Korean company KCI has been producing affordable magazines for seemingly ever. In the last few years, they’ve refined their progress. They’ve gone from a step above ProMag and now have carved out a nice little spot for themselves in the B&T and AR world. KCI has been producing Glock magazines forever, and in my experience, they’ve always been a solid range magazine for the average user. KCI has released the Gen 2 Glock magazines, and I got my hands on half a dozen to see if they are with your hard-earned dinero.
I went with the 33-round extendos. I think I have a good reason for this. Glock magazines are relatively affordable compared to the 50 to 60-dollar magazines sold by everyone else. They tend to get a little pricey when it comes time to purchase extended magazines. Purchasing half a dozen OEM mags at 35 dollars gets pricey quickly. The KCI Gen 3 mags retail for about 18, or nearly half the price of the OEM models.
Beyond price, I don’t see 33-round Glock magazines as serious use magazines. I’m using these in PCCs, not concealed carry firearms. I’m not using PCCs for defensive use. I’m plinking, training on the cheap, and competing at PCC shoots. With that in mind, it’s not life and death, so I’m willing to use non-OEM options.
The KCI Gen 2 Glock Magazines – What’s Inside?
There are several companies making aftermarket Glock mags. We have Amend2, Magpul, ETS, and more. What KCI does differently is copy the Glock design and implement a metal liner in the polymer magazine. They are the only aftermarket company I know of that actually does this. This improves strength rigidity in extreme conditions.
These magazines also clone Glock’s witness hole design. Each projectile from round four onward has an individual hole for you to observe your magazine capacity. KCI even copies the Glock baseplate. The KCI magazines look almost identical to the Glock OEM mags.
They look and feel remarkably similar to the Glock OEM magazines. Is imitation the best form of flattery? Well, if the magazines work, then maybe so. I grabbed an Extar EP9 and CMMG Resolute 9mm and hit the range to see if these magazines were worth the money or if you should stick to Glock OEM magazines.
To The Range
Testing magazines is pretty simple. Load them up and let them go! Seriously, that’s how I started. I loaded the magazines to capacity and let them hit the dirt. Loading them is simple enough. The last two rounds are somewhat stiff, but overall, they load easily enough.
The drop test was done over both soft grass and hard concrete. Over grass, the magazine rarely lost rounds. Over concrete, one or two would pop out of the magazine every time. That’s typical and what we expect from double-stack magazines. The magazines were also undamaged by the fall.
With the magazine loaded, I went to the range and hit the trigger…over and over and over. I shot the guns, I ran reloads, and I did it all over again and again. The magazines themselves fed fine and reliably with no big faults. My range is built on a sandhill, and I let them dirt dive with every reload.
A few reloads in, and the magazines were nice and gritty. I could feel the sand as it met the follower and hear and feel it crunch and grind. Even so, the magazines still fed without a problem. The only problem I ran into was that one of the magazines in the Extar would occasionally fail to lock the bolt open when the last round was fired.
I marked the magazine, but I couldn’t figure out exactly why it occasionally happened and why it only happened in the Extar versus the CMMG Resolute. The magazine did drop free from both guns without an issue. They drop free, loaded, or empty without a problem.
Worth the Cash
Overall, the KCI Gen 2 magazines work quite well. Even after being exposed to the dirty blowback action of the Extar, the sand, and the Monarch steel ammo, they still work. One of the six did have an occasional failure to lock the bolt open, but it is something I’m willing to accept on a limited basis.
As mentioned, I’m not using 33-round Glock magazines for anything besides playing games and training. For that task, these are more than adequate. Would I use them for defensive use? In a pinch, sure, but for defensive use, I’d still prefer the OEM magazines. I can’t shake off the fact that in a few hundred rounds, one magazine failed to lock the bolt open.
That’s a minor problem, but I want zero problems regarding my defensive options. For training and competing, I have lower standards, and the KCI Gen 2 magazines work well for that role. To be completely fair, they work exceptionally well for an 18-dollar 33-round magazine and are a solid option for the end user.
Check them out and give your Glock or PCC an affordable extendo for all those extendo needs.
For more information, please visit KCIUS.com.
