I called a few different NATO numbers a while back and inquired about that document. All the people I talked to told me that it was not just “available” to anyone that simply wanted it. I found that answer odd though considering every other NATO document under the sun, is readily available on the internet.
My question is:
if there is no STANAG 4179, where does a person get the standardized magazine measurements from? The few dozen companies that make magazines can’t have just busted out their calipers and measured an old COLT magazine they had lying around, and called it day.
Or could they have?
The original Magpul P-Mags never fit properly in “some” AR-15 lowers. To me, this means that they didn’t use the standardized model of an AR-15 magazine to create their polymer one.
If anyone has the STANAG 4179 document (if it exists :)) please contact me, I’d love to see it. Otherwise I’d like to see any document that has the AR-15 magazine measurements in it, so please send it over!
Comments
5 responses to “STANAG 4179 – Does it exist?”
Doubt you’ll get any genuine drawings. Only companies with a contract to produce for the govt get the drawings and they are forbidden to share them with anyone. No one at those companies is going to risk losing a contract, or going to jail, to send you a copy. On the mag fit, not all AR Lower mfgs build to the same dimension. I can only assume that they don’t have the govt drawings for the gun (that pesky contract thing) or have chosen to make their mag wells on the tight side. Every spec has a tolerance and if you get a less than minimum mag well and a maximum magazine, you can get an interference fit. Realistically, if you measured a whole bunch of guns and some contract mags, a smart cookie could come awfully darn close.
Thanks for the comment Larry. That’s too bad that the drawings are so closely guarded. You’re right though, measuring a whole bunch of mag wells and magazines would likely do the trick considering it isn’t a very complicated design.
I think the trick would be to measure, with a laser, 100s of mags. This would give us a good estimate of measurements as well as the tollerences that the .gov expects.
Yea that would probably yield a result close to being dead on accurate. It’s too bad the process would be so tedious though.
Reverse engineering always is.