1911 magazines

[lylejb]

Ok,

I'm in the market for a few 1911 45 magazines. Looking at midway, seems to be many makers, and prices.

I'm looking for "plain vanilla" nothing fancy, but works reliably.

I've seen discussions about different feed lips, followers, ect. and not really sure I understand what their talking about, or which mag. has which.

I mostly shoot hg68 clones, the lee 230 TC, with / rarely a bit of factory ammo.

I have the factory Colt that came with the gun, and a shooting star 8 rd. both worked well for about 20 years. Now the shooting star has started to jam. Weak spring I think.

Any suggestions?

[alrighty]

I use the Wilson 8 and 10 rounders and the McCormick 8 round power magazines and have great luck with both.I have used the shooting star McCormicks in the past.I upgraded the springs to power mags and they work great as well.
I know these are the premium mags but if you buy from Brownell's they sometimes have a deal on three packs.

[Bzcraig]

I would first replace the mag springs, if you think that is the problem before replacing the mags, springs are cheap.

[ultramag]

I'd put a Tripp rebuild kit in what you have.

[Reloader06]

If the mags you have, have removable floor plates a set of Wolff replacement springs should fix up the old ones.

[lylejb]

I would first replace the mag springs, if you think that is the problem before replacing the mags, springs are cheap.

I thought about that, but it looks like the floor plates are welded. Not sure I could cut and reweld, or how I would go about doing it.

Also it might be nice to have a spare or two

[nicholst55]

I thought about that, but it looks like the floor plates are welded. Not sure I could cut and reweld, or how I would go about doing it.

Also it might be nice to have a spare or two

The followers and springs will pop right out the top of the mag. Just tip the front of the follower up wards and tilt then down along the back of the tube; they'll pull right out the top.

[imashooter2]

Usually, the tube has a hole in it. Compress the spring slightly with a bushing wrench or similar. Put a nail or similar through the hole to hold the spring. Remove the now loose follower from the top of the mag. Put the bushing wrench back in to hold the spring. Remove the nail. Work the Spring out the top of the magazine. Note that the spring ends are different. Reassemble in reverse order.

[Hunter]

I prefer the Check-Mate 7 round dimpled follower with the hybrid lips.

[bhn22]

Colt mags are often sold at a discount. I probably have ten of them, and as many Wilsons. My guns and I are both allergic to cheap magazines anymore. I bought a bunch of gun show cheapies (marked Colt 1911) and the feed lips were loose within a month. No heat-treating. No more cheapies!

[waksupi]

Forget McCormicks 8 rounders if you are going to carry this for a defensive weapon. They WILL fail.

[DBH45]

If you have a Colt 1911 I would stick with the Colt brand Mags. If you have a Kimber I would go with Kimber Mags Etc. In the 80's when I was shooting IPSC at the Southwest Combat Pistol League I never noticed a faliure with Colt Mags, but plenty with copies.

[mongoosesnipe]

wilson combat mags are phenomenal if your paying money for new mags dont skimp and i would rebuild your current mags with quality springs and followers

[MTtimberline]

I have had really good luck with GI surplus mags in my Springfield. They seem to work better than the original Springfield ones. They appear to be made better too. I bought a few in the original packaging with NSN for $8 each about ten years ago. I wish I bought more because I can't find any now.

[gmsharps]

I've had great luck with MetalForm Mags. They can be had plain or with removeable floorplates, round followers in either blue or stainless.

gmsharps

[ReloaderFred]

I've converted my 1911's and Colt Delta Elites to CheckMate magazines. They work every time, which I can't say for the others.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[220swiftfn]

If you have a Colt 1911 I would stick with the Colt brand Mags. If you have a Kimber I would go with Kimber Mags Etc. In the 80's when I was shooting IPSC at the Southwest Combat Pistol League I never noticed a faliure with Colt Mags, but plenty with copies.

Interesting considering that both of those are made by Checkmate...........


Dan

[buckwheatpaul]

I use Wilson stainless steel 8 rounders.....they are the best .... when I was still a police officer it was the magazine that never failed and always produced.....in my Kimbers and Colts....good luck....Paul

[btroj]

Checkmate 7 round, hybrid

[Melski]

Wilson's work, period. You get what you pay for and worth every penny.

[2shot]

Checkmate 7 round w/hybrid lips. Been using them for BE matches the last 5 years shooting H&G #68's and Hard Ball in my HB gun, never had a problem. Shot them in a Caspian I built, a Clark LS and a Kimber. No, nada, zero problems.

2shot

[dkmulford]

The Chip McCormicks have worked great for me for years. They are strong and thicker than the wilsons. However, mine have the welded base plate.

[35remington]

There is one design JMB intended to work with his pistol, and it has tapered feed lips. The fact that JMB knew what straight feed lipped magazine were and declined to use them in the 1911 design he designed should be a big, big hint about the type you should be using.

Absolutely, positively avoid Shooting Star McCormicks. Utterly horrible magazine design, as is the McCormick follower found in that magazine and in the McCormick Power Mag. If you don't understand why, ask.

To a large extent the other "brand name" magazines do not feed the gun the way the designer intended it to be fed. This decreases reliability compared to the correct alternative.

[dkmulford]

Absolutely, positively avoid Shooting Star McCormicks. Utterly horrible magazine design, as is the McCormick follower found in that magazine and in the McCormick Power Mag. If you don't understand why, ask.


I have shot thousands of rounds through my Shooting Star McCormicks. I've used them in many competitions including USPSA Single Stack Nationals. I've never head any issues.

[nicholst55]

Usually, the tube has a hole in it. Compress the spring slightly with a bushing wrench or similar. Put a nail or similar through the hole to hold the spring. Remove the now loose follower from the top of the mag. Put the bushing wrench back in to hold the spring. Remove the nail. Work the Spring out the top of the magazine. Note that the spring ends are different. Reassemble in reverse order.

D'oh! I forget to mention to compress and capture the spring. Thanks for sharing that necessary step.

FWIW, the MetalForm mags work very well, and are quite reasonably priced. IIRC, that's the brand that the USMC pistol team used with their 1911s.

[35remington]

Dk, doesn't change the fact that they are a bad design, more likely to malfunction than the original magazines the gun was intended to work with. The follower is so poor even Chip admitted it was flawed.

[9.3X62AL]

A couple years back, 35 Remington and others posted a thread on this subject that goes into greater detail than his above posting, but boils down to the same recommendation--tapered feed lips and follow the OEM Browning pattern. Colt magazines are fairly close to this standard, and I have adopted the use of Colt magazines in my 1911-series pistols (which happen to be Colts, funny you should ask!) I have not had the balkiness and unreliability in my 1911-series pistols that others complain of as long as I assemble good ammunition to feed them and contain those good loads in Colt magazines. I last purchased Colt mags in early 2013 from MidwayUSA......at $17 apiece, they were a stone bargain. Yeah, they only hold 7 rounds each. Well, my 686 x 4" only holds six, and it goes along in the truck as often as the "low-capacity" 45 ACPs. If the round is decisive to begin with, you likely won't need 2 dozen of them on board to resolve matters. Don't spray and pray--put the first and all succeeding rounds where they will do the most good, and you should be all right.

[waksupi]

I have shot thousands of rounds through my Shooting Star McCormicks. I've used them in many competitions including USPSA Single Stack Nationals. I've never head any issues.

Chip told me they were made for one specific nose configuration, and not to leave the magazines loaded. It weakens the springs. I found that out.
I personally carry my gun every day, and it is always loaded, as are my magazines. May be fine for competition, but not for nut cutting time. Had to replace the springs and followers and drop back to seven rounds in them to make them dependable.

[9.3X62AL]

All too often, the Gun Gamers apply their standards--which suit the fantasy factory they work within--to the real world, in which most of us are resigned to occupy and deal with. Oil and water, folks--they don't mix. And dilettentes of the McCormick stripe bore me, anyway.

[Jupiter7]

McCormick power mag 8 and 10 rounders are all I use in competition. I carry 8 round stainless colt factory mags with flat baseplate.

[35remington]

Ouch, Al. But quite true. There's reasons gamer magazines fall short in real use in average guns.

[bobthenailer]

I have used only wilson mags for the past 27 years in many different 1911's in 1- 9mm / 2- 38 super/ 10-45 acp about 20 mags in all with no problems except the mag spring getting weak after much use.

[MtGun44]

Metalform hybrid lips with 3D metal follower, or the checkmate original GI style.

Bill

[KCSO]

Is your life woth PLAIN VANILLA ? I say for mags you need the best money can buy. I use Wilson's only for carry and serioous practice all others are in the trade up pile. ACT mags are currently cheap and we have sold a ton of them and about i out of every 8 come back witht he catch notch in the wrong spot or just don't feed. In addition range test all your mags for feed and function and check all the welds. I use to carry Pachmeyers and when heading out to a man with a gun call I checked the chamber and tapped the magazine home and as I got in the car the bottom of the mag gave way and shot all the rounds all over the floor of the car. Makes you feel good knowing you might be going shooting unarmed.

[Mk42gunner]

If you take nothing else from this thread, heed these words by KCSO:


In addition range test all your mags for feed and function and check all the welds.

Buy spares of the ones that you decide to bet your life on, magazines and springs are both items that need replacing occasionally.

Robert

[9.3X62AL]

Recent R&D with a Springfield Ultra Compact in 9mm showed its OEM magazines--by Metalform--to be excrement. I upgraded to Wilson Combat magazines, and the pistol became reliable and tractable with a range of ammo types. I have no experience with the Wilson products intended for the 1911 and Commanders, but if they are similar in construction and material quality to the 9mm mags I got from them, they are likely good products.

One key to the Glock system's continued success is that one and only one vendor makes the mags used in the system--Glock itself.

[wv109323]

You can rebuild the original Colt mags with the solid base if you so desire. Push the follower at least half way down the magazine with a pencil. Stick an Allen wrench through the holes in the mag. Make sure the allen wrench is below the follower and near the top of the spring. With the allen wrench holding the spring,invert the mag and tap it lightly against a solid surface. The follower will free itself and be near the magazine lips. The follower can be removed. Next put the mag lips on a solid surface and remove the allen wrench relieving the spring tension. Remove the spring,PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE COIL OF THE SPRING THAT IS AGAINST THE FOLLOWER. TO ASSEMBLE REVERSE the process with new parts of your choice.

[35remington]

I would suggest rebuilding them to 7 shot format. If it is an eight shot, and you haven't taken magazines apart before, you will have your very first look at the flawed, not to be trusted Devel follower (short rear skirt) as found in so many flush fit magazines of the McCormick type and other similar brands that fit 8 rounds where only 7 belong.

This follower has three flaws:

Short rear skirt promotes follower instability. It can be tipped 90 degrees and crammed right into the magazine body while the magazine is fully assembled.....not good. Try that will a standard 7 shot follower......you can't. The 7 shot follower activates the slide stop more positively and consistently and is not prone to nose dive like the Devel does. Nose diving contributes to low frame ramp strikes and 3 point jamming, as a low frame ramp strike means the round must angle up more steeply to climb the feedramp. A steep feedramp climb means the rim approaches the extractor at more of an angle, making it less likely that it will make it there....and increases the chance of a jam. Nose diving on the last round also makes the follower pitch into aluminum frames, dinging them.

The short skirt has less spring behind it to fit that eighth round, which leads to last round malfunctions. Less spring tension means the gun literally jumps out from under the last round in the magazine before it feeds when the slide strikes the frame.

And the short skirted Devel follower cannot have a dimple on it, as it would nose dive even worse than it does. The lack of a dimple also contributes to last round malfunctions.

The ironic thing? This follower design is claimed by its peddlers to be a good idea. Only in a world where Obamacare works, I'm afraid.

[Love Life]

The Wilson Combat service mag plus is the best magazine I have used to date. I like flush magazines as the "Bumper Pads" stick out to far for my tastes and take away from the overall look of the pistol while adding unnecessary length to the butt end of the pistol.

http://shopwilsoncombat.com/1911-Service-Mag-Plus-45-ACP-Full-Size-7-Round-Stainless/productinfo/608/

They were a bit cheaper last time I bought them, but they have worked flawlessly with any type of ammo I have used through many thousands of rounds in several 1911 pistols.

I keep the magazines loaded at all times and have never had an issue with them. Some mags were loaded for over a year as I had a time where a 1911 was not in the house, and they shot fine when I got my pistol back from my brother.

My Colt magazines have been 100% reliable with anything as well.

http://www.gunclips.net/co1945calfa71.html

They aren't cheap, but they have ponies on them.

[waksupi]

I would suggest rebuilding them to 7 shot format. If it is an eight shot, and you haven't taken magazines apart before, you will have your very first look at the flawed, not to be trusted Devel follower (short rear skirt) as found in so many flush fit magazines of the McCormick type and other similar brands that fit 8 rounds where only 7 belong.

This follower has three flaws:

Short rear skirt promotes follower instability. It can be tipped 90 degrees and crammed right into the magazine body while the magazine is fully assembled.....not good. Try that will a standard 7 shot follower......you can't. The 7 shot follower activates the slide stop more positively and consistently and is not prone to nose dive like the Devel does. Nose diving contributes to low frame ramp strikes and 3 point jamming, as a low frame ramp strike means the round must angle up more steeply to climb the feedramp. A steep feedramp climb means the rim approaches the extractor at more of an angle, making it less likely that it will make it there....and increases the chance of a jam. Nose diving on the last round also makes the follower pitch into aluminum frames, dinging them.

The short skirt has less spring behind it to fit that eighth round, which leads to last round malfunctions. Less spring tension means the gun literally jumps out from under the last round in the magazine before it feeds when the slide strikes the frame.

And the short skirted Devel follower cannot have a dimple on it, as it would nose dive even worse than it does. The lack of a dimple also contributes to last round malfunctions.

The ironic thing? This follower design is claimed by its peddlers to be a good idea. Only in a world where Obamacare works, I'm afraid.
Thank you for the explanation. I'm a man of few words, and if asked, would have simply said they are a piece of,...uh, I can't say that here.

[Mallard57]

I like the Tripp Cobras. They're a little spendy but I think it's money well spent.

[BD]

I've used Wilsons primarily for the last 100,000 rounds or so. 47Ds for business and "Bureaucrats" for fun and games. No complaints, except that the 10 round "Bureaucrats" do wear out after a while. Sides bulge, lips spread and the little step that controls the seating depth starts to bend. I had four of them I used for games. They only lasted 50,000 rounds. If you do the math you'll see that they've each been slapped in something over 1,000 times. And, I'm not known for having a "gentle touch" on anything.
I bought some Tripp 10 rounders when they first came out. Unfortunately they contacted the ejector in every 1911 I tried them in. Broke the tips off two ejectors figuring that out. When I called Wilson this past summer to find out why I couldn't find any more 10 rounders, they told me they were way behind, so I ground the rear corners off the Tripps and started using them. We'll see how long they last. If Wilson ever gets caught up, I'll buy 4 more of the Bureaucrats for fun and games. At the rate I shoot these days they ought to last me till the end. The 47Ds don't get near that amount of use and I've never had a failure due to one.
BD

[lylejb]

thanks guys.

I went with a couple of Colt magazines, and a couple of wolff springs to replace the ones in the old magazines.