1911 Magazines

[Nightcrawler]

I only have two mags for my new Colt. So, I'm going to order some new mags from CDNN.

Are Chip McCormicks good?

What about "Mitchell" manufacture?

Mec-Gars? I know their other magazines are all top-notch.

Yes, yes, I know, "buy Wilsons", but Wilsons are expensive.

 

[Sean Smith]

Buy Wilsons.

If you want to go cheaper, get Metalforms. But you can find good deals on Wilsons if you shop around.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Doesn't Metalform make the magazines for Colt, Kimber, and Springfield? The mags I have have a welded baseplate with "COLT 45 AUTO" on the bottom, with a little Colt pony and the letter "C" up in the corner. They're 7-rounders, and have a little dimple in the follower (what is this for?).

I'm thinking I'm going to buy some Chip McCormicks. A search ont he topic revealed that they're generally well liked, and I can get a good deal on them from CDNN.

Wilsons seem to typically run $25+ a piece, whereas I can get CMC mags from CDNN for $12.99. If CMC is a quality brand, it's hard to argue with that price.

I understand that you shouldn't leave the 8-rounders loaded for extended periods of time, but quality 7-round mags seem to work well, even if left loaded for years.

Also, why does anyone not recommend Mec-Gar 1911 mags? Mec-Gar makes magazines for companies like Sig, and they're some of the most sought-after pre-ban magazines for the wondernines. Are their 1911 magazines inferior somehow?

 

[raz-0]

I use chip mccormick mags and like them (8 rounders, just picked up some 10s, but haven't used them yet). In poking around looking for info on 10 rounders for use in limited 10 IPSC shooting, I found a review wehre they compared metalform, ed brown, chip mccormick, and wilson combat by handing them out to folkss to try for the day at a shoot. Wish I had kept the link handy.

The metalform (metalforms with round followers, about $28 a pop) tied with ed brown (which were just relabeled metalforms of the same kind it seems). The CMC ones were the next most reliable. And the wilson combat ones came up last.

But to put it in perspective you were talking zero failures, zero failures, one failure, and 3 failures. IIRC they outfitted two people with each brand or something like that and let them run the course.

As far as flush fitting magazines, I haven't had any problems with my 8-round CMC shooting stars, and my friend hasn't had any problem with his 8 round wilson's. (I think the wilsons poke out some, but hey)

 

[spacemanspiff]

1. buy a defensive firearm = $hundreds and hundreds of dollars
2. buy enough ammo to break firearm in = hundreds and hundreds of dollars, unless you reload
3. ask for the cheapest magazines to put in your high-quality weapon.
4. look for the cheapest holster to carry your high quality weapon loaded with low quality magazines.


???? what gives? your weapon is useless if the feed device is sub-par. thats just my humble opinion anyways.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Well, Mr. Spiff, has it occured to you that after spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars on this gun, I don't have that much money left over? LOL

Seriously, why pay $25.00 a pop for Wilson magazines if $13.00 CMCs will work just as good? I don't want to pay extra for a brand name. Whether you buy your pants at Wal-Mart or you buy your pants at a trendy boutique in the mall, they're all made in Malaysia...

And I never once mentioned a holster. Go rant in somebody else's thread.

 

[John Forsyth]

I have used Wilson-Rogers, Chip McCormick, and Metalform. All worked in some pistols, some worked in all pistols.

The CMC Shooting Stars work great as range mags, but seem to get beat up when used in IDPA (they hit the ground a lot). For that reason I only use mags with removable bases, i.e., CMC Power Mags and Wilson-Rogers in my .45's. Easier to clean and work on.

 

[VG]

I use CMC Shooting Stars 8 rounders and 10 rounders with out a hitch....I just choose chip's mags ...but that is cuz that's all the local shop carries on hand.





Rusher

 

[George Hill]

spacemanspiff has a point.

 

[Cawdor]

I use 7 round Mec-Gars in my Springfield. They have not been a problem, but I also have not had a problem with the factory Springfield mags.

Try Mid-South for Mec-Gars.

 

[1911Tuner]

MetalForm

Howdy Nightcrawler. If you want good magazines on the cheap, go online and find Metalform. Get the 7-round blued magazines with round follower
for about 9 bucks a pop when you order 10 or more. Cut out the
middle man by ordering direct. Call them toll-free and ask for Ginny.
Their round followers are getting excellent reports for reliability, and
I intend to order a few soon for evaluation.

The dimple in the center of the follower is there to keep the last round
from walking out of the magazine when the tension is lowest, and the inertial bounce of the round is likely. Inertia during recoil causes the
spring to "float" for a split second, and the last round isn't held against
the feed lips. As the pistol torques rearward and the slide hits the impact surface, the round winds up ahead of where it needs to be for a controlled feed, resulting in push-feeds and extractor snap-over. In some cases,
the round can escape and the slide locks back, leaving the round lying on
top.

The occurence is gets more frequent as the spring gets tired...so the
dimple acts to keep magazine function less dependent on spring tension.

The Colt magazines with the "C" are of Colt manufacture. The ones with
an "M" on the base are Metalform...as are McCormicks, Springfield.
and Kimber.

If anybody would like a full description of the inertial action, I'll be
happy to post on a new thread with moderator approval, since it's
a little long.

Hope this answers some questions,

Tuner

 

[RSKING45]

I have tryed alot of different brands and liked the Chip McCormick the best.I have 8 and 10round mags for years now and havent had any problems yet.
Rich

 

[SAWBONES]

Like John Farnam says when it comes to life-saving gear, "economize elsewhere".

Reliable magazines are an absolute necessity.
Don't scrimp on quality!

I've used GI, Wilson, Baer, CMC Shooting Star, Metalform, Mec-Gar, Colt, Wolff and Tripp's.

BY FAR, the Wolff and Tripp magazines are THE best, but they're also the most expensive. (Tripp's are $45 each.)

A good compromise is Metalforms, using their rounded steel follower. Not too expensive, and quite reliable, as well as pretty durable.

 

[railroader]

Nightcrawler, I have mccormick, mecgar, wilson and novak mags for my kimber and they all work. I'm pretty sure the novak's are mecgar 8 round mags like they sell at cdnn for about $8, they have a removable base and they work just fine. http://www.cdnninvestments.com/col1945ac8rd1.html Mark

 

[Art Eatman]

Funny-odd about mags, mag quality and mag problems. I'm still having no difficulty with GI mags that were "new" (?) around 1970. They've survived a couple of years of IPSC during the early 1980s. I've had some Brand X unknowns that needed some tweaking on the lips, but they then worked okay.

, Art

 

[Nightcrawler]

See, here's the thing. Wilson has a pretty good marketing campaign going. They've got half the country convinced, it seems, that they make the world's only reliable 1911 magazine. So they sell them at $25 to $30 a pop, and tell people "it's worth it if you bet your life on your gun". People buy 1911s, practically throw away the factory mags that come with it, and buy the Wilsons. Pretty good racket they got going.

However, considering that all the companies out there seem to be quite capable of making functional magazines for all the other guns, I don't really believe that Wilsons are the only ones that work. Will I buy a couple? Probably. But I like to have a LOT of magazines for my weapons (for nothing else, it makes range trips more convenient). A lot of wilson magazines would run into the hundreds of dollars, and it simply isn't worth it if a CMC or Metalform, or even a GI magazine, works just as well.

Besides, it seems to me that people were depending on 1911s for self defense long before anyone had ever heard of Wilson Combat.

Now, if their mags were truly the only ones worth anything, then yeah, I'd go for it.

 

[AndABeer]

For .45 ACP, I like McCormick 8-round Power Mags

Funny thing is that I like them for my 10mms too

 

[45auto]

Like some here, I just don't have mag problems with various brands.
I own Wilson, Shooting Star and Mec-gar and they all work great.
All need spring replacements when weak and back to reliable function.

The Wilson "looks" stronger than the others and has a lifetime warranty, but their follower and spring replacement is $8.00. I can buy CMC springs for $4.00 including shipping and don't need to replace the follower.
I am going to try CMC Power mags also.
I do like the removable base now.

I think it depends on whether you consider mags a lifetime item.
If so, buy the Wilsons, pay the price and in 15 years, if they are all banged up, send them back for replacement. During that time period, if you shoot a lot with 8 round mags, you will have spent quite a bit for replacement springs and followers so you will get back some of your money.

For some of the others, buy the cheaper spring replacements and toss them when they are split or bent- if and when that happens.

If this sounds like I am trying to be cheap with mags- I'm not.
I just haven't found a 'working' difference between the three mags- yet.
I suspect the Wilson is the most durable...but!

I actually like the Mec-gar design the best, it seems to lock the mag in better than the others(less play) in my guns. I don't believe they will be as durable as CMC or Wilson.

It doesn't hurt to have different 'quality' mags for different uses, as long as they work.

 

[ACP230]

SARCO is selling new seven-round mags for $5.95 each.
They have some other seven-round mags for the .45 @ $9.95 each, and stainless "Shooting Star brand" eight rounders for $11.95.
Their website is www.sarcoinc.com.

 

[Edward429451]

My original Colt mag works good. My old Wilson-Rogers works good. My 8 rnd Mag-Pac works good.

3 of the 4 new Wilson mags work good so far. I E-Mailed Wilson about the one bad mag that ejects the 7th round prematurely and jams on it. They didn't even respond to my E-Mail. Its got me wondering about them.

 

[10-Ring]

I prefer the Wilson mags, but I've had good luck w/ McCormicks too.

 

[SouthpawShootr]

Chip McCormick sells two brands of mags under McCormick name. One is Shooting Star (typically about $15), the other is the Powermag. Powermags are premium and typically are priced up there with Wilsons (~$30). From what I've heard Kimber factory mags are Shooting Stars. These things are widely criticized on just about every board I've visited. I bought a Kimber TLE and I'll tell you, I'm not impressed with the mag at all. First time I tried it, I had 2 jams. I bought 4 Wilsons, no more problems. Also, have a number of old Colt mags Never had a problem with either Wilson or Colt. It really is you get what you pay for. If you're looking for range mags, then CMC Shooting Stars are good for that application. Defense? Buy the better quality ones.

 

[Art Eatman]

Re: "Weak Springs".

Somebody explain something to me about magazine springs. Back some 20+ years ago, I was shown how to make a 7-round magazine into an 8-rounder. It involved cutting a "Z" out of the spring plus a couple of other tweaks. So, I modified a couple of them. There is obviously a good bit less spring pressure, particularly for the last two or three rounds.

I don't know how many cycles they've been put through since around 1982. Bunches, for sure. But, they have always worked, and still work.

Since I've never had a failure to feed, I don't understand the problem.

Art

 

[AndABeer]

Powermags are premium and typically are priced up there with Wilsons (~$30).

Power Mags are less than 20 from Midway.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I ordered four Chip McCormick eight round "Powermags" from Cheaper than Dirt for roughly $18.00 apiece. That's about what I'd pay for a Mec-Gar CZ-97 mag, so it's no huge deal. I'm tempted to try one of those KRD nine/ten round 1911 mags that CDNN has. KRD is Argentinian Military, I believe, and their High Power mags have good reputations.