Army Still Buying Aluminum M4 Mags…
This week, D&H Industries of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin was awarded a big contract from the Army to supply it with M16 magazines.
The $9,999,990 firm-fixed-price contract came from bids solicited via the Internet with one received. The award, issued Wednesday via the Army Contracting Command located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, has a planned completion date of Aug. 29, 2029.
D&H, a metal stamping and fabrication company with a diverse portfolio in several sectors, dates back to 1937. Before 1997, it was known as LaBelle, and was one of the early magazine producers of M-16 magazines for the US Military and law enforcement agencies.
LaBelles are sought-after by collectors and folks in states with AWBs as, since they were typically made before 1997, are “pre-ban” in most cases
Their current line of mil-spec aluminum magazines, cage-coded Q4TQ4, are laser cut and Teflon coated and are often sold as OEM mags with many standard M4/AR-15 style platforms.
Although the Army is currently moving to field its Next Generation of Squad Weapons in a common new 6.8mm hybrid cartridge to replace the service’s 5.56 NATO small arms in coming years, the new guns will be going to close contact units such as infantry and special ops, leaving the rest of the Joes with legacy hardware. Thus, the M4 series will likely remain in use for generations, and the Soldier hasn’t yet been born that will load the last aluminum-bodied STANAG mag.