F5 Manufacturing
There are only a handful of reliable drum magazines on the market. Beta has been making its dual drum magazine design for decades but they are large and heavy. 50 round drum magazines seem to be a good balance. However, your options are limited. Rifle caliber drum magazines like the Magpul D60 or the XS Products drums have proven themselves to work well. But what about pistol caliber guns like the MP5, Scorpion or the MPX? Well, step in F5 Manufacturing. They make drum magazines to feed your favorite 9mm bullet hose. Check out this CZ Scorpion drum magazine!
F5 Manufacturing Drum Magazine Development
They started with the MP5 drum magazine, which took a year to develop. Later, they branched out to make the CZ Scorpion drum magazine. F5 Manufacturing makes its drum magazines with 6061 aluminum. They hold 50 rounds of 9mm.
They are coated with Cerakote. The MP5 drum took them a year to develop. This is due to the variances in different roller lock manufacturers.
F5MFG MP5 50 round drum mag has been in development and testing for over a year. We’ve found that mag well dimensions vary from different manufactures just enough to make a precision machined part fit loose in one manufacturer and tight in another (HK for example). Given this scenario, we’ve overcome this obstacle to make for reliable feed/function thru an adjustable shim system.
A tighter fit vs loose (loose being 1/8″ max front to back play) is required for reliable feed.
Insert magazine in mag well and observe fitment, the aluminum shim is malleable and witness marks will be visible (normal). This can be considered part of the wear in/break in procedure. If too tight, the shim can be adjusted by peeling back one of 6 layers that are .003 thick to achieve desired fitment.
So they claim compatibility with the top roller locks on the market.
- Heckler and Koch
- Dakota Tactical
- Zenith / MKE Firearms
- POF
- Omega
CZ Scorpion Drum Magazine
They had an easier time designing the CZ Scorpion drum magazine since the gun is built with more consistency.
In the top photo they announced that they are making a drum for the B&T APC 9. The only gun left on the list of trending 9mm pistol caliber carbines is the Sig MPX. Don’t worry, they are on it.
Manufacturing Drum Magazines
Making drum magazines should not be very difficult. If the drum is reliable it should not be too difficult to redesign the towers to fit different guns. Since the F5MFG drum is metal it is a bit heavy, but their design is compact. In fact, the drum mag height is shorter than a standard 30 round magazine. The MP5 and Scorpion drum mags retail for around $200 so I suspect the APC 9 and MPX drum mags will be similarly priced.
