
The 7.62×51mm NATO is a rifle cartridge developed in the 1950s as a standard for small arms among NATO countries...
, and 9×19mm Parabellum cartridges. C-Mag is short for century magazine, referring to its hundred-round capacity. It has two drum units, each of which hold half of the cartridges inserted into the magazine. The latest version of the magazine is available with a transparent backing to allow the user to see the number of rounds remaining in the magazine. A C-Mag typically weighs about 2.1 kg (4.6 lb) when loaded with 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition.
One such magazine has been designed for the M16
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
, in use by the US Military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
. The NATO Stock Number
NATO Stock Number
A NATO Stock Number, or National Stock Number as it is known in the US, is a 13-digit numeric code, identifying all the 'standardized material items of supply' as they have been recognized by all NATO countries including United States Department of Defense...
for the M16 version is 1005-01-363-6670. The magazine design, including drawings, is covered in detail in .
Design
The C-MAG is a compact twin-drum magazine design that accepts up to 100 rounds of ammunition. It consists of two main components: the twin-drum storage housing, and an interchangeable feed clip assembly. The storage housing is standard and fits any like-caliber weapon. The feed clip assembly serves as an adapter for the specific weapon.Before loading and after firing, the feed clip is filled with spacer rounds that are an integral part of the magazine. The upper half of the top spacer round is tapered to allow the weapon bolt to close after the last round is fired. The length of the string-set depends on the customized feed clip for the individual weapon.
During loading, cartridges are inserted on top of the spacer rounds, through the feed clip and into the drums. The cartridge column splits at the juncture of the feed clip and the housing to distribute the ammunition evenly into the drums in two concentric rows.
During firing, spring-driven rotors advance the cartridges in both drums until they meet at a cam blade that merges the cartridges into a single column that feeds up through the feed clip and into the weapon.
Firearms compatible with C-MAG magazines
9×19mm Parabellum- ColtColt 9mm SMGThe Colt 9mm SMG is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun manufactured by Colt, based on the M16 rifle platform.-Design details:The Colt 9mm SMG is a closed bolt, blowback operated SMG, rather than the conventional direct impingement gas operation of the standard 5.56x45mm M16 type rifle.The overall...
- HK MP5
- UZI
- GlockGlockGlock Ges.m.b.H. is a weapons manufacturer headquartered in Deutsch-Wagram, Austria, named after its founder, Gaston Glock...
5.56×45mm NATO
- Ultimax 100Ultimax 100The Ultimax 100 is a Singaporean 5.56mm light machine gun, developed by the Chartered Industries of Singapore by a team of engineers under the guidance of American firearms designer L. James Sullivan. The gun is extremely accurate due to its low recoil.Work on a new light support weapon for the...
- M16M16 rifleThe M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
- M4M4 carbineThe M4 carbine is a family of firearms tracing its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16, all based on the original AR-15 designed by Eugene Stoner and made by ArmaLite. It is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle, with 80% parts commonality.It is a gas-operated,...
- AR15
- SG 556
- M249/SAW
- HK416
- FN SCARFN SCARThe Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle, or SCAR, is a modular rifle made by FN Herstal for the United States Special Operations Command to satisfy the requirements of the SCAR competition. This family of rifles consist of two main types...
- SA80SA80The SA80 is a British family of 5.56mm small arms. It is a selective fire, gas-operated assault rifle. SA80 prototypes were trialled in 1976 and production was completed in 1994....
- FN MINIMIFN MinimiThe Minimi is a Belgian 5.56mm light machine gun developed by Fabrique Nationale in Herstal by Ernest Vervier. First introduced in 1974, it has entered service with the armed forces of over thirty countries...
- HK G36
- HK33 / 53
- HK 93
- MINI 14
- SIG550 / 551 / 552 / 553
- STEYR AUGSteyr AUGThe AUG is an Austrian bullpup 5.56mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1970s by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG . The AUG was adopted by the Austrian Army as the StG 77 in 1977, where it replaced the 7.62mm StG 58 automatic rifle...
7.62×51mm NATO
7.62×51mm NATO
The 7.62×51mm NATO is a rifle cartridge developed in the 1950s as a standard for small arms among NATO countries...
- M1AM1A RifleThe M1A is a civilian version of the M14 rifle designed and manufactured by Springfield Armory, Inc. in 1974. The term "M1A" is a proprietary title for Springfield Armory's M14 pattern rifle. Early M1A rifles were built with surplus G.I. parts until Springfield Armory, Inc...
- M14M14 rifleThe M14 rifle, formally the United States Rifle, 7.62 mm, M14, is an American selective fire automatic rifle firing 7.62x51mm NATO ammunition. It was the standard issue U.S. rifle from 1959 to 1970. The M14 was used for U.S...
- HK91
- HK G3
- FN FALFN FALThe Fusil Automatique Léger or FAL is a self-loading, selective fire battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal . During the Cold War it was adopted by many North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, with the notable exception of the United States...
- AR10
Reliability
A test in 2003 by US Army soldiers in Afghanistan found the C-Mag unreliable in simulated combatCombat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
conditions, with frequent failures to feed among the issues. Problems are exacerbated in dusty and sandy environments. The C-Mag also stresses the magazine release, since a fully loaded C-Mag weighs more than three fully loaded 30 round magazines. U.S. Army TACOM has issued a Ground Precautionary message, GPM-02-017, warning about its use in operations. The GPM predates the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Beta C-Mag is not in widespread use by US military forces, and has not been type-classified.
In November 2008 the Army Experimental Task Force (AETF) at Ft. Bliss, TX, evaluated six BETA C-MAG magazines. Four magazines — two with black covers and two with clear covers — were used with M4 carbines in three firing scenarios: controlled pair, controlled burst, and rapid fire. According to the memorandum summarizing the evaluation, the four magazines “performed flawlessly in all three scenarios without jams or stoppages.”
In addition, two magazines with black covers were evaluated with M249 light machine guns in controlled burst and rapid-fire scenarios. These also performed without “issues,” according to the memo, which also notes that soldiers “had only positive comments” about the C-MAG magazines during the After Action Review (AAR).
Tolerances
The interchangeable feed clip (or "tower") on older Beta C-Mag editions have some problems in later AR-type weapons with closer tolerances for the magazine well. The old feed clip which inserts into the rifle's magazine well is encircled by "ribs" molded into the exterior of the upright tower. As a result, the magazine cannot be inserted into the magazine well far enough to fully seat.Civilian ownership
In 1994, the United States Federal Assault Weapons BanFederal assault weapons ban
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons"...
passed, prohibiting manufacture of magazines with capacity of more than 10 rounds for civilian use. Civilian purchase and ownership of previously manufactured magazines was legal, though as a result of a limited supply, the C-Mags became rare and expensive. The ban expired on September 13, 2004, and Beta Company has resumed production of the C-Mag for the civilian market. Some states though, have enacted their own laws against "high capacity" magazines.