A magazine or hopper has a very functional effect of the burning of coal..
The coal stacked up in the magazine is warmed by the fire, and is up to temperature, just below combustion temp when the stove is shook down,
dropping the ash and bring the fresh but hot coal onto the firebed.
Many hand feed coal burners who monitor their stove's heat output see a big drop in stove temps when the fresh charge of cool or cold coal is added to the fire. It may take up to an hour to get the stove back to the desired operating temperature.
Coal stored in a hopper or magazine also has a chance to out-gas much of the volitiles so the potential for 'puff-backs' are minimized if the magazine is kept full. Dumping a hod or two of fresh cool coal on a hot fire is a sure recipe for a puffback. The preheating effect of a hopper or magazine eliminates this problem.
For many people, if they burned a handfed stove without a hopper or magazine, their stove would be out many times a year when they got home late, or the fire would be so puny that it would take hours to nurse it back to a full fire.. The hopper full of coal greatly extends the burn time of the handfed stoves. Not everyone shakes every 12 hours, many people with a hopper fed stove can shake and add coal just once a day. depending on the rate of coa burning and the ash characteristics of their coal.
Hoppers and magazines are a great addition to a stove, easy top feed instead of trying to toss in the last shovel-full of coal to get that deep fire needed, and no coal popping and spitting in your face or shooting embers out the open doors into your eyes, face, or your room..
The antique base heaters and base burners had a magazine for all the above reasons.. but it was an option, and was not on the less expensive stoves..
Both my Art Garland and Keystone 11 have a magazine to feed the fire.
My personal opinion is that for a modern stove, thermostatic controlled air damper and hopper are the best stove for trouble free burning.
The size of a stove is what determines it's heat output.. a little baseburner with a 10" firepot doesn't make as much heat as a big one with a 14" firepot, and I will say that there are a lot of modern stoves that take up a LOT less 'acreage' than my huge art Garland,, I have a Harman TLC-2000 out in the barn in storage, and it is much smaller than my bi g baseheater..
My Art Garland is 28" deep and that's without the stove pipe elbow on the back, and 29" wide, The Hitzer 5093 is only 21" deep not including the back pipe elbow, and 30" wide,, so my art Garland takes up about 30% more 'acreage' in a living space. And the Art Garland is tall, over 5 feet tall, the Hitzer is only 35" tall, all in all a much less imposing appliance in the living room.. My Art Garland looks like 'Robby the Robot from 'Lost in Space'.. but with the robot in 'Drag'..
Greg L