Well, I received my aluminum speed loader gate yesterday from Ares with much anticipation. I love the look and finish very much, but I must report that I'm disappointed with a couple of things.
The hinge joint is very loose when open, as mentioned by a member earlier in this thread. I removed the pin and knurled it a little which helped quite a bit.
But the main issue I've experienced is that the gate is not long enough, and does not cover all three magazine holes completely. The third hole on the bottom of the mag is exposed enough to allow the pellet to move back exposing the skirt. The skirt then hits the frame as the mag rotates bending it, or potentially causing a jam.This happened to me several times within two mags, especially if the gun is pointed a little upwards.
So, sadly I asked Zach if I could return it for a refund. He responded quickly and was very cooperative. He issued a refund and told me to keep it. He also suggested that I shouldn't use light pellets, and that I should seat them to avoid this issue.
I shared with him that I respectfully don't agree with his advice about pellet type, and am confident a slightly longer design, (just like the injection molded one I have), would solve that issue completely.
And maybe some tighter tolerances on the hinge joint would help eliminate the slop, but I know that can be tricky when dealing with metal, vs
composites.
So the conclusion for me is that the injection molded version from "Airgun Tactical" has the best overall design an aesthetics to date.
All of the above is of course just my personal opinion, and is worth every cent you paid for it!
Have fun.
Scott