AMBIDEXTROUS MAGAZINE RELEASE Reviews & Ratings

A must have to make a truly ambi AR. Installed on a number of ARs over the years with great results, never a failure to function as intended.

Seems to be a well made product at an attractive price. Easy to install. Haven’t got to shoot with it yet. And it arrived in just a few days.

I've been wanting a good ambidextrous magazine release for a while. I'm glad I tried this one because it hits every point perfectly. The mag catch installs like a mil-spec mag catch and functions just as well as mil-spec using the normal mag release button. The left-side button is what's magical, though. The button is low-profile so you won't accidentally hit it but is easy to push when you want to. The tactility is both satisfying and lighter than most ambi mag releases. Plus, it won't damage your lower's finish (some cam off your lower). A hidden bonus is that magazine insertions are smoother. Unlike with a mil-spec mag catch, the magazine doesn't have to shove the whole assembly to the side while entering the magwell. Only the ambi portion has to move to allow the magazine clearance, so overall there's less drag. This mag catch works with USGI magazines, PMAGs, Lancers, and even ASC Grendel magazines (which don't drop free in the lower, but that's the nature of Grendel magazines and has nothing to do with this mag catch). The only negative is that I don't like the "SI" on the button. I'm not an SI fanboy by any means, but the Strike Industries ambi mag release is good enough to become standard on all of my lowers!

I used this with a Geissele Maritime bolt catch and discovered today that it actually will interfere with the magazine release. The lower footprint of the bolt catch (Look it up) extends far enough down to prevent the ambi release from being able to accept a magazine. Chewed up the exterior of the mag as it forced the magazine catch to dig in since the bolt catch wasn't allowing it to move. You're better off with a troy or similar ambi release where the protrusion isnt so far back to be in-line with the bolt catch.

As others have correctly pointed out, the left side release is "iffy" at best. Worse, the left side rease lever interfears with the MagPul B.A.D. ambi-bolt release lever that I use on all my AR lowers. This goes back into the parts bin...

I have grown to love Strike Industries because they are a rare company doing things differently and innovating. Their quality is getting better over the years they have been in business. With that being said, their products for me have either been a big hit or a big miss. This safety is a miss and I will explain why. The hinge mechanism is not strong enough and the recoil of a .223/5.56 is enough to actuate this magazine release and your magazine falls out all the time. The design is good, but the resistance needs to be much stiffer. Not only will the recoil actuate the magazine release, just smacking the side of the rifle fairly gently will make the magazine fall out. To show that I am not biased or some elitist, SI's strike switch safety is the best safety on the market in my opinion. This is what I mean about either a big hit or a big miss. I am a lefty and Si's safety is better than the big names like Radian. Unfortunately, since this magazine release can literally not even hold the magazine in the gun, it is unusable, that means it is a one star. I will give it a second star b/c the price is good and it is almost there, it just needs to be a lot stiffer. Don't change the design, just make the hinge mechanism A LOT stronger. One more note - yes, I tried many different way to make it work. One being tightening the magazine release into the magazine button as tight as it could go. SI's mag release button does not have a hole in it like mil spec button. I even used SI's ambi half of the mag release combined with a standard mil spec button on the other side and tightened the mag release until the threads of the mag release protruded through the hole in the button on the other side, thus making it as tight as possible. It still did not work. Also tried several different springs. The hinge mechanism is just too weak.

I have Norgons in half my ARs. However, after a job change I'm on a bit of a budget so I bought two of these. One went in a AR-15 and works good. The other went in a DPMS pattern 308 lower. It holds Magpul mags with no problem, but Lancer mags won't lock in. Lancers worked with the stock mag catch, but now they won't. So it looks like this mag catch will get replaced. Overall I would recommend the Norgon over this. My ARs with Norgons have held up for years. This one looks and feels flimsier.

As two reviewers correctly observed above, the spring in the button is way to light...it doesn't return. And, even if it did work properly, it gets hung up on the Maritime Bolt Catch. Waste of $30, because I wanted cheap. I have a Norgon, a Troy and even a cheap Battle Steel Rev2 (Botach, Norgon Knockoff) that all work well. I'm ordering the CMMG (Norgon Knockoff) now for a new build, as it has good reviews and allows me to single source from Brownells.

Doesn't release, doesn't return. The left side button travel isn't long enough to get the mag to release reliably, and the spring isn't strong enough return the button without pushing the new mag in to jostle it into place. Tried it in two different lowers with the same problems.