1911 magazine differences

[Nushif]

I was looking for some extra magazines for my RIA compact and went out to my local gunsmith. He handed me the only Officer sized magazine, cut me a deal and home I went. The magazine I bought was a Springfield Armory magazine.

I took the magazine to the range and it fed all ammo very reliably and consistently. But it only rarely held the slide open on the last shot.

I got home and examined the two magazines I now own. The one that came with the gun has been flawless in all its functions. It is a seven roound non-flush Officer ACT-Mag brand.
The less functional one is stamped as an SA.

The only functional difference I see is the way the follower (the thing that actually rests on top of the spring and keep pushing bullets up?) is designed.
the fully functional one does not guide the bullet all the way into the chamber. The lip on the front of it simply drops off. This also allows the follower(?) to very positively engage the slidelock.
Now, the less functional one has a different design here. the front part of the follower is split. And only the side facing the slide stop is bent downward. What appears to be happening is that the SA magazine's follower skips over the slidestop and at times ill not even drop out of the fun because the front lip of the follower is hung up on the slidestop!

I am not above bending some metal with my plyers, and my plan is to simply bring the gun with me to the next gun show before I buy more magazines and test them ... But for right now, what can I do to this SA magazine to make it work? I really do prefer the flush fit.

 

[JTQ]

Here are a couple of articles worth reading.

http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/index.html

http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines2/

The follower on your SA mag is the traditional GI follower. I've had pretty good success with them, though you may have a bad one. SA doesn't make mags, but I can't remember who the maker is. It is either Metaform or MecGar, one of those "M" company's.

The ACT-Mag (they are the maker here), also found wearing Novak, or Wolff names, has a pretty good reputation with the exception of cracks at the rear of the feed lips.

 

[Walkalong]

I am running Wilson, Kimber Pro-Tac mags in my "Officers" size grip Kimber. They great in that particular gun. I am a fan of the Check Mate (Hybrid feed lips) mags for full size guns. I haven't bought Officer size Check Mates for the Kimber only because the Wilson and Pro-Tac mags are running so well in it.

 

[stormspotter]

On a few of my factory Colt mags, with the dimpled follower, I've had to bend the lower leg out some, so it would not ride over the slide lock. Just be sure it will not bind inside the mag body.

 

[Nushif]

Here we go. Jumped through some electronic hoops and re-created an image account.



The above picture shows both magazines side by side. The one on the left (an ACT-Mag) is a perfectly functional and good mag. The one on the right (stamped "SA 45 NM") is the less than functional one. Height differences appear because of the plastic baseplate on the left one.



The above picture is the flawlessly functioning mag. As you can see it engages the slidelock quite nicely.



This picture shows the bad mag. The magazine follower has bounced past the slidelock at this point and the magazine needs to be pulled out with excessive force.

At this point, what can I do to the bad mag that would make it function completely? I should mention that both actually feed rounds without an issue, and that the slidelock engagement is the only problem here.

I read both articles, absorbed as much information as I could, but neither addressed the style of follower on the left, which works very well for my gun and neither addressed the style of follower, or rather the specific problem I am having with the one on the right.

Basically ... "I don't know enough to even ask a good question."

 

[Greg528iT]

I'm sure Mr 1911, Sam, will jump in with the right answer.. but I'm going to add my 2 cents anyway. It looks like the tab needs to be bent fwd and a little out to avoid it jumping over the slide lever.

My Springfield Ultra Compact came with 2 short magazines. When I am at the range I use my standard length magazines, and my carry back up magazine it standard length. Yeah it sticks out a bit, but once I go thru the 1st mag, I'm going to be too busy to worry about that.

 

[IlikeSA]

Different makers have different ways of making mags, and different mags function differently in 1911s, as you noticed. There's not much you can do, short of selling the mag, which I believe is more trouble than it is worth, or using it as a training tool or second mag carried in your mag pouch for reloads. I have a magazine that doesn't work well (jams randomly every few shots) and I use it for tap/rack/bang drills.

If the other mag works well, consider buying several of the same mags from the same company, using the internet.