Magpul started shipping their new Glock PMAG 17 GL9 magazines last week and almost immediately issues started to arise with reliability in certain Glock models. Magpul went right to work ascertaining the issue and set out an explanation/apology and plan to rectify the problem. Good on them. 
OK we screwed up.
After initial release of the Glock PMAG 17 GL9 a few days ago we started seeing random issues of failure to feed with the new magazine in other Glock models, primarily the Glock 19 and 26. Of all the challenges of building a Glock magazine with a single new composite, issues like drop free, impact strength and feed lip retention were foremost on our mind. The failure to feed came as a bit of a surprise to us and we immediately headed out to the range to investigate.
In short order we found the problem. Without getting into technical details, some small, but critical geometry changes did not make it into the initial production molds. We should have caught this but no failures showed up on our factory guns during live fire testing and flaws in our internal processes of checks/balances did not flag the oversight as it should.
So as I said before, we screwed up and here is what we are going to do about it.
Molds are being updated with the correct geometry as we speak and a replacement magazine body with the correct geometry should be available by May 4th, 2015. These will be date coded 5/15 or later and will replace any magazine bodies in service of earlier manufacture. Just use your existing spring, follower, and floor plate with the new body.
-If you purchased your magazines direct from Magpul, Brownells or Midway, you do not need to do anything, replacement magazine bodies for the magazines ordered (1 for 1) will be shipped to you automatically.
-If you purchased your magazines from a gun store, replacement bodies will be sent out to the store in question for you to pick up.
-If neither of the above works for you then Magpul customer service will handle the replacement directly.
In short, we are updating ALL of the affected magazines released as quick as we possibly can.
Richard Fitzpatrick
President/CEO -Magpul Industries Corp
That’s how you take care of customers. Identify a problem, alert the customer, then get out in front of it. Bravo, Magpul. Good show.
AGREED! You screw up. Take ownership. Fix it. Move on.
Well played. As if I needed another reason to keep buying magpul.
That’s the way you handle a snafu: own it, and then fix it.
Kudos to magpul.
I don’t know if it’s really “well played” or anything that deserves a congratulations. I think it’s standard for any reputable company in any industry to replace a defective product. They must or are at risk of class action lawsuits at worst or people abandoning the brand at the least. So to simply replace something defective is standard and should be expected. I haven’t purchased any of these magazines but I think some form of remediation other than replacement should be issued to those who did purchase them. Maybe double their magazine order? That could be done most likely at no net loss to Magpul after accounting for margins. Just think all these early adopters are brand loyalists who have been disappointed and out money and magazines for a month now. If I was Magpul I would go above and beyond standard replacement in a way that did not financially hurt the company. Just my two sense.
Most companies would have you send them back on your dime, tell you that they tested them and couldn’t replicate the problem, then charge you postage to ship them back.
Sig basically just did that with my P220 that has been having failures to feed. 55 bucks round trip and all I got for it was a barrel that was 200 rounds more worn and a piece of paper that said it might be shooter or ammo error. You would think that my willingness to seperate myself from the first pistol I ever bought, which is also my daily carry weapon, would only occur due to a serious problem with said weapon, but Sig doesn’t seem to care.
/rant
It is always nice when a company goes above and beyond to fix a problem, which in this case I am going to have to agree with IZinterrogator. One part was messed up and Magpul is shipping out replacements in every single method that they can come up with to rectify the problem on their own dime. I am sure there are going to be people out there will spare bodies for their magazines now due to how they are handling the situation, which is what they are probably accounting for, and yet the company has deemed the expenditure worthy of their customer’s loyalty.
I guess those affected can commend or at least appreciate such a prompt no BS response admitting fault. I’m not hating on Magpul I love their stuff, I guess I’m relating this to a similar experience I had when my car was being serviced and they totally messed up. So to correct the problem they first made me whole by providing me with a rental vehicle at no cost for 2 days and then also discounted the service since I shouldn’t be paying full price for a problematic experience.
It’s a different example. If they had given you a second set of spare parts for free then it would be the same. The discount they gave you could have been the mark up on the parts they replaced. Basically a zero loss to the company.
You were also one customer.
Giving product away beyond a replacement is a loss on top of the lost production on defective product, wasted shipping and the costs on repairing the defect.
Maybe a one for one trade and not requiring customers to disassemble might be possible but Magpul is doing the right thing as should be expected. Wanting another mag is a bit greedy. Maybe one doesn’t see it if one doesn’t own their own business. Let’s put iot in terms anyone can understand. What you are asking for is akin to breaking your neighbor’s lawnmower and him wanting two to make up for his discomfort.
Your need to be compensated is exactly the problem with America today. Magpul is standing by their product. They are saying we sold you something it didn’t do what we said it would now we will fix it. How does anyone think they should get a bonus because of that. The at is the exact reason lots of companies try to dodge problems. They are afraid they will have to go above and beyond to satisfy the public.
Bravo to sa’s response!
+1
the cost of admission entitles you to the show. if the show is cancelled another show will make it up or a refund issued. You don’t get to join the tour as compensation.
+1
Fewer Americans today own their own businesses or understand a business owner mindset vs. a consumer mindset. That and the ever present societal drumbeat that companies, corporations and businesses make money hand over fist is also an issue.
We also have a society that seems to increasingly accept a “something for nothing” attitude is fine as well as a general disregard for who is really paying the bill and the ramifications involved.
(Not saying this applies to Cor at all. This example could easily be an aberration. Just ranting on the general thought process/phenomena.)
SPOT ON!
Wait, your car broke down? Let me fix that oh and I’m gonna give you a complete new one for free! Said no business owner ever!
Wow, that’s just about the most perfect response they could have sent out. They are no strangers to the industry, I’m sure they know how much a little misstep can affect their business as a whole.
Having said that, the ubiquitous Magpul Glock mag will probably be the gold standard for the next two decades or longer. I wonder how Glock feels about Magpul taking away their OEM business. It’s actually hard to say whether or not they’re taking business from them. They are both priced similarly and offer the same advantages. It’s hard to offer your product as an improvement when glock OEM mags are pretty much perfect.
I’m just glad there’s a 2nd, domestically produced option for Glock mags to help deal with supply during the next inevitable “Great Panic.”
Glock mags were selling out for $50-$100 during the 2013 crisis.
Just had two mags delivered today
They could be worth something more some day 😉
Great call by a great company. USA made and USA owned means a handshake is your bond and your name is everything.
How about you test this a bit more before randomly releasing crap? Where are the new AK mags? Still in testing?
Did you even read the article?
Magpul is a great company, Veteran owned with a shit ton of design, engineering, and operational experience within its ranks and in our opinion the industry standard for weapons accessories. 99.9% of the time their products rock right out of the box. When they fail they own it gracefully and fix the problem right away, which is more than I can say for other companies in this industry.
Magpul. 100% reliable out of the box. Except when it isn’t.
Clever…
There will be an “improved” version in 2 years anyway to make us all feel like the first version we bought were not good enough, like the M4 mag’s that have “improved’ a few times.
Yes, because that’s how innovation works. I guess you’re only using firelances and muskets, because they’ll only come out with some gal-dern “improvement” to suck more money out of you.
No, because that’s how greed works. You use aesthetics and marketing to trick people into buying the latest greatest version that is “superior” to the old one. I use only rocks that I scrape new lines in every few years.
It’s good that you at least have a sense of humor, but seriously greed? Magpul has done right by its customers. They make revisions based on user feedback and continue to improve. If they had the most recent version of the PMAG, dimensions and materials, they would have started with that.
Haven’t you heard? All businesses, companies and corporations are bad and ONLY care about making a buck.
That’s whats taught today and is constantly repeated in the media.
We should be happy with GRAY. Ever notice the primary color scheme in Soviet construction? Yeah, that’s a bit of hyperbole but how prevalent capitalism is now seen as bad is no joke.
Nice to see them owning this one both quickly and completely. Maybe they are trying to make up for the way they handled the MBUS Pro…
My main question, are they going to start selling them in different colors? If so, I would buy a few brown ones to keep on my kit and further reduce the amount of black stuff that gets attached; provided they function the same or better than OEM mags.
I have always been a big fan of MagPul, very few companies would have handled a situation similar to this the way they have. As for ‘greed’ they are a company operating in a ‘free market’. They need to make money in order to keep making products; I do not really see a problem in marketing improved versions of a legacy product. I guess you could want them to just keep selling the exact same thing when they know they could do it better from innovation and feedback.
They keep making good stuff andd it keeps getting better. They are not affraid to fix a mistake. Ill keep buying from these greedy ba*tards!
Rich is a stand up guy who has always taken care of his customers. I highly doubt anyone has walked away from Magpul’s products thinking they were screwed by a crappy company out for a buck. When the CEO of a multi-million dollar company throws a party at a strip club for everyone and their mother, it has to be a damn good company! This is exactly what I expected from Magpul and that is why no one will ever walk away from Magpul products. I’m not a Magpul fan boy, just a professional user of Magpul tools.
While I didn’t purchased the affected product, I have several Magpul products. I work in law enforcement in Alaska, and reliability speaks to the difference between seeing my family at the end of the day or not. I have very high expectations of the equipment that I purchase for very good reason. That being said, I have seen companies that produce professional grade operational equipment avoid liability, dance around taking responsibility, etc., when there was a problem with their product. I use Magpul rifle magazines for my long guns, and a variety of other products that they produce. To see them take immediate responsibility, notify customers, and rapidly fix the issues speaks volumes to me. Their actions increase my confidence in their brand – not detract from it.