Daniel Defense Magazine Torture Test

Daniel Defense made its rifles famous partly on the back of Larry Vickers’ torture test of the DDM4 V1, the one where the rifle gets buried, dragged, and generally treated like it owes somebody money. So when DD released its own 32-round magazine, we figured it deserved the same treatment. I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and this is what happened when we tried to kill a twenty-dollar magazine.

What you’re looking at

The DD magazine holds 32 rounds of 5.56 or 300 Blackout, two more than standard, in a body barely bigger than a typical PMAG. The carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer is light but stiff, and the surface texture gives you real grip even with sweaty hands. DD improved the feed lip design and added an anti-tilt follower, and the whole thing breaks down for cleaning without tools. Good specs. But specs are what the brochure says. We wanted to know what the magazine does.

Test 1: capacity check

First question: how hard is it to actually load 32? Not hard at all. We loaded 30, 31, 32, and then a surprise 33rd round went in. Number 34 refused. Loaded past its advertised capacity, we ran it through our MK18 SBR upper and it fed like nothing was unusual.

Test 2: percussion practice

We beat the loaded magazine on a hardwood table, then on a steel target, and only knocked a few rounds loose. Then we threw it at the steel target hard enough to gouge the body. Back in the MK18, it ran flawlessly.

Test 3: run it over

Muscle wasn’t getting it done, so we brought out the three-ton Suburban. Ran the magazine over, reversed, ran it over again. It went back in the rifle and went bang every time.

Test 4: shoot it with a Glock 17

This is where it got interesting. We set the mag on a target and put a 9mm round through it. Walking up, we saw a wire from the internals sticking out of the body and figured the test was over.

It wasn’t. We inserted the mag, wire and all, and it fed and ran completely normally. Watching a magazine cycle with hardware poking out of it was one of the stranger sights I’ve had on a range.

Test 5: shoot it with 5.56

Next we shot it with a 5.56 round from the MK18 itself. The bullet passed clean through the magazine body. Reinserted it. Ran flawlessly. Again.

Test 6: 00 buck from a Mossberg 930

The shotgun finally drew real blood. A load of 00 buck blew a dime-sized hole in the magazine and took off part of the lower half of the base.

And it still fed normally until it ran empty. The only casualty was the bolt not locking back after the last round. That’s the closest we came to breaking it.

The verdict

Daniel Defense built a magazine that shrugs off abuse far past anything it was designed for. The extra capacity is a nice bonus at the range or in competition, but the durability is the story. It matched what I see from the brand on my bench every week. If you want the same quality in a complete gun, my MK18 writeup covers the rifle we used for this test, and our full Daniel Defense inventory is in the shop.

Want to watch the mayhem? The full torture test video is on our YouTube channel.