1911 magazine questions.

[mozeppa]

I have 2 .45 a.c.p. 1911 auto's one is a relatively new colt stainless...the other is a rock island parkerized model... less than 50 rounds thru it.

i have 21 magazines made by colt....all stainless and look to be new. no dents, dirt, scratches, or wear in the catch hole.


my issue is that 4 of the whole lot will NOT catch the slide open after the last shot....in either gun.

upon closer inspection i noted that if i hold the foot plate up in the mag well a little further up into the gun...then it WILL catch the slide
and hold it open. on one magazine if i pull down on the mag foot plate, it will release the slide to its closed position.

can this be repaired?

question number 2...
is there any info or videos that you can point me to "tuning" magazines so that they operate more efficiently and most importantly...
more reliably?

[GBertolet]

I suspect that the magazine that you pull down, and it releases the slidestop, is the follower overiding the slidestop. Pulling the magazine down, hooks on the slidestop, releasing the slide. The width of the follower, and or slidestop shelf is undersized, causing a stacking of tolerances. If diagnosed as so, replacing the magazine follower should fix it. An oversized slidestop, with extra material on the shelf might help also. Your other issue of failure to lock back, might be caused by the magazine feed lips being bent inwards slightly. Not enough to cause feeding issues, but enough to prevent the follower from rising up enough to engage the slidestop. Careful use of pliers, bending out the feed lips, ever so slightly, may fix this issue. I have experienced all of these magazine problems myself, and these fixes worked.

[Bazoo]

It could be all 4 of your mags have narrow doglegs on the followers allowing them to slip past the slide lock nub. You can see this with the mag in the gun and the slide back. Or perhaps bent down legs not allowing them to come up far enough. If they are narrow they can be widened by prying them open with a screwdriver. And if they are bent down, bend them up with pliers. Disassemble a mag that works and measure it's follower and compare it to the ones that don't work. It's also possible the springs are inserted upside down or otherwise wrong. There is supposed to be a crook in the end of the spring that gives up pressure on the front of the follower.

[Petrol & Powder]

Or the locking notch on the side of the mag isn't quite in the correct location in reference to the feed lips and/or the floor plate.

And once again we see that these days Colt banks more on their name than their quality.

[mozeppa]

well ...after a few hours working on them and dozens of tests i have concluded that colt gov't issue mags ....are junk.

bend too much and a loaded mag won't lock in....minus one cartridge and it will ....not enough bend and it won't lock the slide open after the last round.

too finicky.

somebody recommend a good after market magazine!

[Texas by God]

I have never had a problem with a Chip McCormick magazine. Or a MecGar. My 80ish year old Argentine ballester Molina mag is flawless as well except it has no finish left. I had a couple of magazines that would not lock the gun open so I modified them to work in my Ruger p97. One was a Colt, the other was a ProMag LOL.

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[FLINTNFIRE]

I bought some of the so called 45 colt magazines from sarco all junk not original at all buyer beware I buy the rock island and the mec gar magazines shop around you can find them cheap , I have chip mccormick shooting stars they are good also .

[Burnt Fingers]

I've got at least 7 different 1911 mag companies represented in my collection. I honestly don't have a bad magazine.

There's a guy on the auction side named Joe that sells some really nice 1911 mags. I've bought them from him in 9mm, 10mm, and .45 ACP.

CDNN can also be a good source.

[Petrol & Powder]

Wilson Combat - Done !

[knifemaker]

Wilson does make very good reliable mags. For a slightly lower price get the Chip McCormack shooting star 8 round mags. I used shooting star mags in my duty 1911 for about 10 years and never had a mag failure of any kind. During those ten years I put thousands of rounds though those mags and left them loaded for long periods and no problems with the springs taking a set causing a failure to feed.

[nicholst55]

Wilson does make very good reliable mags. For a slightly lower price get the Chip McCormack shooting star 8 round mags. I used shooting star mags in my duty 1911 for about 10 years and never had a mag failure of any kind. During those ten years I put thousands of rounds though those mags and left them loaded for long periods and no problems with the springs taking a set causing a failure to feed.

I have heard several glowing reports of these particular mags over the years. Unfortunately, my results were the polar opposite of yours and many others. I bought 3 of them many years ago, and they turned my dead-nuts reliable 1911 into a jam-o-matic! My inclination was to smash them with a hammer and trash them, but I decided to take a chance. I replaced the hinky Shooting Star follower with Wilson followers, and darned if those mags don't work a treat now! Kind of soured me on CMC mags, though.

[Bazoo]

Is it possible you got hold of some fake colt mags? They are out there.

Good mags cheap? Ammodepot.com had ed brown 7 rounders for 17.00 last I checked.

Springfield mags I've seen for 15 here and there.

[45workhorse]

Wilson Combat - Done !

Four ten rounders.
Four eight rounders.
Best mags ever....my opinion. YMMV

[Reverend Recoil]

I have six Springfield Armory M1911 45 Auto magazines. They are all good for FMJ ball, JHP, and cast SWC ammo.

[TheGrimReaper]

Yes sir, everything from Colt in at least the past 10 years in JUNK.

[samari46]

I have about 12 CMC 8 round mags that have never given me a bit of trouble. Some stamped Colt 45 that work. One undentifed 10 rounder that works but have a baggie of military mags that only half of them work. Had problems with my slide stop not working. Bought an oversized one from Brownells (Ed Brown) and with the knuhausen book on 45's fitted it and still working. Frank

[Butler Ford]

Wilson Combat - Done !

All of my 1911 magazines were taken apart, cleaned, lubed, bagged and taken to a pawn shop and sold. Fake Colt, Colt, Magpul, Chip McCormick, government surplus and some others and have been replaced with Wilson 47Ds. So far, I haven't been able to make them malfunction. 25 so far, more on the way, and more when the budget allows.

[nicholst55]

Is it possible you got hold of some fake colt mags? They are out there.

Good mags cheap? Ammodepot.com had ed brown 7 rounders for 17.00 last I checked.

Springfield mags I've seen for 15 here and there.

If this is in reference to my post, these were Chip McCormick Shooting Star mags, in the original packaging, ordered from Brownells. I expect they were originals. That 'Devel' split follower was the problem. Once I replaced them with Wilson followers, the mags worked perfectly.

[Bazoo]

No sir, It was directed at the OP.

[9.3X62AL]

Some months back, a member here posted a pretty comprehensive text concerning John Browning's OEM 1911-series pistol magazines for the 45 ACP, and the several features of those magazines. IIRC, the poster's name was 35 Remington--but don't hold me to that. You might try a site search to locate that post. The conclusion part I still recall--best to use were by Metalform, Colt OEM or hybrid-OEM design that featured a tapered feed lip profile. These are what I use in my Series 80 Gold Cup, and they run flawlessly--SWC, RN, HP makes no difference--cast or jacketed. One little secret to Glock reliability is the almost sole-source supplier for that pistol's magazines in all its ideations and calibers.