Probably has something to do with their contracts, and the magazines they authorize are the primary source of action problems in M-4 and M-16 rifles. The ones we got in the 1980s would cause jams if you loaded more than 28 rounds and fired more than three round bursts on full auto. Instead of fixing the magazine issues they came out with the M-16A2, which had a burst controller that was even more problematic.

This is one instance where they need to get the contract process out of the way and let private industry fix this issue. The AR is a proven design. There's no reason for all these magazine issues fifty years after its introduction.

I think it is primarily a control and uniformity issue. You might be able to make a case that soldiers will spend additional time trying to recover or maintain possession of their special magazines and change their combat habits and spend more time and situational focus by trying to keep their special magazines than they would with standard magazines. If I were a unit commander I would allow the special magazines. If the soldier has more confidence with them, good.

The bureaucrats will always want control.

My US Army experience with M-16s in the mid-70s left me disliking that design. Regardless of any improvements to that rifle design, whenever somebody shows me their new AR-15, all tricked out even, I just roll my eyes and and tell them they shoulda bought a Ruger Mini-14.

WC

which is why the marines i know, buy their own mags and take them with them when they get deployed.

The accuracy of the Mini-14 was realistically portrayed in the hit show the A-Team.

On top of that the mini-14 and mini-30 have bolt and firing pin problems. The mini-30 is really bad on breaking the FP if you use military grade ammo with a harder primer. You only get about 500 rounds before you have to get a new pin and guess what... no after market pins worth a penny so you have to ship it back to ruger who will reset your gun to stock and keep all your nice after market parts.

grumble grumble grumble!

It does boggle the mind how the military, after all this time, still can't come up with a standard-issue magazine that doesn't have so many problems. I remember the ones I had back in '03-'07 all felt like flimsy sheet metal. But then, we are dealing with the Army here.

Little wonder why the 75th Ranger Regiment and the Marines like the PMAGs so much.

Oh, and you gotta love Army logic like this:



Knowing how soldiers always find ways around regulations, I don't we'll be seeing PMAGs disappearing from the battlefield any time soon.