I have heard some bad things about drum magazines that hold a lot of ammo. I know some states have limited round mag requirements saying it will save lives. I am not going to even go there because,… well,… you will see! I ordered it out of curiosity really. I read the instructions over about at least twice just to make sure I did it right and it worked like it is suppose to. Then I load it taking one bullet at a time until I had 43 bullets in it and it would not load any more. It says it is suppose to carry 50 too! I slide it into my gun then manually cycled it. During the process it would double feed several times and jam up. I would clear it and then it happened again. I eventually just removed the magazine and emptied it. So, the hoopla about the mag jamming up is defiantly a real thing. Has anyone experienced the same thing I did or did I mess up somewhere? I personally would not recommend a large drum magazine.
I’ve played with the “snail type” drum mags on several platforms back in the day so my info is about 20 years out of date. The ONLY one I have ever used that worked as designed was an real Tommy Gun magazine from the 40’s that you had to "wind up’. CMMG was the best modern mag I played with but it would jam up if you bounced it off something midway through the mag. All the others were as you described with intermittent FTF, jams and the thing just not working. IMHO if I need that many rounds all at once I’m going belt fed or I’m putting in a call to all my buddies who have guns. I’m willing to bet I can get through three 30 rnd mags faster than you can clear the jams from a 50 rounder.
Cheers,
Craig6
Yes, If you can not get 6 rounds down range in 1.5 seconds then it is pointless!
SIX rounds in 1.5?!?!?! That would be impressive to say the least. I know I can get THREE on target from the holster in that time but SIX I would have to be out and on target and then I could probably squeeze in an extra 1 or 3.
Given we are talking about a “pistol” 
Cheers,
Craig6
Sorry, I was Jerry M.ing on the time! lol
Jerry is a funny guy, fast as sh!t no doubt. I watched him “draw handshake” with his right hand and tap the cheek with his left before the poge could even register that his hand had been grabbed. He quit doing that at shows and such because it was screwing up his real draw. His daughter and wife are fair to middling 3 gunners and taught me a few things last I was up there but that has been some years ago.
Cheers,
Craig6
Curious what ammo? Size & weight.
Binary Trigger😉
I see them now and then at 3gun matches, and spoke with a few about them (AR/AK type or PCC type). They need to be clean, and every one of them was using a dry lube (graphite?) to keep them running. I figured in the end I would be better off with a mag change.
230 grain .45
@Todd30,
the drum magazines we tested back in the days in the firearms section were smaller and lighter and we came across these magazines a lot when narcotics team served warrants. They would jam on us also after firing several rounds through it. I’d rather just use the regular magazines the gun came with.
IMO, everyone should have a drum “because reasons”… but they’re kinda limited in their use-case. Fun range toy, for sure. In a situation where you might use a belt-fed (stationary position like a guard/watch or a firearm usable for suppressive fire), but you don’t have a belt-fed they would do. Their downside for normal use is their weight and size make them harder to carry around and you are often better served by just carrying 2 or 3 normal mags. They also normally a long time to load.
I’ve used the Magpul D60 (5.56) and that seems pretty reliable (no failures in my use), but took forever to load. It also has a pretty good rep on the internet, and they have a .308 version too but I haven’t heard much about that. Pistol caliber drums in a handgun don’t make much sense to me, but a drum for a PCC does.
I’ve heard some horror stories about most other brand drum mags though. @Todd30 what brand/model is that drum you have there?
The mag is a PRO MAG,
From what I have read on the internet ProMags (not to be confused with the Magpul Pmags) have a pretty solid reputation of being finicky.