What did I get 1911 magazines

[metricmonkeywrench]

After skipping it for a few cycles this year I finally went back to the local “big” gun show. As has been the experience from the last show I attended if I was looking for off the shelf over priced guns, AR Lego accessories, red dots/optics, knives, tactical holsters and slings, overpriced ammo and beef jerky I would have been set. Reloading supplied and tables of, well, junk were few and far between. Of course anyone with primers seemed to believe they were gold plated, titanium boxed with an unobtanium bow by the prices they were asking.

I digress… back to the main point one of my goals was to add to the 5 gal pail of magazines I am apparently supposed to have as a 1911 45acp owner. Being an extremely frugal person of questionable parentage (ie cheap bastard) I walked past the folks with the overpriced EB, CM and other high end magazines. My hunt did lead me to obtaining a new and used 7 round magazine. I went to the inter webs and now know more than I want to about military mag marking but nothing on what I got.

The silver one is simply stamped Colt 45acp on the welded baseplate. The distinctive part is the curved rather than flat follower.

The second has no other markings other than the P in circles on the baseplate, otherwise a standard looking follower with hybrid feed lips. (ID'd By hylander Para-Ordinance)

What did I end up with?

307958

[Dave W.]

I have no idea what you have, but if they work, who cares. I have several different brands and configurations, the all run in the 45's.

Now the 9MM, 1911's, seem to be more finicky about what mags they like.

If you need some more inexpensive mags, send me a PM.

[hylander]

I believe those are Para Ordanance

[metricmonkeywrench]

Thanks Hylander, got a eyeball on that circle P logo now. Para Ordinance it is

That leaves the silver one with the odd follower.

Dave, will shoot you a PM

[35remington]

They are not spec 1911 magazines. Some problems may occur due to their shortcomings.

Hybrid feed lips or hybrid magazines do not look like that. That type contains tapered feed lips, a flared release point, and a dimple on the follower for inertial reasons.

[C.F.Plinker]

The curved follower appears to be a Pachmayer. Are the lips on that magazine tapered or parallel?

[1Hawkeye]

Is there an M and the colt logo stamped on the bottom of the colt magazine if so its a metalform corp that was made for colt that some oldtimer has put a pachmeyer follower in.

[45DUDE]

Here is the difference for ammo. If you have a jam it could be the design.

[El Bibliotecario]

Bill Laughridge @ Cylinder & Slide, who I suspect has forgotten more about Colt Govt Models than I have learned in a lifetime, once told me he'd never seen anything better than garden-variety Colt factory magazines, including the so-called premium magazines. My personal experience is that USGI magazines are also very reliable, particularly if new.

I would be leery of buying mystery magazines at a gunshow, but as a previous poster noted, if they work, who cares?

[JSnover]

I used to be able to find 'premium' 1911 mags at the gun shows for short money; Chip McCormick and some others. Don't know why they were so cheap, they seem to run just fine in my 1991.

[metricmonkeywrench]

CF Plinker By eye the lips appear parallel

No other markings on it other than the Colt over 45 acp as described before

[johniv]

I have some of the round follower mags, among my bushel basket of 1911 magazines. I don’t know why. I guess I just had to try them. I never had feeding problems with any of my 1911’s. Just had to try a gimmick.

[1Hawkeye]

I'm thinking the silver one might be an old AMT magazine.

[Markwell]

Back in the day, Colt branded 1911 mags were the gold standard (don't know who actually made them); we preferred the satin nickel finished one as they seemed to be "slicker" and were easier to clean up. Then came the 47D Wilsons and the whole deal changed. No longer did one need dedicated mags for each .45ACP pistol as the Wilsons seemed to run in almost all .45 chambered guns. The Supers 9mms were still problematic until recently.

That said, we still have some original GI mags that are in service and they are just fine.

[Bazoo]

In my use of the 1911, I’ve never had any issues with feeding and reliability except with Wilson combat and checkmate GI mags. I had one of the former that wouldn’t feed tc bullets. I had several of the latter that split on the back at the feedlip. One was checkmate made and kimber marked, others were straight checkmates.

Never an issue with Ed brown 7 & 8 rounders, Springfield stock mags made by metal form, shooting star mags, Ruger mags, colt mags, Kim pro 8 rounders.

[Electrod47]

I don't know who made the "Silver one" But, I have 2 and they work just fine.

[charlie b]

The only brand I ever bought were CM.

Before that I used GI 'salvage'. A gunsmith friend was kind of an expert in 'fixing' the feed problems on 1911 magazines. He had made himself mandrels for bending things back in place, feed lips, followers and springs. I think I had 20 of them before I stopped taking the handouts.

After he died I wanted a few more. CM's worked all the time for me and were not that expensive.

[35remington]

Radius the corner with a small round file to eliminate the stress riser and the feed lips won’t crack very soon. Standard procedure on mine. Checkmates, that is.

These are standard with several brands of 1911s thankfully. Using the magazines the designer intended should always be an option.