I recently purchased an ancient Cobray M11/9 for a killer deal for an upcoming Retro Wave 3 gun match here in Florida. It came with one, old school Zytel plastic magazine. Lord knows how old it is. I knew for the match I’d need a few spares and I didn’t want Zytel, so imagine how happy I was when I stumbled across Shockwave’s ZMAGs for the M11/9 pistols. These are metal magazines designed from the ground up to function reliably and for a very long time.
What Sets the ZMAGs Apart?
Besides being metal and new production, quite a bit. These magazines are made to last, and their heavy metal construction is a testament to that. The ZMAGs feature a nifty mag stop feature that will prevent you for over inserting your magazines and breaking your ejector rod. The MAC style design is, uhm, interesting and the way they were produced is all over the place in terms of specs. The magazine may fit inside the gun, but it might fit in a little too deep and bend that ejector rod.
Shockwave’s design allows you to ensure the magazine is compatible and safe to use. The magazines also have a black cerakote finish to ensure they will last and last and last. The feed lips are very robust and that’s a sticking issue on all the old Zytel magazines still out there. The feed lips tend to crack and separate pretty badly.
The magazines are notched every ten rounds with a witness hole to view your remaining rounds as well. Speaking of capacity these magazines come in not only 30 rounds, but massive 50 round sticks. These are an absolute blast.
How Do They Work?
Like a freakin dream. With the old Zytel magazine, I’d have at least two failures to feed per magazine. With these new ZMAGs the guns blow through round after round without any hesitation. They fit slightly tighter, but that’s to be expected. They don’t fit so tight they are difficult to remove, just tight enough not to drop free. This fitment is bound to be different between guns. Cobray was pumping out tons of these and they aren’t always in spec. I just built an 80 Percent Glock and I know it will function with every Glock mag I have. You don’t get that kind of compatibility with the Cobrays, or MAC style pistols in general.
Loading my three 30 round magazines is easy to do. However, that’s big 50 round stick is a beast to load. Holy crap is it hard to load these beasts past 40 rounds. Prepare for your thumbs to hate you, but you can’t help but love the ridiculousness of it. These 50 rounders make more sense for full auto MACs, but this is America and if you make a 50 rounder I’m gonna buy a 50 rounder.
They’ve been completely reliable over my ‘training’ for the upcoming 3 Gun match. To be honest, these guns are not exactly accurate, ergonomics, or easy to use, but at least with the ZMAGs it can run reliably. The ZMAGs are designed to last and they run so smoothly.
Smooth Criminals
I do suggest getting a mag loader, of which these are compatible. If you are a 1980’s aficionado and have a MAC style pistol I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest the Shockwave ZMAGs. Also as a head’s up Invasion USA is currently on Prime full of dual wielding machine pistols and Chuck Norris.
The Shockwave ZMAGs are the perfect upgrade to your MAC pistols. Check ’em out here.
