1911 magazine questions.

[Petrol & Powder]

I was a 1911 user years ago and found the Wilson Combat mags to be the best. I drifted away from the 1911 platform and then came back years later (like 20 years later)
I asked members on this forum for recommendations for 1911 mags and the response was that Wilson Combat was still the best.
I acquired several and I concur that they are top notch.

Are there other magazine that are acceptable? I'm sure there are. But the Wilson's are a known item.

[PbHurler]

I've never had ANY hiccups with Ed Brown 7 rounders

[Groo]

Groo here
Never had much luck with wilsons [plastic followers].
Did you check the springs??? might be light /worn ,or in wrong...
Best mags metalform followed by Met-gar.
Ps there are 3 types of feed lips, ball [millspec] target[for short nose swc] and modern[for hp]
PPS JMB designed the 1911 mag for 7 shots, when you put in 8 without increasing length , strange things "CAN" happen......

[Bazoo]

Of the six mags I have,

1 checkmate Vietnam era GI, tapered feed lips
1 checkmate SS GI style, tapered feed lips
1 Wilson 8 round with metal base
1 Colt 8 round, hybrid feed lips
1 Ruger 7 round, hybrid feed lips
1 Springfield 7 round, wadcutters feed lips

Two will not reliably feed the Lee 452-230-TC, those are the Wilson, and the checkmate stainless tapered feed lips. The Wilson you can feel the slide sort of bumping as it hits the feed ramp. It has jammed with that bullet, but very occasionally. I carry this mag as my reload with ball ammo. For the checkmate stainless modern GI style with tapered feed lips, It jams every mag with that bullet. It's stone reliable however with ball ammo or any hollow points I've tried.

All the other mags have fed the TC bullet without hiccup and what ball I've used.

The Wilson mag is harder to seat with 8 rounds but does seat and function on a closed slide. The colt 8 round seats easier than the Wilson, but it has a shorter spring and while reliable, I don't expect it to last as long as the Wilson fully loaded.

I'm happy with all of them and I trust them all. I carried the checkmate that jams with the TC bullet for years and it's never failed with ball or hp ammo. Right now the mag in my gun is the Vietnam checkmate. Been thinking on switching to the colt 8 rounder.

All of these mags were made by either checkmate industries or metalform, except for the Wilson. Springfield mags are metalform, The Ruger looks to be checkmate. The colt looks to be metalform, I believe they have used both however. Kimber mags are checkmate, atleast their 7 rounders.

[35remington]

Ahem.

Colt does NOT make magazines. Period. They just have their name stamped on them. Wilson does not make magazines, nor does Chip McCormick or Virgil Tripp. Vendors that specialize in sheet metal bending make them.... Checkmate, Okay Industries, Metalform.

So the Colt bashing is misplaced based on what is now known.

If you have a gun that does not work properly with multiple magazines, perhaps you should look at the gun. Examine the engagement of the slide stop protrusion in the magwell with the follower. There may be inadequate surface to engage the magazine follower’s shelf correctly.

DO NOT start bending the magazines! First rule of problem diagnosis is alter nothing. Examine all possible areas first. Do not start with a preconceived notion fault lies with certainty with one thing and not something else.

And yes, 1911 magazines are supposed to have tapered feed lips. There is a reason why. This has zero to do with the problem at hand.

[35remington]

If the Colt mag has a C on the bottom it is a Checkmate. These are excellent magazines.

A 1911 runs best with bullet profiles that have a rounded ogive.

[Bazoo]

I've not heard Okay makes 1911 mags, who's do they make?

[Petrol & Powder]

I don't care who makes the magazines for Colt. The magazines with Colt stamped on them are not good quality.

I don't know if Wilson Combat magazines are made by outside suppliers but wherever they are made, they are good quality.

A manufacturer will make whatever the customer wants. If the customer desires an inexpensive, low quality item - someone will be happy to make that.
If a customer specifies a high quality item and is willing to pay for it, that can be made as well.

As for metal verses plastic magazine followers, the plastic ones can be very high quality and can be MORE reliable than metal ones.
So a plastic follower is not always the sign of low quality. In fact, I would prefer a plastic follower in some designs.

[35remington]

The magazines I have with Colt stamped on them are excellent quality, so we know the comment above is not true. These have the Checkmate C.

Said by a guy that knows way more about 1911 magazines and how they work that the average commentator.

[35remington]

Okay has made runs of magazines in the past but not recently have I seen their names stamped on any floor plates.

The Checkmate magazine is standard with the Ruger 1911 but they have the Checkmate proprietary follower they term their “bull nose” with somewhat higher spring rating. The magazine is otherwise the same as a standard 1911 hybrid design with tapered feed lips and a controlled release point flare around mid body on the magazine. This is not to be confused with a McCormick type feed lip configuration. They are not the same.

The latest examples have a D shaped rather than round dimple on the follower.

[Bazoo]

I wonder how many folks with junk colt mags have fake colt mags.

[Petrol & Powder]

The magazines I have with Colt stamped on them are excellent quality, so we know the comment above is not true. These have the Checkmate C.

Said by a guy that knows way more about 1911 magazines and how they work that the average commentator.

Thank you for your opinion. I will give it the appropriate amount of consideration. Said by the guy that has had several factory Colt magazines fail.

[Bazoo]

I've had several checkmate mags fail. Two had cracked feed lips and several had springs fail. When replaced with Wolff springs they resumed proper functioning.

[PowPow]

Wilson Combat - Done !

^ This !

[Alstep]

Wilson Combat - Done !

Wilson ETM mags work in all my 1911's. GI, Colt, Kimber. I don't care who makes them for Wilson, they just work!

Brownells has them on sale every once in a while.

[35remington]

There are a lot of fake Colt magazines out there. If they do not have the proper stamps on the bottom, Colt never supplied them with their guns.

I find the straight feed lip variant supplied by the vendor that makes Colt magazines to be less desirable than the tapered lip variety because it does not feed the gun the way it was meant to be fed and it has design features more likely to make the gun jam.

But that is due to design. The quality is good, but features like eight shots in a flush fitting magazine and a Devel follower make the gun more likely to malfunction. Straight feed lips cause crooked feeding and also up the likelihood of jams.

This is a perfect example of giving people who want bad design features what they want. The trouble is recognizing what the cause of the problem is.

[35remington]

Fake Colt
Checkmate with C and S on baseplate denoting Checkmate and Stainless
Government contract genuine GI magazine with CAGE code. These were made in the seventies and Checkmate was a vendor to the government contract.

[35remington]

Colt generally supplies two types of magazines with their guns, what you get depending upon what you buy.

First is the seven shot tapered lip controlled release point variant. These are highly desirable. Apparently Ruger agrees as they are supplied with their pistols. The followers differ but the magazine bodies are the same.

The other is an eight shot flush fit less true to the designer’s intent. Problems with these as noted boil down to a less stable follower prone to nosediving and damaging aluminum frames and more angular kachunky feeding. It is not impossible to get these to feed in most 1911’s, just that the odds of correct function go down. These magazines work better with lighter loads, guns having deeper frame ramps and nonstandard short ammo but the feed angularity and smaller window for the rim to get under the extractor are major design impediments.

It is often said that the 1911 “works the round hard in feeding” and the 1911 has a “too angled” feed path. John Browning specified a magazine design that makes those beliefs untrue.

The crying shame is that too few know that. Run ball ammo or rounded ogive ammo through the gun using GI magazines and the gun feeds and goes into battery far more smoothly than a newer design. Simply a matter of using the correct ammo in the intended magazine.

[bluelund79]

Wilson 47D, Tripp Cobra, and Checkmate are my favorites. I do have some 8rd CMC’s that have been flawless in no less than 5 1911’s. I also have 10rd mags from Wilson and CMC. Of the ones listed, I have a dozen and a half of the 47D’s, and those are my carry mags.

[Petrol & Powder]

I had new magazines marked Colt that came in the new box with the NEW Colt pistol. I don't know if those magazines were made by Checkmate, Colt, or by the Acme company that sold products to Wiley E. Coyote - Nor do I care.

What I do know is those magazines - SUCKED.

So something made by Checkmate and sold under the Colt banner can still SUCK!

There was a time when Colt made quality products (including their subcontractors) but just because something has "Colt" stamped on it doesn't mean it is good.

I've owned some excellent Colt products and some Colt junk. The name "Colt" by itself means nothing to me now. The name is no longer a guarantee of quality.