I’ve been carrying a spare magazine for most of the time that I have been carrying a concealed firearm. The importance of a spare mag on my person was driven home one day when I had a magazine failure on the range. Had this failure occurred with my carry pistol it would have rendered my pistol nearly useless. In the last 6 or 7 years I have experimented with different ways of carrying that spare mag on my person, and I want to introduce you to the Magholder, possibly the best way I have found to carry around a spare magazine.
How you carry your daily gear, including your spare magazine, depends on many factors. Those personal factors include your wardrobe and your lifestyle. The methods that I use to carry my spare magazine may not work for you because of these factors. I’ll lay out my thoughts and why the Magholder works for me.
Table of contents
First Impressions of the Magholder
One thing that irks me is when manufacturers go overboard with their packaging. It’s not like I am buying the product for the fancy box it comes in. I just need something adequate to keep the product safe during transit and storage. I’m happy to say the Magholder had adequate but didn’t have unnecessarily luxurious packaging.
When unboxing the Magholder the first thing I noticed was how light it was when compared to other magazine carriers I’ve tested. In truth, it seemed flimsy. One colleague commented, “It looks cheap”. Looks can be deceiving and I believe that is the case with the Magholder.
The fitment of the magazine within the Magholder was nice and tight. It had more than enough retention for me to be confident that the magazine wouldn’t fall out of my holder. Once, with a different carrier, I did have the magazine fall out. That’s awkward.
Intended Use of the Magholder
The Magholder is designed to allow a person to carry a spare magazine on their person. The mag holder is an open carry holder worn out on the outside of the belt. It can be worn on the left o the right side of the body with bullets up or down.
I say the pouch is open carry, but that isn’t exactly true if one wears their shirts untucked, as I do. But, if you were to tuck in your shirt, the Magholder would be visible to the public. So, if you wear your shirts tucked in and you don’t open carry the Magholder might not be for you.
Tech Specs of the Magholder
The specific product that I tested is the P320-L for my Sig Sauer P320 pistol. Magholder does make its product for all the major firearm manufacturers. My P320-L is the single mag carrier and weighs only 1.1 oz. It is made from a proprietary plastic blend, that is a high-impact nylon. I’m not exactly sure what formula of impact-resistant nylon they are using to produce the product, but the manufacturer says it is similar nylon to a rifle stock.
My P320-L magholder is ” wide, ” high, and ” long (when unloaded). rO magazines would be of a different size or shape. But it is very thin and adds no bulk at all.
The Magholder Warranty
Often I say that a warranty isn’t worth the paper that it is printed upon. In the case of Magholder, there isn’t a traditional warranty document that you’d expect to be written by a lawyer. The Magholder has a lifetime warranty. This is printed on their product pages, blog posts, and FAQ. However, their website doesn’t go into much detail regarding what is or isn’t covered.
What I Learned While Testing the Magholder
I’ve now worn the Magholder for a few months and have now had the chance to test it in more than one of our Defensive Pistol training classes. As with anything, the more you use something, the more you figure out how to use it. This is true with the Magholder too.
When drawing the magazine from the Magholder, it mostly stays where you want it. I found a thicker belt increases both the retention of the magazine as well as the placement on the belt. Meaning with a thicker belt one must be more forceful in their draw of the magazine, also, if you find the Magholder moving locations on your belt line then a thicker belt will solve that.
I also found that with a thinner belt, my Nexbelt for example, I had to be deliberate on the angle of my draw or I could yank the whole clip off with the magazine. What I mean is if I pull the magazine straight and parallel with my belt line then the magholder works exactly as intended, but if I pull up at a slight angle there is a potential the clip comes completely off the belt. This didn’t happen often, but it did happen with thinner belts.
Also to my pleasant surprise, my M&P 2.0 magazines fit in my P320 Magholder. As said, that was a pleasant surprise because after Magholder sent me this magazine pouch to test, I changed carry pistols. This accidental interchangeability made things simple for me. Having said that, the M&P mags are a slight bit tighter in the Magholder so I’ll probably be picking up another Magholder for those magazines.
Remember when I said it seems light and cheap? It’s not. I spent some time tossing the empty Magholder up in the air in my parking lot and even stepping on it. I admit, I was a little afraid that my 200+ lbs. would crack the thin plastic, but I did not.
Magholder Pros & Cons
The Magholder has excellent retention of the magazine.
The Magholder mostly stays where you want it on the belt.
The Magholder has a double wide clip, which keeps the magazine tight against the body and prevents it from flopping around on the belt like with other similar products. In fact, the double-wide belt clip is the feature that attracted me to the Magholder in the first place.
Very affordable at about half the price of competing products. When I got mine, it was retailing for $25. Full disclosure: I received my Magholder for free, but that does not affect this review.
There are no screws to tighten and no need to worry about locktite or the magazine becoming loose from vibration.
Although the double wide clip keeps the magazine tight to your body, it also does limit where you can place the magazine based on the location of your belt loops. I am just thinking aloud but instead of having a double-wide clip, perhaps two separate clips may be better? (Great minds think alike! Magholder has released a new design feature that includes a split belt clip.)
Pretty vague warranty. I always say if you like warranties, read the warranty. But there isn’t much for one to read.
The bottom lip of the Magholder should be a wee bit larger for better grip on thinner belts, like the Nexbelt.
Final Thoughts on the Magholder
The Magholder is a piece of kit that I don’t mind wearing and sharing. I wear it almost every day and if you are looking for a horizontal magazine pouch, I’d definitely say to check out the Magholder.
Report Card and Final thoughts
For the design, the NeoMag receives 5/5. The design is simple yet effective. It is not overly complicated in any way. Sometimes less is more, and that is certainly the case here.
For the quality of manufacturing the NeoMag receives 5/5. The metals are sturdy, there were no burs or sharp edges. The screws are firmly attached and magnets are also strongly and firmly placed.
For packaging, the NeoMag receives 5/5. The packaging was a no-frills clam-shell style package. It was no harder nor easier to open than any other clam-shell type package and didn’t contain any unnecessary fluff. Again, sometimes less is more and when it comes to packaging I prefer simplistic packaging with no unnecessary accessories. Unnecessary fluff usually only serves to drive up the cost, so I appreciate the lack of fluff.
Works as intended? Yes, it does, therefore the NeoMag receives 5/5. However, I wish to remind you that the NeoMag may be visible in certain pant pockets. If total concealability is important to you, as it is to me, you may opt for the deeper pocket clip or thoroughly test each pair of pants before going into the public view.
Ease of Use, Comfort, and Ergonomics. In this category, the Neomag will receive 4/5. This is because, for me, I found it to sometimes be uncomfortable. However, the NeoMag is very easy to use and the design makes it simple to access and perform reloads. I’ll also note that my reloads were a slight bit slower from the pocket than from my belt. However, I also have many more repetitions reloading from my belt. With more practice, I likely could have shaved some time off the pocket reload.
Pricing is subjective to each person, however, when compared to similar products available on the market, the NeoMag receives 3/5 stars. The NeoMag was at the high end of the price range when compared to competitor products.
Why not just drop a magazine into your pocket? I would not recommend carrying a spare magazine in your pocket without some kind of clip or other means of keeping the magazine in place. This is because in a high-stress situation, you need muscle memory and you need consistency to operate efficiently. This is simply due to human physiology. If you dump the magazine in your pocket, it will sit differently in each pant, and may get turned around, so the bullet tips may face different directions. In addition, 15 rounds of 9mm bouncing against your leg every step you take will get annoying quickly.
I always want to end my reviews by answering the internal question, “Would I recommend this product to my students?” For the NeoMag, the answer is yes. While I reverted to my horizontal magazine holder which affixes to my belt, I do always acknowledge that there is no one size fits all solutions when it comes to firearm training and gear. If someone often tucks in their shirt, which I seldom do, my method of carrying a spare magazine won’t work for them. Also, of all the people who have carried the NeoMag that I spoke with about the bouncing against my leg, nobody else seemed to experience or notice this phenomenon. Therefore, yes, I would recommend that anyone looking to carry a spare metal magazine in their pocket, check out the NeoMag.