The Schmeisser S60 60 Round AR15 Magazine Review

The Schmeisser S60 60 Round AR Magazine.

Yes, 30 rounds is standard capacity. But you have every right to have more than that on tap in a given session. Plenty of magazines exist out there with +30 capacity. Offerings from Magpul, Surefire, the (in)famous Beta magazines, and so on have been common for decades. So, what makes the Schmeisser offering shine, other than being an exotic import? Read on…

Buy ‘em cheap and stack ‘em deep at The Mag Shack

Magazine	Cost	Buy Now
Schmeisser S60	$56.99	Buy Now!

Features

Check that texturing...

Features-wise, the S60 is just a typical AR magazine that happens to hold 60 rounds. The body and followers are made from a glass-reinforced polymer and molded with an aggressive texture for ease of manipulation under stress. A unique dual-follower system accomplishes the “magic” of feeding 60 rounds into your firearm. Unloaded, as weighed with my bargain precision equipment, the magazine is 9.3 ounces. Loaded with 5.56mm 62-grain M855 ammunition, it clocks in at 33.5 ounces, or a little over 2 pounds. I’ll gladly admit the texturing is a nice touch and it does look cool.

The manufacturer does candidly note that the magazine is only designed for 5.56mm and .223 ammo. They don’t recommend 300BLK since, in their words, there’s inconsistences across brands. Points for honesty, guys.

Use cases

OK, as people of the gun, we like to brag that we can change magazines fast and efficiently like it’s going out of style, hence magazine capacity bans are useless window dressing. Military and LE users generally shun magazines over 30 rounds for weight and reliability reasons. So, what the heck can the S60 be used for?

The biggest use cases, in my mind, would be for competition and full-auto use. In competition shooting, every split-second counts, and competitiors using ARs often carry 40-round magazines. If you’re lucky enough to own or have access to full-auto firearms, having more on tap is, let’s be honest, that much more fun. Also I can see in my mind where an S60 would be useful for a mounted firearm, maybe a Negev, which has the uncanny ability to accept both a belt and a standard AR/M16 magazine.

Since I’m not a competitior at this time, and I’m not toting around a Negev, I guess the testing regime will involve a machine gun. The Mag Shack, once again (thanks guys!) happily provided the S60, and, of course, CW Gunwerks came through with some full-auto fun.

Testing

It's big, but not terribly ungainly.

After many, many weeks of real life and even an hurricane threat getting in the way, I finally got around to getting some testing set up with the CW gang. I grabbed some M855, one of my ARs, and the S60, and made the long schlep down to Henry’s in the Redlands, out where the buses don’t run.

Upon arrival, I sought out Carlos from CW (Willie had family commitments), and we proceeded to get down to business. Carlos got his post-sample full-auto AR ready, and I proceeded to load up the first “stick” for the S60.

But, I forgot my MagLula loader. Shit.

No big deal though, generations of shooters before me loaded mags with their bare hands, and I usually eschew a loader when topping off my 30-rounders - didn’t think anything of it.

In not so many words, with the S60, you are going to want some sort of loading aid. To feed all that ammunition, the S60 has a system of two very high-tension springs to keep all those freedom pills flying. The first 20 or so rounds load fine, but the last get progressively tougher to load. Invariably I shredded my finger doing so. But, I managed to load it. I don’t consider it a design flaw since at this point, it’s just plain physics. Maybe that’s why drums have their fans. So yeah, get a magazine loader such as the MagLULA.

Loading into the firearm presented no challenges other than maybe the weight. It’s a big magazine, such is life. Aesthetically it looks a little awkward, and you are, in fact, putting two extra pounds on to your gun, but it doesn’t stand out as much as you’d think, even on an SBR.

Since we’re looking to really stress the magazine here, we went straight for the dump. I took first honors, flipped the switch on Carlos’ post-sample to 3:00, and went for it. 60 rounds downrange in about 5 seconds. No fuss, no muss. Not bad.

Then we had to reload, again. By hand it sucks, but that’s purely my fault.
60 more rounds downrange. No failures.

Let’s do it once more. 60 more rounds. No failures. This dump was with Red Army Standard .223 56-grain ammunition - Russian made and imported by Century Arms. The S60 seems to be OK with decent range ammo, and the cheap stuff. It works.

Decidely unscientific, sure, but in my humble opinion, a full-auto stress test should make evident any issues with a magazine.

Regardless of practicality and ergonomics, the Schmeisser S60 AR magazine works. At the price point of $56.99 from The Mag Shack, it’s something you can’t say no to.

TL:DR

As the kids say, “too long, didn’t read”. Here’s the short version of my thoughts on this magazine.

Pros

60 rounds on tap, especially useful for competition and full-auto fun.
Aggressive texturing makes manipulation a breeze
It looks pretty cool
The intrinsic value of having something that will really piss-off anti-gun people.

Cons

Loading without a loader is difficult. You’ll probably hurt yourself.
It’s an extra 2 pounds on your gun. Which may bother you. Or not.
You aren’t going to tote this around in a magazine holster or carrier.

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