Magazines are what makes magfed paintball and they can be used as singles or two doubled together. It seems rather few people use doubled mags and I have been wondering why, I went that way almost immediately when couplers came available.
With real steal, the weight of double magazines starts to be a factor, but with paintballs, the extra weight is neglible, so I can’t see any big downsides. Biggest advantage is that half the time changing magazines is way faster that makes playing easier.
Even if you can’t be bothered to change your gear to carry all magazinesd doubled, using just one doubled magazine to start games with would be an advantage.
Things to consider:
If you are now playing magfed with normal single magazines and consider moving to doubled magazines, a con might be that you might need to get new mag pouches or totally new vest/belt etc. (Well some of us don’t think getting new gear is a con :))
Depending on the manufacturers, mag couplers take some extra space. Some more, some less, so testing is your friend before using money. Ask your teammates what they are using and try things out before buying anything. How stiff the doubled mags are to put in the pouches, do they move around, is re-indexing doable during playing etc.
If you are using a dump pouch, also test doubled mags with it too. They take more space than two singles, so getting things in might get harder. If you have a narrow pouch that can take three normal mags side by side, well you can’t fit more than one double magazine in the same space etc.
Personally I have been using doubled mags with single pouches, so the other mag kinda hangs out in the open (pictures below). This works at least with CF20 mags by using just one mag coupler and some rubber padding between mags (check pictures), which leaves the top of the mags open for inserting. I have been using Zentauron laser cut pouches, that are suitably stiff to hold the weight of two mags. Outside magazines will of course get direct hits sometimes, but it is the same as when mags get hit while loaded to marker, for a few years I haven’t had any magazines broken this way.
Coupling CF20 magazines
With EMF100 CF20 magazines, they can be coupled in two main ways with the factory made couplers (and probably even more if you use tape in imaginative ways). Couplers leave enough room between the magazines for them to be inserted to the marker.
I have been using them with the doors in opposite (”outside”) sides (picture above, left side magazines). Pros are that you can use the magazines like they were singles, loading can be done normally by using the ratched without restrictions and opening the door works normally. During play you can also check the remaining amount of paintballs normally thru the transparent door for both magazines. This is a major plus for me, doing the mag check constantly during play has become automatic and very useful thing for me.
With this style double magazine inserted, the ”extra” magazine is always in the right side of the marker (viewed from back, picture below). You can see if it still sealed (full) or if the feed door is open with paintball showing (partly used) or if the follower is peeking out (mag is empty). In tight situations everything you don’t need to remember is a bonus :).
A con with this style is that the non-inserted magazine has the activation mechanism towards front (picture below). This will eventually lead you getting hit in there and paint will potentially get inside the magazine. That can usually only fixed with completely opening the mag up for cleaning. Not the most common thing, but a hit will happen eventually.
A con is also that you need to spin the magazine 180 degrees when changing them, but that is neglible disadvantage for me.
You can also connect the magazines so that they are both the same way. Pros are that then you can change them without spinning and the mechanisms are more covered while inserted to marker. But a con for this is that you can’t open the ”right side” magazines door at all. You also need a shortened hex key to wind it’s ratched and then insert the paint via the feed port in the top. Also making a mag check can’t be done to the right side magazine, which is the major reason I personally won’t go this way.
Here was some thoughts about coupled magazines, I hope you found it interesting or learned something. Or have you found out more imaginative ways to use coupled mags?
