Years ago, I served as a machine gunner in the Marine Corps. My time as an 0331 lead me to always appreciate having more ammo than less ammo. My days with belt feds might be long behind me, but my days of drums are only beginning. Today I’ve got a drum for one of my favorite subguns, the Scorpion, and it comes from one of my favorite companies, Magpul. The Magpul D-50 EV9 is one of Magpul’s latest drums, and it allows the end-user to pack 50 rounds of 9mm in their favorite subgun or carbine.
Magpul’s Scorpion magazines have become a popular pattern for a variety of weapons. Palmetto State Armory’s AK-V and AR-V both use the magazine, as does a lower for the APC from B&T, and certainly some I’m forgetting. The Scorpion D-50 EV9 sits with Magpul’s Glock drum to completely cover the PCC and subgun market.
Magpul’s Drums
Magpul produces the world’s best drums. Drums traditionally suck. Sure they provide more ammunition but fail in the reliability portion of being a magazine. Magpul cracked the code with the original 5.56 caliber D-60 magazine and has since expanded to 7.62 NATO and 9mm. Their drums are made from the same polymer material used in the Gen 3 PMAGs.
They are not cheap, but they also aren’t costly like the Beta drums. The Magpul D-50 retails for about a hundred bucks, expensive for a magazine but cheap for a drum.
Why the Scorpion D-50?
What’s the point of a drum for a subgun or PCC? It’s not like it’s a suppressive weapon. Well, first, we don’t have a reason. This is America. (Not applicable in CA, NY, HI.) If we want 50 or 100 or 1,000 rounds in our guns, we don’t need to justify the reasoning.
From a practical perspective, I see two applications for the D-50. First is USPSA PCC style competitions. We see competitors with +10 extensions on Glock 33 round magazines, we see couplers and more. So why not just use a drum?
Second, home defense. You are still stuck with a pistol round if you use a PCC or subgun for home defense. Pistol rounds aren’t great for stopping fights. As such, the more you have, the better.
Loading the D-50 EV9
The D-50 EV9 uses the same loading mechanism as the D-60 series with a false cartridge follower and lever that must be manipulated to load rounds. Due to the small size of the drum, it’s much easier to load than the rifle variants. You don’t feel like you need three hands to do so.
My method grips the drum with my left hand, and my thumb presses the lever back. My right-hand drops the ammo in and rinse and repeat. It seems like right around the 15 round mark, you’ll only be able to insert one round per crank, and eventually, you’ll need multiple cranks of the lever per one round.
Admittedly loading two 35 round Magpul Scorpion mags is likely quicker, but that’s not as fun as a drum!
Boom, Bang, Pew
I want to say it was a sunny summer day, but that would be a lie. It rained and rained and rained this week. I’m no stranger to it, and it helps provide a challenge to the time I’m reviewing. So in the rain, I hit the range and hit it hard, multiple times with hundreds of rounds.
The D-50 EV9 is admittedly a heavy one fully loaded. It’s a light and easy to wield with one hand kind of gun and weighs it down with a lot of lead. But, a lot of lead is why we use such things. Good thing this brace wraps around my forearm and counteracts the weight.
In the gun, it does look cool and reminds me of a sci-fi-inspired Thompson SMG. Drums also look cool to me, but this one takes the cake in the Scorpion. Although outside of just changing the gun’s balance, it also makes it impossible to grip by the magwell if you like to swing that way. When fully loaded, be prepared to find gravity and tight tolerances if you lay on a closed bolt.
With a slight smack, it’ll lock into place. With the bolt locked, you can load with ease and get to do the sweet HK-style slap to get it going. Loaded with classic Winchester white box at the range, the drum ran issue-free for two hundred rounds.
The Reliability Factor
It wasn’t till load 30 rounds of Winchester Forged that it gave me a malfunction. One round got stuck and didn’t rise high enough to feed. I gave it a quick slap, and it slammed upwards, and the problem was fixed. I’d say steel, especially stuff as dry as Winchester Forged, isn’t the best choice for drums.
I tried some JHPs, not 50 of them because that would be pricey, but 20 rounds of Gold Dot ammo and 10 of SIG JHPs all fed without issue. It seems like the different projectile types don’t affect reliability.
Water and wet sand did nothing to affect the drum’s reliability, and when I broke it open for cleaning, there was barely anything moisture or sand inside the drum. The D-50 EV9 is well sealed against the elements.
Cleaning the Thing
Speaking of cleaning, you expect most drums to be a bit difficult to take down. Luckily it’s not. All you need is a flat head screwdriver, and you pop off four tabs, press four little buttons, and pop the back off. For the D-60, Magpul says clean every 1,000 rounds.
The Scorpion is a blowback gun and get’s awfully dirt. I’d suggest cleaning every 500 hundred rounds or so. Even mine had a little layer of carbon on it after less than 300 rounds. Cleaning and maintenance aren’t a big deal, and it’s tough to break the drum. Just don’t take it apart while it’s loaded.
Overall, Magpul has another winner. Most of us might not want or need a drum, but options are always nice to have. What do you think of drums? What’s your favorite? What’s the worst? Let me know below.
Definitely a win on the cool factor. I got the 35 rd. sticks for $15 and see them online for $17.50 right now. I grip near the Magwell so I imagine the drums interfere with that. I have the Maglula loader for EVO so it is a easy and quick task to load sticks. While it would not be hard to carry a half dozen sticks I imagine in a serious situation carrying multiple drums would be difficult.
I have the original Magpul drum for 5.56/AR variants. My biggest complaint is loading. With a “Mag Pump” loader, I can load at least twice the number of rounds in stick magazines in a given amount of time. Now that 40 round stick mags are fairly common, there’s not as much “need” for a drum. Having said that… I still might like to have one for the Banshee! 😁
To the author: You do realize that likely thousands of readers haven’t a clue what a “0331” is in the Marine Corps, right? Rather than assuming that all readers know what that is, it would be most helpful to state it in layman’s terms. Such as, Marine Corps infantry, artillery, etc.
“Years ago, I served as a machine gunner in the Marine Corps. My time as an 0331” he states what it means in the first sentence of the article.