The Glock platform is the AR 15 of the handgun world. If you ever wanted to buy a gun just to spend another few hundred bucks customizing Glock is the way to go. Like the AR 15 you are not limited to factory magazines, you have options. Magpul made waves by introducing their 9mm magazines a year or so ago, but they aren’t the only quality aftermarket magazine manufacturer. Today we are looking some of the most unique and cool Glock magazines on the market. These are made by Elite Tactical Systems, aka ETS. The ETS Glock magazines are quite unique in design and have a number of features I find impressive. You may have seen them on my Vertx Commuter review.
These magazines are the ETS Glock 18 31 round magazines. While they are great in a handgun, I think they’re better in a carbine. With so many Glock compatible carbines out there it’s a shame to just pump 17 rounders through them. 31 round magazines do make a lot more sense in rifles than handguns. So, I’ve had a helluva good time pumping round after round through my Kel-Tec Sub2k gen 2.
Crystal Clear
This isn’t my first experience with ETS magazines. I also reviewed their AR 15 magazines, and I really appreciated the design details ETS used. One thing both the AR 15 and ETS Glock magazines have in common is clarity. Both use translucent polymers that allow you to see exactly how much ammunition you have in each magazine. We can argue back and forth till we are blue in the face if this is an advantage or a disadvantage but what’s clear is they look pretty cool.
Fragile as Glass?
While they’re clear, they don’t seem to be too fragile. In my testing, I was reloading and just letting them hit the ground, over and over. On my range that’s mostly grass and dirt, so I really wanted to see if they could hold up to something a little harsher.
So, I dropped them fully loaded (or close to it) on a cinderblock. I dropped them from the rifle, so with my height it would be a little over 6 feet. I did each mag ten times. Then because I accidentally deleted my videos I had to do it again, 5 times with each magazine. Not a single round was ejected, not a single crack, tear, or break occurred.
I knocked over my camera a few times, but that’s it. The magazines remained undamaged.
The Notable Features of the ETS Glock magazines
Besides the absolute clarity, the ETS magazines pack a few features that bear mentioning. Fit the base plates are a nice touch. They feature a raised section that is raised like shelf. This helps you retrieve the magazines from mag pouches. If you don’t like the base plates then you can swap them, since ETS was wise enough to make their magazines compatible with aftermarket baseplates.
The ETS Glock magazines also feature easily interchangeable followers. ETS makes some high vis followers you can exchange easily. These bright colored followers are also cheap and easy to find. ETS has produced AR 15 followers with tritium inserts for night time use, and hopefully, ETS will make a similar option for their Glock mags.
They, of course, fit in any double stack mag pouch, and they fit in Submachine gun pouches like the Blue Force Gear, the Yeti Wurks Sherpa and 5.11 mag pouches. You see me here wearing and rocking the Wilder Tactical pistol mag pouch.
Reliability
These magazines had zero issues feeding any ammo I tossed through them. This includes hollow points, FMJ, brass, steel and even lead-free zinc rounds. They’ve survived drop testing as well as working reliably after being exposed to sand and dirt. They run well, are deceptively lightweight and are well designed. Oh, these 31 rounders also tend to cost a fraction of what the Glock 33 rounders cost too. If you need, or more importantly, want a high cap Glock mag ETS is an outstanding option. Check ’em out here.
Photos by author.
