It is safe to say that those of you reading this review are looking at ETS mags. Some of you may be here because you own a Scorpion and are looking for another option to feed the beast. Or maybe you are thinking about a Scorpion and want to know what’s available for increased capacity mags.
At the risk of this being a short review, I’ll answer each in turn. I’ve run ETS mags in a variety of platforms for almost a decade now, and they work incredibly well. I recommend you pick some up with no hesitation and without any of the preconceived notions that they’re only range toys.
If you already have a Scorpion, these ETS 40-round mags offer both visibility and increased capacity. Yes, they’re made of plastic, but so are the standard mags.
If you haven’t pulled the trigger, so to speak, on a Scorpion, what are you waiting for? If I were in the process of building out an SBR right now, and looking for one in 9mm, this would be my choice. The compact design still allows for a ton of ergonomic surface area, and they’re insanely fun to run fast.
Advantages of the ETS Builds
Elite Tactical Systems makes solid plastic mags. Anyone who has spent much time on the GunMag Warehouse site knows the candy-colored mags. They are hard to keep in stock.
The translucent colors are fun. Maybe someone actually uses them to color code mags for different platforms, but I doubt it. These colors, though, are part of the reason why some only consider these worthy of range use.
I’ve never had issues with them. I’ve been working with them now for years and have ETS GLOCK mags that have seen regular use and abuse. Clear plastics will often get brittle as they age, especially if they’re exposed to a lot of direct sunlight, but apart from a few scuffs, I’ve never had any structural issues with the plastics.
The translucent design, especially in longer stick mags like these, helps you know where you stand with capacity. These hold 40, which is better than average for a PCC build.
One last element that keeps people like me singing the praises of ETS is the value. GunMag Warehouse is regularly running various ETS mags at deep discounts and they blow through them as fast as I typically empty a 40-round mag.
The Painful Reality of the 40-Round Mag
I sound like I’m schilling for ETS, but I’m not. I’m a convert. Back when I got my first clear plastic mags, I was a huge skeptic. Glock, for example, makes stainless steel-lined nylon magazines. They’re damn-near indestructible. Nylon is so much more forgiving than “polymer” like this, which changes every time you change its color.
I expected these to crack with the impact of recoil, or to develop those hairline fissures that compromise strength. They didn’t. I’ve run them on dirt ranges and dropped them on concrete floors of indoor ranges, and they bounce. I’m not one to baby magazines and I’ve shied away from platforms that have more delicate magazine designs (like the 1911, which doesn’t much like getting stepped on).
But ETS keeps building designs that cost almost as much to run dry as they do to actually buy. I just penned a piece recently on the Blazer 115 grain 9mm, which is selling for around $.26 a pop. That’s a sawbuck per mag, for bulk ammo.
You’ll need some discipline, perhaps. Practice mag changes with down-loaded mags. Put in three, four, or five rounds, engage multiple targets, then when the Scorpion clicks, change them out. It will help build muscle memory without getting ludicrously expensive.
Bring a Spare Thumb
Loading the Scorpion magazines has never been easy. Those first few rounds are cake, but the spring tension starts to stack around 20. I can’t count to 40 anyhow — so when I’m on the range, I simply load the mag until I can’t force another round in and call it good.
Even with the increase in capacity and stout spring tension, these ETS mags are easier to load than the factory 15-round Hellcat mags. Those are beasts.
I’ll end where I began. The Scorpion is damn-near perfect. If we weren’t still enmeshed in the argument about pistol braces, the Scorpion would be that much better. As is, in its naked pistol form, it maybe looses some of its appeal. As an SBR, though, or set up as a carbine, this would be a very dynamic PCC.
And the ETS mags are a great way to build up a supply of mags — no matter what platform you’re running.
The 40-round EVO 3 versions are available in clear and smoke. The clear is a bit more than the smoke. There are other capacities available, too, like the 30-round varieties (and those have the deep-red option, too).
All joking aside — how many do you need? This is up to personal preference. For my go-to rifle platforms (both AR and AK) I typically keep some 20 or more working mags in the rotation. For the handguns I work out regularly, I tend to go a bit overboard. I’d guess I’ve got 30 or more Glock mags.
I’ve had this Scorpion for a while now — almost a year — and I’m still not where I want to be. Ten seems to me to be a solid starting point, for any gun. There’s too much risk in not buying mags. These guns don’t work very well without them.
