Thread: floorplate vs detachable magazine

hey everyone what are the pros and cons of both the floorplate style magazine and the detachable magazine as i am trying to weigh up the options

you cant leave a floorplate at home....
you cant have two floor plates with two different loadings...
floorplates can only hold Xamount of rounds....
detachable MIGHT be available in larger capacity...
floorplates dont dig you in the back or stick in hand when carrying
hmmm it seems I like floorplates LOL.

My first rifle was a zastava. Highly under rated and a bit heavy. But then went to tikka. Much nicer but i do miss the floor plate for above reasons. And nice to top up the mag.

But upside is bombing up goats with 3 or 4 mags is alot more efficient

I often top up mag in the zastava....always have done so...and the model 70 before it.....shooting wallabies can be hard on ammunition and very hard on the round at bottom of magazine.

Apart from the old man’s 222 Vixen all my rifles have had detachable mags so I can’t really comment except to say having a filled mag in my pocket makes for a quick load-up.

I much prefer the floorplate option - more comfortable to carry the rifle in my hand.
A flush fitting detachable mag would be second place.
The only rifles I have/had with detachable magazines that stick out below the stock are rimfires. I would consider a centerfire one for target shooting, but then I'm not carrying it all day.

Iv had a heap of 85s with a flush detachable a heap of tikkas and now only have floor plate it’s my preference you can top load the 85 though was kind of the best of both worlds I prefer floor plate I did use my .308 far to long with a lost mag was a pain so may have tainted my feels. I like the unloading process of a floor plate

I have preferred a detach magazine over a floor plate - first one was my Krico .270 from 1981 and then the earlier Tikkas from early 90's. Currently still using T3 with T3X stock from 2004. In between the odd floor plate with a Winchester .243 late 80's but went back to detach mag.
Prefer the ease of clicking the mag off and sliding the bolt back when approaching camp or when hunting from a ATV/vehicle. Safety aspect for me more of a positive action than having rounds drop out the floor plate when the button pushed or those people that use custom blind mags where you have to chamber the rounds out. Generally seems to be a European thing versus US with rifle design.

When previously culling hundreds of goats in the day with a 7.62, magazines rule for ease of reloading in the field and safety.

Personally prefer a floorplate, as you can usually fit a longer cartridge overall length compared to a magazine.

For those worried about a slow reload on a floorplate, you need to buy some Federal factory ammo as they all come with these plastic clips enclosed (usually white plastic now but used to be a helpful red/hunter orange).




You now have 10 extra rounds at hand, but you can add more if you want to feel like a cowboy on a goat mission



OK, part two of how to load a floorplate quick.

With the bolt closed (no rounds in chamber), flip the rifle over and pop open the floorplate. Hold the spring and follower together against the trapdoor and then load however many rounds into the magazine well.

You will need to remember which side the rifle feeds from when loading but apart from that, you can now pop the trapdoor back whilst still squeezing the spring and follower together.

Not quite as fast as a detachable magazine, but if you have a big scope mounted low to the reciever (and fat fingers) this is a much easier method compared to loading single rounds down from the top (especially on the short action Rem 700 which has a tiny ejection port).

Video showing what I am describing:

I prefer a floorplate but a good trick with a detachable mag is to drill a wee hole in it and cable tie a fishing 'swivel clip' or the like to it. The clip can be used to clip the mag to the rifle so it cant be lost

I prefer floorplate, you can't leave the mag at home and much nicer to carry. The only rifle I know with a mag that carries nicely is a 10/22 where the mag sits nice and flush.
For long range varminting where you are shooting from a static position I prefer the drop out mag.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I prefer a floorplate but a good trick with a detachable mag is to drill a wee hole in it and cable tie a fishing 'swivel clip' or the like to it. The clip can be used to clip the mag to the rifle so it cant be lost

120 years ago the Lee Enfield rifles had their mag secured to the rifle partly so the soldier could not lose it. The idea was that the soldier just kept it topped up and if things got exciting he could pull it out and slap in a fresh one without losing the original. Clearly WW1 changed all that.
GPM.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I prefer a floorplate but a good trick with a detachable mag is to drill a wee hole in it and cable tie a fishing 'swivel clip' or the like to it. The clip can be used to clip the mag to the rifle so it cant be lost

Pretty much what I did when I fitted the 10 shot mag to my Sako 22, I used nylon coated cable (such as used when fishing for fish with trace cutting teeth!)
And soldered a small wire loop to the mag to attach one end of the cable to and the other end around the trigger guard, the cable already had tight coils so it tucked out the way pretty good.
To remove the mag you just pull it back then down and I was worried it could do that while carrying the rifle or when slung over my shoulder.

Murphy’s Law - it’s never looked like coming loose by itself!!

It really depends on what type of hunting.

If you have a 223 for say bush stalking you may find the floor plate is the better option. However with that same 223 and you want to go bomb goats up you'll probably want the detachable magazine.

Horses for courses aye

Never lost a magazine before but then never had a Tikka bolt fall out either, maybe I'm doing it wrong?

I see no reason to need a detachable magazine for a hunting rifle but at the same time I'm not going to discount a rifle due to having one.
It would probably be the last thing I considered when choosing a rifle.