MA: Identifying Pre-Ban Glock Mags

Well first off I was being a smart ass with my comment, of course MA has some of the worst gun laws, sorry I didn't put a smiley face so everyone knew I was joking and second ntomsw you're an idiot so take it easy

Ok kids shows over, back to topic, please...

-Mike
 
Can anyone tell me if these are pre or post ban magazines?

66ec8d9ed08023d9316ce6910869ea6e.jpg


6173c1320753921d18d62de7e530d9b9.jpg
 
Unless your a LEO get rid of the LEO marked one. That's a big no no. The others are debatable. I have some like those. Angled notch. No tapered sides. No ambicuts. I say good to go. Others will disagree and point to the "high caliber" marking. It doesn't hold water. Read through the sticky and you will find one fact that stands out: Glock can not even tell which mags are preban. With the exception of the newer ambicuts which have a rectangular cut on the back down to the metal liner.
It's hard to sum up a 40 page thread in one paragraph.
 
Unless your a LEO get rid of the LEO marked one. That's a big no no. The others are debatable. I have some like those. Angled notch. No tapered sides. No ambicuts. I say good to go. Others will disagree and point to the "high caliber" marking. It doesn't hold water. Read through the sticky and you will find one fact that stands out: Glock can not even tell which mags are preban. With the exception of the newer ambicuts which have a rectangular cut on the back down to the metal liner.
It's hard to sum up a 40 page thread in one paragraph.

I don't possess them yet but I can buy them for $15 each.

I did read through the thread, but I still didn't see a definitive answer.
 
There basically is NO definitive answer on Glock mags . . . other than the ambi cut-outs and those marked "Restricted LE/Mil Only" on them.

^^^This +1

For what it's worth, I have owned a couple of the mags on the left (compared to a new 10rd on right). They're the same as your pic:
View attachment 46707
 
Last edited:
Can anyone tell me if these are pre or post ban magazines?

66ec8d9ed08023d9316ce6910869ea6e.jpg


6173c1320753921d18d62de7e530d9b9.jpg

You're likely going to find two opinions around here:

Pansy pant-shitting hysterics response: They're all post ban.

Reality Response: The one on the right (left on the bottom) is a felony in a tube. The others are OK. Anything LE marked is bad. I wouldn't even own that shit in a free state.

-Mike
 
I have never seen a post ban glock mag with the low caliber designation location and the mystery holes down by the lower witness holes. I don't believe they exist.
 
You're likely going to find two opinions around here:

Pansy pant-shitting hysterics response: They're all post ban.

Reality Response: The one on the right (left on the bottom) is a felony in a tube. The others are OK. Anything LE marked is bad. I wouldn't even own that shit in a free state.

-Mike

(I didn't read all 40+ pages, yet) [thinking]

So are all LE marked mags bad-news...? Even say, 9 rd'rs?
....If it's a hi-cap issue....
Example: 26 or 27
 
(I didn't read all 40+ pages, yet) [thinking]

So are all LE marked mags bad-news...? Even say, 9 rd'rs? ....If it's a hi-cap issue....
Example: Glock 26 or 27

If it holds 10 or less in the caliber used it's not a problem, but I still wouldn't want an LE marked mag, but that's personal preference, not law. There are so many non-crap mags out there there's no reason to use the tainted ones.

-Mike
 
If it holds 10 or less in the caliber used it's not a problem, but I still wouldn't want an LE marked mag, but that's personal preference, not law. There are so many non-crap mags out there there's no reason to use the tainted ones.

-Mike
Gotcha.

"Someone I know" has a few marked mags that were given to them by former LE family members. All 10 or less capacities though.
 
Gotcha.

"Someone I know" has a few marked mags that were given to them by former LE family members. All 10 or less capacities though.

Seems kind of weird that they would be marked, though, since the law only required mags that held over 10 to be marked- my guess is these are mags that were supplied with +2 basepads and then the basepads were removed and replaced with +0 type pads or finger rests. That's the only time I've seen LE marked Glock mags that had low capacity.

-Mike
 
I read somewhere that the caliber marking is located slightly higher on the post ban mags than the later generation prebans (the caliber marking was moved up so there would be space for the "government/law enforcement" text and they kept it up there after removing that text). Anyone else noticed this?
 
I read somewhere that the caliber marking is located slightly higher on the post ban mags than the later generation prebans (the caliber marking was moved up so there would be space for the "government/law enforcement" text and they kept it up there after removing that text). Anyone else noticed this?

There are prebans than have low markings and preban that have higher markings. THe best advice is if it doesnt have the square cutout on the front of the mag and if it doesnt have two mag catch notches then its impossible to prove its post ban.
 
See Post # 332. I thought I posted this scanned page before, maybe not. I know that nothing will ever put this issue to bed, but here's the scan from "The Gun Digest Book of the Glock" by Patrick Sweeney, Copyright 2003 (significant, as this was DURING the Fed hi-cap ban).

In particular read the last column. Matt, the manager of AFS also owns a G21 with high markings and pre-ban hi-cap mags. I spoke with him about it a number of years ago.

View attachment Glock Pre-Ban Mags-Sweeney.pdf
 
So if it has the metal thing in the middle (ambi-mag?) but not bilateral cutouts, so called type 3 or 3rd generation (among other names Ive seen online) are any of those pre-ban?
 
ok. So I guess it's not as confusing as I first thought.
Sounds like it boils down to everything can be presumed to be pre-ban except LE/GOVT marked and the ones with ambi-mag +/- cutout.
Or perhaps the more correct way to say it would be the only ones that can be potentially proven post ban by an AG or a jury of your peers are those ones.
 
In Massachusetts a firearm needs a Ballistician's certificate to prove in Court the item was in fact a firearm. Federal law you only need the frame but in Mass it has to be a working firearm. There have been limited examples of a police officer being able to infer the gun was in fact a gun and the judge left it up to the jury to decide. In these cases there was no ballistician report or the ballistician himself/herself was unable to come to court and testify about the certificate he/she filed about the gun, (ie the drug lab controversy.) Some believe you also need a ballistician certificate for high cap magazines. The State and Boston ballisticans will not certify high cap mags at this time because they can't clearly tell the difference and swear to it in Court. Now I wouldn't want to bet my life, (felony conviction,) on this but as it stands right now there won't be a certificate of scientific proof the mag was high cap and post ban, but a judge may allow an officer to testify to the magazine and leave it up to the jury to decide. If I were charged with such an offense I would bring this fact up to the Judge and jury, "hey the so called experts can't be sure so how am I to tell if this is a preban magazine?"
 
What are the rules for determining if a 9mm 31 round Scherer magazine is pre-ban or not? Do same rules apply as the glock factory mags, i.e. if it has a U-notch it is pre-ban?
 
From what I understand if the mag isn't stamped or have metal in the notches on the side its probably OK but Glock ain't going on the record since they basically told the state of MA to go......well you know! The state has to prove and convince a jury its not a pre ban mag and there does not seem to be any real set evidence to go by in many cases. Also I figure if a cop has you in the position to where he has your firearm and is inspecting it (cause I aint giving permission just to make him happy) looking at the magazine your probably in some hot water to start with and he's just looking to get you at that point. What are they going to do anyway put a guy in jail who has a clean record (you have to be clean to even get a gun in MA) just because the magazine "might" be banned when its not stamped with ANYTHING that tells you one way or the other! How are you suppose to know, even what I said before about the metal notches is up for debate and Glock USA is not at all interested in giving out info that might hurt gun owners and the 2nd Amendment. This whole issue is a difficult one that even the experts don't agree on. Really interested in what people know regarding this issue -
 
Do we have another thread regarding Glock mags that isn't in the MA Law section?

I'll ask my question here anyway.
There are different quality pre-ban mags right? U-notch, FML and partially metal lined? Something like that, right?
I'm asking because I was looking at a G19 that is not going to come with any mags, so I'd obviously need to buy them separately and don't know which type to look at. There are these listed in the classifieds, but i don't know which shape I should be looking for. (quality wise, not legality)
 
Do we have another thread regarding Glock mags that isn't in the MA Law section?
No. If there are others, they probably have been closed.
I'll ask my question here anyway.
There are different quality pre-ban mags right? U-notch, FML and partially metal lined? Something like that, right?
I'm asking because I was looking at a G19 that is not going to come with any mags, so I'd obviously need to buy them separately and don't know which type to look at. There are these listed in the classifieds, but i don't know which shape I should be looking for. (quality wise, not legality)

Try to find FML/DF, square notch mags. Of course these are the rarest of the prebans but they will hold up the best.... With the partially lined U-notch mags being a close second, and the unlined mags being complete trash.

-Mike
 
I also recall hearing that some of the people in power in this state believe that the preban mag had to be in the state before the ban went into effect even if it's not written directly as such in MGL.

But Im not sure if that went anywhere in terms of threats of prosecution, etc?
 
Question for the experts here... as my G-Fu seems to be weak tonight. When did the STOP marking LEO Restricted magazines with 9/13/94 (or whatever date it was)... was it prior to the Mass Ban?
 
I also recall hearing that some of the people in power in this state believe that the preban mag had to be in the state before the ban went into effect even if it's not written directly as such in MGL.

But Im not sure if that went anywhere in terms of threats of prosecution, etc?

True, the Deputy Chief Counsel for EOPS has invented the additional words "in Massachusetts" for the MA AWB and has been pushing for people to be prosecuted based on her invented wording.


Question for the experts here... as my G-Fu seems to be weak tonight. When did the STOP marking LEO Restricted magazines with 9/13/94 (or whatever date it was)... was it prior to the Mass Ban?

Fed Law demanded that mfrs mark their large cap mags during the Fed Ban (9/14/1994 thru 9/13/2004). I know of no mfr that kept any such wording after the Fed Ban sunset.

Ch. 180 of the Acts of 1998 (MA GCA 1998) added a reference to the Fed AWB law, incorporating it by reference into MGL.

When it became obvious that the Fed AWB was about to sunset, MA lifted the Fed AWB wording and incorporated it into MGL (so they would not have to reference old Fed law books for prosecution). This was part of the MA gun law passed in 2004. Said law also changed our LTCs/FIDs from 4 years to 6 years and did some other stuff.
 
Back
Top Bottom