Which 1911 mags?

Probably the most commonly asked question on the various internet forums.

The answer is to buy one of each major brand for testing with all your ammo, select the one that works best and buy more of them, put the other ones up for sale.

Everyone has their own personal magazine preferences. My personal preference for 8 round .45 magazines is THIS one or THIS one.

Many will weigh in with suggestions for Wilson, McCormick, and Tripp. I have used them all.

Mine is a kimber and the Kimber mags work good. The paraordanance works good but is only about 75% feeding the hg68 style swc. They both feed the Lee round swc just dandy.

I've had better luck with McCormick and Tripp than I have with Wilson 47D. The Wilson ETM seems to work for me though.

Wilson, MecGar, Chip for me!

Steve in Allentown said:

Probably the most commonly asked question on the various internet forums.

The answer is to buy one of each major brand for testing with all your ammo, select the one that works best and buy more of them, put the other ones up for sale.

Everyone has there own personal magazine preferences. My personal preference for 8 round .45 magazines is THIS one or THIS one.

Many will weigh in with suggestions for Wilson, McCormick, and Tripp. I have used them all.

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I will be the first of many, I guess. All three are good mags. I run Wilson 47D's, have one CMC Shooting Star. My dad uses Tripp mags.

brewer12345 said:

Good idea on testing a few brands. Thanks.

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Some of the manufacturers have some suggestions on their web sites about which magazine for what ammunition.

Not fool proof, but some more information to consider.

Chip McCormick Power Mags and Wison Combat 47D have fed various brand 200 gr LSWC bullets in Sig/SA/Kimber/RIA 1911s I have shot without issues using factory/WC/Wolff 16-18.5 lb recoil springs.

If I were to buy just one brand/model, Chip McCormick Power Mag and it comes in either stainless or black stainless steel.

If you want a cheaper but still good quality mag, look at the house branded Brownells mags. I've had great luck with them in 9mm, but have not tried them in 45.

I like the Wilson's and Kimbers in 45 ACP from my own experience.

Chip McCormick. But I think someone bought them out years ago.

9mmepiphany said:

For a good balance of function and value, I stocked up on the McCormick PowerMags (not the Shooting Stars)...

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I like PowerMags for actually using as 8 rounders when imma drop them on reloads.
I have a bunch of shooting stars and they're OK but I use them as 5 rounders for bullseye type range mags.

I have cheap ones and expensive ones. Didn't see much difference anymore other than the name on the package and the base pads. Mecgar work well, so do Metalform, McCormick, Kimber, Springfield and Wilson Combat. I've never had any luck with 10 (45) round magazines in any guns I have.
My carry gun (Sig Sauer C3 1911) gets Wilson Combat which run just fine in them.

Right now there's a 5 pack of new stainless Metalform on eBay for $82+ .... Hard to beat that

I have Wilson Combat 7,8&10 rounders,all have been ok for me.I don't often fool with the 10 round though,I don't like the hockey stick look,and although it's never failed,I'm not certain I completely trust it.I have a pile of Mec Gar's for pistols other than the 1911 and they all work great

In my 45 ACP 1911's, I shoot primarily 230 FMJ ammunition and just about any magazine seems to work fine. I've done a little fiddling with HP bullets without much success unless the bullet is close to the profile of a 230 FMJ bullet. But, I supposed the current feed ramp profie of current production models may be more HP bullet friendly.

I prefer the 7 round magazines but I really do not have any negative results with 8 round magazines.

I have two 1911's with a 38/45 Clerke barrel in them. One, is a Series 70 Government model frame and it has particular preferences on magazines. The other is a re-barreled Gold Cup and it is not as fussy about the magazine.

Generally, my 45 ACP Gold Cups are pretty acceptable with 185-200 grain SWC ammunition. The feed ramp is cut a bit different than the feed ramp of my 1980 vintage Government models. I have not really inspected it well but a cursory inspection shows there are differences.

My 38 Super and 9x19 1911s do not seem to be as fussy about the magazine but I do tend to shoot ball ammunition in them as well.

I have one 1911 with a Kart 38 Special barrel in it. It shoots crazy small groups of 38 Special wadcutter ammunition but it won't feed the last round in the magazine. One of these days, I'll get back to working on this pistol to correct the last round feeding issue. I have a couple aftermarket 38 Special magazines as well as a couple modified standard magazines. No joy yet.

Besides 45 ACP 1911's.I have 1911's chambered in 40 S&W, 357 Sig, 38 Super, 38/45 Clerke, 9x19, 38 Special, and 22LR. I guess I like 1911's.

Story time:

Years ago I bought a Remington R1 to play a specific game during the winter. (right when they came out to give you a time frame) In looking at mags back then and going into sticker shock, then thinking of dumping them on a concrete floor, that is something in my little peanut brain I could not do. So I did what some people here suggested, I bought a couple from the "big names", and then I bought 5 of the most inexpensive mags I could find at a gun show. IIRC $5 each when I bought 5 of them.

Me being lazy did not clean that gun after the first match and that was all this lazy SOB needed to try a little experiment. Can I run an entire season and not clean the gun? Can I run the entire season and use those cheap mags, and let me tell you they are CHEAP. Answer to both questions was yes. Never an issue in likely well over 1000 rounds, never did keep count, but at least 100 a week between the game and practice. It was a sorry looking 1911 by the end with a very dirty nose, but I never did a single thing to it, no oil, no nothing. And at the end of the season it really was not that bad. Changed my views on cleaning then and there.

There are issues that are mag related, there are issues that are "gun" related, and there are issues that a mag can have and the gun not care about, but that one over there will have real issues with.

The question always comes up after saying this, well would you trust your life to those cheapo mags, man something just seems wrong in saying yes, but that one season in that one gun, yup I would.

Wilson or McCormick.

My tool shed was out of level.
I used the Kimber magazine that came with my Kimber target model under one side as a shim.
It worked well for that.

It didn't work as a device to hold .45acp rounds for a 1911. so all I can say is - get Kimber magazines if you need a leveling shim & something else for your 1911..probably Wilson since so many say good things about them.
(I use Colt myself since I'm fine with 7 rounds)

Virgil Tripp does it best.... Cobra Mag for the win. Poly where it should be and metal where it should be.

I mostly buy Brownells mags, or KCI from gunmagwarehouse. The KCI's are 7 rounds but work fine so far in a Ruger 1911A1, as do the Brownells.

Mec gar is the actual manufacturer for most factory mags. I use there 8rds.

I have about 15 Chip McCormick 8-round mags. Plain-jane, welded baseplate, blued. They used to be called "Shooting Star" mags, I think now CMC calls them "Classic Full Size 1911" magazines. They fit flush on a GI-type frame (no mag well). They've worked extremely well in my Kimber for about 20 years, as well as several other 1911s I've bought and sold in that time. Wilson and others may perform better but also cost considerably more. YMMV.

I also have some Metalform mags in 9mm for my compact 1911; while I've never used their .45ACP magazines, I wouldn't hesitate to get some, as my 9mm mags have been flawless so far.

For me MecGar is great, but definitely NOT Wilson, especially 47D. YMMV, so trying a few is a great plan.