1911 Magazines - kind of a stupid observation!

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RainDodger

RainDodger

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I told you it was kind of a stupid observation, but you're reading this anyway! So.... I've been shooting 1911s for a lot of years and I've accumulated a lot of 1911 magazines, most in .45ACP of course, but many others in .38 Super. I number all of my magazines to keep track of any that are failing regularly.

Roughly 25+ years ago, I bought a 1911 magazine at the recommendation of a guy in a well-known gun shop. He said it was the best 1911 magazine he had used to date, so I bought it. I was skeptical. It is a Marlin .45ACP magazine (nicely engraved on the bottom), stainless, non-removable base plate. Anti-tip, curved follower. It is very nicely made. It was also pretty cheap (back then).

I engraved that magazine "1" and kept numbering from there for a couple of decades. To this very day, I still have that magazine and I don't think it has ever failed. I have not logged one single failure for it and pretty much every time I shoot 1911s in .45ACP, I use that magazine a couple of times. It just keeps working like the Energizer Bunny. Other, more expensive magazines have failed. McCormick, Wilson, Colt, Kimber, even Sig. This Marlin magazine keeps going... and you CANNOT find more of them! I think they were made for the Marlin camp carbine or something.

I even wrote a snail-mail letter to Marlin and asked them if they had a secret store of them. They took the time to write back... nope... and they don't know what kind it is or where to find any. I'm sad about that!

Anybody have a similar stupid magazine story to make us smile while at work?
 
I did a search on Ebay and there was one used Marlin Camp Carbine mag for ~$50. The follower looked like those available with/from Metalform. Perhaps Metalform made the mags for Marlin, just a guess.
 
My dad bought a Llama back in the 70's three magazines are all still working. At least 15,000 rounds through the gun.
 
Never ever had a cheap Springfield 7rd mag fail me, can still get them for a good price too:)
 
Metalform makes the Springfield magazines. Inexpensive and reliable - they're the only 1911 magazines I buy.
 
I don't know if they still do, but Rock Island Armory 1911s used to ship with an 8 shot magazine. It was made by Mec-gar and had a removable plastic base plate. (I just checked, Midway USA still sells it.) I always hated this magazine. It has never failed me. FWIW, the Mecgar 7 round magazine with a welded base plate is also a great magazine
 
I have several Colt magazines from the late '70s that have been totally reliable all these years along with a stainless Pachmayr magazine that I bought at around the same time. The Pachmayr has a rounded follower and came with a rubber base pad on it. Very reliable and very durable and still looks good to this day.
 
Everyone seems to like Springfield magazines. It's weird but I have 2 stainless SA magazines (recently bought) and they will fall out of my two Springfield 1911s all by themselves... I'll shoot a couple of rounds and they'll simply slip down about a half inch and the next round won't be picked up. Yes, the magazines were locked in place just fine. They work ok in other guns however. Weird. One 1911 is what Springfield called their "Basic" 1911 back in the 90s, and the other is a relatively new TRP. Nothing wrong with the guns!
 
I had that exact magazine in .45acp.
Those were made for the Marlin Camp carbines.
Mine lost its bottom one day, and the innards went flying.
So much for having a permanent base plate.
It now resides in a land fill somewhere.
 
Original Colt that came with my 1980 Commander still works great. It stays loaded in the gun and only occasionally goes to the range.
 
I'll stick with what works for me, Wilson 47D mags for the .45 ACP 1911's. Wilson ETM's (Elite Tactical Mags) for the STI Trojan 9mm 1911. I also know that the Tripp Cobra Mags are excellent, especially for competition. My Dan Wesson Valor came with 2 CMC Shooting Stars and I didn't like those. The Check-Mate mags that come with the new DW Valors aren't much better than the CMC Shooting Stars. The single Metalform mag that came with the STI Trojan 9mm isn't bad, but I still like the Wilson ETM's better.
 
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Interesting about all the good luck people have had with the Wilson 47D mags. I had exactly the opposite. They would fail to lock back the slide on the last round, among other things as I recall. And that was in multiple 1911s.

I think the best reliability I've had have been McCormick, and believe it or not... factory Kimber mags (in my .38 Super). Not sure who makes the Kimber mags, but they're one of the big ones - Checkmate or someone like that.
 
The OP brings up why I tend to buy many magazines at one go. Once I establish that a mag is generally working well, then I normally will pick up another 8 to 10 right away to try and catch that same production run.

I had a similar occurrence that started this rule with Les Baer. My first Baer 45ACP mags are nice, thick metal, solid baseplate, metal follower and worked perfectly. I only had 2 of them. I finally (several years later) realized I needed more and ordered more from Baer. His new mags are thinner metal, plastic follower and thinner basepplate and bumper. They work 100% but it really bothers me to have the two different types.

So moral of the story, is if you find a good set of mags you like, get a bunch. Lately I have been buying up to a dozen at a whack. For example:

g20_ready_togo.jpg

210_mags.jpg
 
Can you elaborate on how the Checkmates "aren't much better?"
Click to expand...
I have a friend who bought a new Dan Wesson Valor which came with 2 Check-Mate mags. The gun would not lock back on one of these mags when the gun was new. Now DW did replace this mag, but he doesn't use these mags, he has 8 Tripp Cobra Mags and his Valor has been and continues to be 100% with the Tripp Cobra Mags. I know that a lot of OEM's ship Check-Mate mags with their guns and a lot of people have no problems with these, but I'm describing one problem that I know about.

Interesting about all the good luck people have had with the Wilson 47D mags. I had exactly the opposite. They would fail to lock back the slide on the last round, among other things as I recall. And that was in multiple 1911s.
Click to expand...

I have never had a problem with any of my Wilson 47D mags or my Wilson ETM mags in any of my 1911's. My first SW1911 came with 2 47D mags, and that is how & why I started using them. A worn follower can cause the problem you encountered, these polymer followers will wear a little with use over time, no problem, this is easily corrected with a follower & spring replacement kit. I have one which I haven't had to use yet.
 
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The statement you made in post #14 that "The Check-Mate mags that come with the new DW Valors aren't much better than the CMC Shooting Stars." is certainly not justified by your statement in post #18 that "The gun would not lock back on one of these mags when the gun was new."

One guy (not even yourself so it's just hearsay anyway) having a problem with one mag just doesn't translate into your broad-based slam of post #14.
 
The statement you made in post #14 that "The Check-Mate mags that come with the new DW Valors aren't much better than the CMC Shooting Stars." is certainly not justified by your statement in post #18 that "The gun would not lock back on one of these mags when the gun was new."

One guy (not even yourself so it's just hearsay anyway) having a problem with one mag just doesn't translate into your broad-based slam of post #14.
Click to expand...

Just to summarize here, I have a DW Valor that came 2 with CMC Shooting Stars which caused failures to lock back with both mags. But my gun functions perfectly with my Wlison 47D magazines. My friend has a newer DW Valor that came with 2 8-round Check-Mate mags where the gun failed to lock back on 1 mag. That gun functions perfectly with Tripp Cobra Mags. BTW, I failed to mention that my Valor works with his Tripp Cobra mags and his Valor works with my Wilsons. These are all factual statements, but if these same mags worked fine in other guns, then I guess I would stand corrected. But the fact is we didn't try these mags in any of our other 1911's since we already had mags that we knew worked in every other 1911 we tried them with.

I'd just as soon bury this dead horse rather than beat it some more. Sorry if my comment rubbed you the wrong way, I'm only speaking from my own experience and from what I experience first hand.
 
No need to be sorry! Your comment didn't rub me the wrong way.

I was simply pointing out a fallacy in logic called hasty generalization, where a single problem with one mag was generalized to "The Check-Mate mags that come with the new DW Valors aren't much better than the CMC Shooting Stars."
 
I have a Triple K that has never failed and two Pachmayrs that are very unreliable. I'm not sure who made the Pachmayrs but they're marked Italy.
 
Probably ACT.

I've got some ACT-made nickel plated mags sold and branded by Wolff. Nice mags. Many of the OEM mags that come with S&W 1911s are made by ACT in Italy as well.
 
Years ago, I bought an AMT Hardballer that came with a Randall magazine.

That magazine won't feed anything other than ball ammo, but it is otherwise boring reliable. The lips are straight, but with a much later release than the premium mags of today, which is why I'm assuming it wont feed JHPs.
 
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