Best way to mark ar platforms and mags

Only use 10 and 20 round mags for Blackout, and I mark them all 'BLK' with a silver sharpie. All others are 5.56.

I use a silver sharpie. It does wear off after a bit.

I painted my 300BLK's the same color as the rifle. I did it in some sort of desert tan.
That's one you definitely don't want to mix up!

Silver sharpie

I use silicon marking bands from Amazon. They're kind of like thick rubber bands and come in many colors. I mark my 5.56 mags with ones that say "5.56 NATO" and have some that say "300 Blackout" on one side and "Supersonic" on the other.

I use different color Testors paint for marking my magazines. I use dots like a domino would have to number them.

For Glocks, CZ’s, Beretta, etc. with mags that really look similar, orange is 9mm, white is .40.



Stay safe.

Here's a few of the ones I have purchased. I also have some for 7.62x39 even though it seems unlikely to mix 'em up due to the curve. But it makes it easy to ID at a glance.

That is an excellent question. Especially in a snatch and grab or emergency. Same receiver, same mag. If numbers , rubber bands , and paint was the answer great. Not solid enough for me. Those ideas are what we all use for identifying our property at a get together. They made the .357 brass longer for more than one reason.
Never crossed my mind. Hope this ends up good reading rather than a spit match.

In a perfect world I’d have all my 556 mags in tan and all my 300BO in black. Same for Glocks, all 9mm in tan or flat dark earth and all 40S&W in black. But it’d mean starting over completely with magazines so it’s not worth going that route for most people.

Could go with a totally different brand of magazine like Lancer translucent for one caliber and magpul for the other.

I just mark "blk" or "300" on them with a silver sharpie or paint marker.

All the .223/5.56 mags are marked with a mag number.

I just write on them with a silver sharpie. If done on the body of the mag it can't be seen once in the gun. I even write the load on the mags. For example, I have 147 and 124 gr 9mm loads for my Glock 19. I shoot mostly 62 and 75 gr loads in my AR's

If we are talking 5.56 and 300blk my answer is I only use 300blk specific Lancer mags in my 300 blk. My 5.56 gets Pmags and metal bodied mags. With silver sharpie markings for magazine numbering.

Phaedrus/69 said:

I use silicon marking bands from Amazon. They're kind of like thick rubber bands and come in many colors. I mark my 5.56 mags with ones that say "5.56 NATO" and have some that say "300 Blackout" on one side and "Supersonic" on the other.

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+1

I also use bands that you can buy on Amazon. That way I can also "feel" that their different in low light.

Colored electrical tape

Another silver Sharpie user here. It does eventually were off.

Paint pen, oil based.
To identify ownership, identify individual mag, and identify caliber

Well, when they were nice to us, Magpul used to sell "sand" magazine bases for AR10 and AR15 mags. You could die them to colors with Ritz dye. I bought a package or two and now need more. My 300Blk mags all have yellow bases (yellow for caution). 450 Bush have a blue base. Anything black is standard for caliber. I bought some of the OD green mags for conversion to 9mm uppers. I ran out of the undyed bases before I could branch further.

Since I have both 223 and 300BLK, that's the danger point for me so I've added layers. Besides the yellow 300BLK mag bases, I have the marking bands from Amazon on the 300BLK mags. I've got dust covers engraved with caliber for every upper but the 22LR's. My 223's all have "223" written in white enamel paint on the charging handle. Two of the 223's, the ones I might pick up in a hurry, have red charging handles.

Hartkopf said:

Could go with a totally different brand of magazine like Lancer translucent for one caliber and magpul for the other.

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This is exactly what I did. All of them feel different.
Magpul for everything .223, metal ASC magazines with a neat waffle pattern for the Valk, and bright red see through Lancer mags for .300BLK that are labeled, “for 300BLK only. These mags match all the red accessories and “emergency use only” warning stickers on it, as well as feeling different than the Magpul magazines in the dark, not that they would be stored together anyway…

All my .300bo mags are painted/tagged ".300bo" and all my 5.56 mags are translucent Lancers so I can quickly glance and verify there's no .300bo hiding in there.
And my furniture on my .300bo is tan so all my .300bo mags have some tan spray paint.
I just recently got the rubber bands, they work fine too.
Paint pens are also an easy way to tag mags.
I also keep mags in separate fat fifty ammo cans tagged with caliber.

I go far out of my way to mark magazines if I think there may be some confusion. For AR mags, that means different colored base plates. For that full "pay attention dummy" effect.

I use a paint pen. Works for me.

First, paint pent not sharpie etc.

Second, the rubber bands aren't bad but they do not make in all colors.

But I follow up for serious consequences (e.g. 300!) with tactile differences. I use:
• Aluminum for 5.56, all with old-school magpul rubber bottom loop things
• PMAG for 9 mm (with Endo innards), plain
• Lancer 20s for .300 BLK, with .300 bands off Amazon (forget who made them)

The Lancers feel TOTALLY different so reduces my chances of a mishap, and yes I shoot in the dark a lot.

Yes, I'd likely have upgraded to PMAGs for 5.56 but I am old so had dozens of aluminum by the time the PMAG was the clear answer, and see the topic here. Do not want to shoot lots of different mags when there's a risk of cross-pollinating. So I do not.