ARC mags made of unobtainium

[Halfnutz]

Been watching ARC's website for weeks/ months for a chance to order magazines.
No backorder or alert option. Have I missed them or is thier another supply issue? (I mean besides the obvious kung flu, riots, politics issue)
All other distributors I've checked are sold out as well.

 

[RTuba71]

Same here issue here...been doing the same as you and still patiently waiting.

 

[kthomas]

Are ARC mags becoming popular again? Have they made any updates to the original design?

I have a couple of them, don't trust them.

 

[Halfnutz]

Are ARC mags becoming popular again? Have they made any updates to the original design?

I have a couple of them, don't trust them.

I am ordering a Nucleus rifle as soon as I can get mags with it. I thought ARC mags were supposed to be "The Shit".
Now because of your post I'm speculating that maybe there is a correction in the works and that is why.

 

[Stoweit]

LRI makes a follower that makes them reliable. Have two and never had a problem in an Impact action. Had one with stock follower in a Curtis, that combo did not work.

 

[Steel head]

My arc mags work well in my nucleus and savage.

 

[Halfnutz]

LRI makes a follower that makes them reliable. Have two and never had a problem in an Impact action. Had one with stock follower in a Curtis, that combo did not work.

Is this caliber specific? I'll be running 6.5 CM, I thought the 6mm were the temperamental ones.

 

[kthomas]

LRI makes a follower that makes them reliable. Have two and never had a problem in an Impact action. Had one with stock follower in a Curtis, that combo did not work.

I've even seen those not work. My friend was so frustrated on a stage from feeding issues that he drop kicked his out of sight.

 

[kthomas]

I am ordering a Nucleus rifle as soon as I can get mags with it. I thought ARC mags were supposed to be "The Shit".
Now because of your post I'm speculating that maybe there is a correction in the works and that is why.

I'm just a sample size of one. But there were lots of reports from the beginning of feeding issues.

I couldn't get mine to work properly in my Mausingfield. The follower would constantly bind up. I even tried aftermarket followers that were supposed to fix the issue, with no luck.

But maybe I'm one of the few unlucky ones. I've since moved on to AI and MDT mags, with 100% success.

 

[Stoweit]

Maybe that it works better with some actions, than others. Works better than any other mags I have in an Impact, but didn’t work in a Curtis. Mine were both 6.5CM. But I read in another thread that someone was using them with 6mm no problem.

 

[Steel head]

I've even seen those not work. My friend was so frustrated on a stage from feeding issues that he drop kicked his out of sight.

I personally wouldn’t try them on a action that doesn’t have CRF, the early release seems problematic in conventional push feeds.
I got lucky that they work in my savage.

 

[kthomas]

Maybe that it works better with some actions, than others. Works better than any other mags I have in an Impact, but didn’t work in a Curtis. Mine were both 6.5CM. But I read in another thread that someone was using them with 6mm no problem.

I should try them in my wife's LP Fuzion, or in my TacOps. I gave up on them a while ago.

What I remember is that I could start stripping rounds out of the mag, and within a round or two the follower would almost always bind up. Even simply pressing down on follower and releasing would result in the follower binding up.

 

[ForgeValley]

I've cycled probably 6-7k 6.5 through 5 different mags, never had a problem. Jae, xylo, manners and krg

Even using them for my 7 saum now, just had to adjust the feed lips to get enough of the round presented.

 

[kthomas]

I personally wouldn’t try them on a action that doesn’t have CRF, the early release seems problematic in conventional push feeds.
I got lucky that they work in my savage.

They didn't work in my CRF Mausingfield. I may try them again for shits and giggles.

 

[Halfnutz]

A bit of searching and the LRI follower info has further got me to wondering.
Maybe ARC and LRI are working something out? 2 highly regarded Hide supporters taking care of business would be great.
I work in R&D for a different industry, someone puts there all into a design and thinks they have all the bases covered, but in this case everyone wants the ARC mag to work with everything but an ARC Rifle. I suspect that is way outside the original parameters. Now the application needs to fit unknown parameters. Trying to fill those is a big show to fit.
Myself, I want an ARC rifle with an ARC mag (or 3). I get selling the Rifle at the $2499, to fit PRS rules. Having a mag for it would be even better.

 

[Steel head]

They didn't work in my CRF Mausingfield. I may try them again for shits and giggles.

My mags that work fine for me do the follower thing you describe in my buddy’s Remington.
I wonder if it a mag height or geometry sensitivity?

 

[kthomas]

Okay, I pulled out some rifles, and loaded up some ARC mags.

Background:

When I first bought my ARC mags, I had a Mausingfield with 6.5 creedmoor barrel and a .308 TacOps. I couldn't get the magazines to reliably work in either rifle. The followers would get hung up and the rounds would be "nose diving" in the mag.

Because of this thread, I brought out 3 rifles to test my ARC mags out. A 6 BRA Mausingfield, a 6BRA LP Fuzion, and a .308 TacOps.

I tried the 6BRA rifles first. Loaded up the mags with 10 6BRA rounds and ran the mags numerous times through both 6BRA rifles. I have to admit, they worked flawless in this limited test, in both rifles.

Next up was loading the mag up with 10 .308 rounds, and running it through the TacOps. Experiment ended after one mag, as I encountered x3 nose dives in this one mag alone.

It appears that the smaller 6mm BR based cartridges work fine in these mags, but .308 in the exact same mag experienced a high frequency of issues, which is what I also remember from my 6.5 creedmoor + Mausingfield combo.

Hope this clears this up a little. I didnt mean to bash on ARC, they are one of my favorite companies. The mags I have, which are early production, don't seem to do well with .308 based cartridges. But they work great (so far) with my BR based cartridges. I'm happy I did this, as I have two more mags that I can use in my BR rifles.

 

[Steel head]

Okay, I pulled out some rifles, and loaded up some ARC mags.

Background:

When I first bought my ARC mags, I had a Mausingfield with 6.5 creedmoor barrel and a .308 TacOps. I couldn't get the magazines to reliably work in either rifle. The followers would get hung up and the rounds would be "nose diving" in the mag.

Because of this thread, I brought out 3 rifles to test my ARC mags out. A 6 BRA Mausingfield, a 6BRA LP Fuzion, and a .308 TacOps.

I tried the 6BRA rifles first. Loaded up the mags with 10 6BRA rounds and ran the mags numerous times through both 6BRA rifles. I have to admit, they worked flawless in this limited test, in both rifles.

Next up was loading the mag up with 10 .308 rounds, and running it through the TacOps. Experiment ended after one mag, as I encountered x3 nose dives in this one mag alone.

It appears that the smaller 6mm BR based cartridges work fine in these mags, but .308 in the exact same mag experienced a high frequency of issues, which is what I also remember from my 6.5 creedmoor + Mausingfield combo.

Hope this clears this up a little. I didnt mean to bash on ARC, they are one of my favorite companies. The mags I have, which are early production, don't seem to do well with .308 based cartridges. But they work great (so far) with my BR based cartridges. I'm happy I did this, as I have two more mags that I can use in my BR rifles.

I do think the ARC mags certainly aren’t perfect.
Plenty of people have had issues with them.

I have four with one modified to feed short magnum.
I’m also an ARC fanboy

 

[Halfnutz]

Is the presentation from the chassis/action that much different. So difficult with so many chassis/action/caliber options to get a "just right" fit performance. If ARC is addressing this, then kudos and good luck!

 

[Halfnutz]

So if I can't get $70 ARC mags, and want to run Nucleus/Xylo chassis what are my mag options? AICS, MDT, and AICS pmag?

 

[Steel head]

Magpul rubs and kinda sucks in my nucleus but feeds great in my savage
AI mags are awesome but I prefer more OAL capabilities
I’d certainly look in accurate and MDT.

In the bolt action game nothing is guaranteed unless a smith sorts it out for you.

Differences in actions, cartridges, chassis/stocks/bottom metal and magazines can throw a monkey wrench anywhere.

 

[kthomas]

I do think the ARC mags certainly aren’t perfect.
Plenty of people have had issues with them.

I have four with one modified to feed short magnum.
I’m also an ARC fanboy

No mags are.

I'm happy that I discovered they work well with 6BRA in two of my actions.

I find it interesting that they seem to work well with BR based cartridges, but struggle with .308 based cartridges. The opposite problem of most .308 mags.

But since I mostly shoot 6BRA now, this is good news for me.

 

[kthomas]

Magpul rubs and kinda sucks in my nucleus.
AI mags are awesome but I prefer more OAL capabilities
I’d certainly look in accurate and MDT.

I agree with MDT.

I've been using them recently with great success.

 

[357Max]

@kthomas - Got any pictures of your early production mags apart? You kind of peaked my interest here cause I'm trying to finish up a Mausingfield 6GT build today & ARC mags was what I intend to use.
Down the rabbit hole I go.

The mag pictured below is a late production ARC. As of yesterday I'm @ 160 flawless feeds through a 6.5 C ARC Nuke Xylo.

One oddity I see is that the spring bottom on the ARC mag (per ARC assembly) seams like it would bias follower to nose down.

MDT is the opposite, follower nose biased up via spring orientation.

I switched my spring around in the ARC & tried it. Still no issues. Does it make a difference? Hell if I know YMMV.
I do plan on picking up a few LRI followers to try with the reversed spring.

This is with mag spring reversed. You'll see at about round 5 I get a snug bolt close. Head space is really tight on this 4th of July ARC rifle. about 1 in 20 is snug close.


Little sidetrack:
I Love this rifle. It's a No Brainier for anyone thinking of getting into something comp oriented @ under $2500.
With a Hellfire it didn't care for the factory Berger 140 LRH target, but loved Hornady 147 & 140 ELDM. Switched Brakes to a Precision armament & it now loves Berger 140 & 130 LRH.

Yesterday 500 yard
Like to give myself a little challenge. I have no Chrono on the Berger 130 yet. My best guess at 2830 & guess at wind 10 mph from 4 oclock.
Free Hornady 4dof app. 2.6 mil up & .6 mil right
Cold bore + 4 with Berger factory 130 LRH. Then shot a few craft targets.

 

[kthomas]

@kthomas - Got any pictures of your early production mags apart? You kind of peaked my interest here cause I'm trying to finish up a Mausingfield 6GT build today & ARC mags was what I intend to use.
Down the rabbit hole I go.

The mag pictured below is a late production ARC. As of yesterday I'm @ 160 flawless feeds through a 6.5 C ARC Nuke Xylo.

One oddity I see is that the spring bottom on the ARC mag (per ARC assembly) seams like it would bias follower to nose down.
View attachment 7536542

MDT is the opposite, follower nose biased up via spring orientation.
View attachment 7536550

I switched my spring around in the ARC & tried it. Still no issues. Does it make a difference? Hell if I know YMMV.
I do plan on picking up a few LRI followers to try with the reversed spring.
View attachment 7536559

This is with mag spring reversed. You'll see at about round 5 I get a snug bolt close. Head space is really tight on this 4th of July ARC rifle. about 1 in 20 is snug close.


Little sidetrack:
I Love this rifle. It's a No Brainier for anyone thinking of getting into something comp oriented @ under $2500.
With a Hellfire it didn't care for the factory Berger 140 LRH target, but loved Hornady 147 & 140 ELDM. Switched Brakes to a Precision armament & it now loves Berger 140 & 130 LRH.

Yesterday 500 yard
Like to give myself a little challenge. I have no Chrono on the Berger 130 yet. My best guess at 2830 & guess at wind 10 mph from 4 oclock.
Free Hornady 4dof app. 2.6 mil up & .6 mil right
Cold bore + 4 with Berger factory 130 LRH. Then shot a few craft targets.
View attachment 7536579

I'll have to take it apart to confirm, but from memory mine looks very similar to yours. Same follower. I'm not sure if ARC has done any production updates on the mag? I know at some point there was talk of it.

I won't be able to take it apart today, but if I remember tomorrow, I'll take it apart and post some pictures.

Sounds like yours is working at least. When I used mine with 6.5 Creedmoor, I couldn't get through one mag without at least one instance of a round nose diving. And my experience today with .308 reaffirms what I remember with my 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[Halfnutz]

The nose down seems to make at least a little sense with CRF as long as the long as tip has room to is presented to the chamber in alignment.

 

[Halfnutz]

I was tempted not to post this at all as I thought it was not an issue, I guess maybe I was wrong and opened a can of worms in a sense.

 

[rydah]

I don’t have any issues with mine and prefer them over the alternatives because of the compact size, so I show them a lot of love and tweak them to make sure they work.

I do have the feed lips polished and adjusted, slightly open more at the front and don’t have issues with round nose diving because they present tilted upwards slightly. I take them apart and clean them every 300-500 rounds and then spray them with one shot dry lube. The day I can’t get them to work in a rifle though, I’ll get some lri followers.

Last time I spoke with them about it they said the design will be updated at some point.

 

[chadrp]

If you are having follower issues do this and I havent had issues with the follower sticking since.

 

[Chesapeake]

I’ve put about 600 rds through my Archimedes with 1 arc mag in an mpa chassis with 6 Dasher. I also use MDT br mags. The arc mags allow the Archimedes to engage the CRF function way better than the mdt. I’ve probably used the arc mag on 10 or more match stages and never had any issues. The only reason I didn’t use it before that match was because of the terrible reports I read on here. It never gave me a hitch in practice so I gave it a go. I would buy more but nobody has them in stock. Really looking forward to hearing about any updates coming from @karagias

 

[chadrp]

The other issue of nose diving is often due to the longer internal length of arc mags with actions that don't have a long enough mag well or dont have a feed ramp notch for the bullet nose to clear.

 

[MakeSawdust]

I have run both 243 Ackley and 6 Dasher in an ARC mag with an LRI follower. It feeds the 6 Dasher with no spacer kit and also works better than anything else for a 243 AI. The rib in the magazine is far enough forward to avoid the shoulder and the OAL allowed is great when running DTACs in the longer 243 Ackley case.

 

[Northernjets]

Have any of you guys attempted making an ARC style mag out of a standard AICS by grinding back the lips? My understanding is that the main reason they work better with the CRF on their actions is the lips are shorter so the cartridges pop out sooner than a standard mag.

 

[Juggerxxx]

I have a terminus Zeus in an MPA Matrix and the ARC mags with an LRI follower have worked flawless for 1300 round of 6GT so far and that is with an Area 419 extension. I have been watching and waiting to purchase another ARC mag but no one has had them in stock for months now. Starting to get annoying.

 

[craigos]

lots on GB and on gunboards - i think i score 8 in the last 2 months as new

 

[Kentucreed6]

In my experience the LRI follower makes a huge improvement. Been running them for 3 years with no problem in various actions and calibers

 

[Jimichanga]

I used the run them. They ran great for me on a square range. When I shot a field match with them they puked on the dust and sand in the windy match conditions. I would have to take the mag apart after every stage and wipe it out. The followers hung up on the sides. Retired them. I've watched other people experience the same thing with their ARC mags at field matches.

 

[MakeSawdust]

Have any of you guys attempted making an ARC style mag out of a standard AICS by grinding back the lips? My understanding is that the main reason they work better with the CRF on their actions is the lips are shorter so the cartridges pop out sooner than a standard mag.

Tried it with MDT mags. It works to an extent. I think you have to be pretty mindful of everything that effects feeding, not just the length of the feed lips when you start modifying mags. Sometimes it will take little to no modification and run like a sewing machine. Sometimes you will be pulling your hair out unless you really know what you are doing and have all the necessary tools at your disposal.

 

[Northernjets]

Tried it with MDT mags. It works to an extent. I think you have to be pretty mindful of everything that effects feeding, not just the length of the feed lips when you start modifying mags. Sometimes it will take little to no modification and run like a sewing machine. Sometimes you will be pulling your hair out unless you really know what you are doing and have all the necessary tools at your disposal.

I might have to experiment with one eventually. I get the odd round that refuses to be picked up if I load my 6.5CM Nuke from a closed bolt with my MDT mags. Fairly rare and intermittent issue at best so I haven't bothered troubleshooting.

 

[Kimber.204]

I picked up a couple of used like new ARC mags at the end of summer 2019. They fed 6mm Comp Match great using a JAE-700 chassis and a Bighorn TL3.
Summer 2020 I switched my setup to an ARC Archimedes and a XYLO chassis. Through the course of the season I had several different barrels on the action, .308win, 6mm Comp Match, and 6XC. The ARC mags fed the smoothest (compared to Accurate Mag/AI/Magpul). I didn't need to do any tuning....they just worked every single time.

To be honest, my mags are probably spotless. (due to shooting NRA High Power compared to PRS/NRL type stuff).....When I drop a mag from the gun it falls onto my shooting mat, or maybe rolls over to the grass, but no real dust/dirt to worry about. Just in case, I'll clean them before the 2021 season.

Bottom Line.....They are my favorite mag. When I eventually get another Archimedes (for 220 Thunderbolt) I will likely get a set of these mags to modify.

 

[gigamortis]

For what its worth, my two ARC magazines are the smoothest most reliable magazines so far in my Ruger 6.5CM RPR.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

My ARC mags run great in my John Hancock, so, if any of you have a hankering to “drop kick you ARC mags out of site” feel free to drop kick them into a flat rate box and ship them to me.

 

[kthomas]

My ARC mags run great in my John Hancock, so, if any of you have a hankering to “drop kick you ARC mags out of site” feel free to drop kick them into a flat rate box and ship them to me.

I will say that my recent test with 6BRA has renewed my interest in the ARC mags. I may try the LRI followers, even though they didn't solve my friends problem that felt compelled to drop kick his mag.

For those here that have been using them successfully for a while, how is reliability in dirty/adverse conditions?

 

[MakeSawdust]

I will say that my recent test with 6BRA has renewed my interest in the ARC mags. I may try the LRI followers, even though they didn't solve my friends problem that felt compelled to drop kick his mag.

For those here that have been using them successfully for a while, how is reliability in dirty/adverse conditions?

I don't shoot in western moon dust. The closest I have shot in is a match in MN last year where it rained a and snowed all day and the range and parking lot where covered in sand. By the end of the day I had a wet sand mix in everything. It caused my bolt to get a little gritty in open/close, but no malfunctions. It was so bad that I had to take the barrel off the action and hose everything down to get rid of the sand. It was really bad for about the last 2-3 stages of the match. I was able to keep it tolerably clean until then. At that point it was a damn free for all.

 

[kthomas]

I don't shoot in western moon dust. The closest I have shot in is a match in MN last year where it rained a and snowed all day and the range and parking lot where covered in sand. By the end of the day I had a wet sand mix in everything. It caused my bolt to get a little gritty in open/close, but no malfunctions. It was so bad that I had to take the barrel off the action and hose everything down to get rid of the sand. It was really bad for about the last 2-3 stages of the match. I was able to keep it tolerably clean until then. At that point it was a damn free for all.

I know reliability in adverse conditions was one of the complaints people had of the ARC mags. I was never able to find out myself, as I couldn't get mine to work reliably in my living room, so they never made it to the range.

The comp where my buddy drop kicked his mag saw really adverse conditions - really dusty, with fine Utah dust, and very windy. It was hell for equipment.

I'm curious if this complaints/issues are overstated, or if there is some merit to them. Again, my interest in ARC mags is renewed, so I'm curious for no other reason then for my own sake. I would love to put them to use.

 

[Wulf]

I have a few arc mags I use with my Curtis vector and they feeds flawlessly for me. In a krg bravo and in my manners prs tcs factory followers

 

[Juggerxxx]

Has anyone emailed or reached out to ARC to inquire when they would have more available?

 

[Halfnutz]

Has anyone emailed or reached out to ARC to inquire when they would have more available?

Yes. I got a reply but not an answer.

 

[Halfnutz]

My arc mags work well in my nucleus and savage.

What chassis is your Nucleus in?
ARC reccomended Accurate magazines.
I ordered the complete rifle yesterday and am able to get a magazine with it. They have a small amount held for warranty and such but not for stock sales, which is understandable.

 

[Steel head]

What chassis is your Nucleus in?
ARC reccomended Accurate magazines.
I ordered the complete rifle yesterday and am able to get a magazine with it. They have a small amount held for warranty and such but not for stock sales, which is understandable.

XLR element.