GI 1911 Mags

[Kalos]

Hey all. In a horrible display of Poor Impulse Control, I picked up my first 1911, a Dan Wesson PM1-B last week. It's beautiful, w/ a perfect trigger (IMO!) and a great shooter for me--I'm not the best shot by any means, being still a relatively new shooter, but had no problem putting almost every round in the head or COM of a blue man target from 7-10 yards or so.

Since I've only got the one mag it came with, I'm curious if Tuner or any of the rest of you have had any experience w/ the GI surplus mags currently being sold over at ammoman.com. I'm not looking to skimp on quality mags--I know magazines are one of the areas where the 1911 is particularly sensitive--but 5 for $50 or 10 for $80 would be hard to beat.

Particularly since I fear I'm hooked on the style...

 

[Kalos]

Crap--meant to put this in Autoloaders. Someone care to move it?

 

[Kodiak AK]

CDNN has Mecgar for like $8 .$5 if you go demo.

 

[Grunt]

Well, after we got rid of the M-1911A1 and replaced them with the M-9 (yeah, not a bright move IMHO but that's another story) I scrounged a bunch of USGI mags out of the trash and brought them back home. Some have worked flawlessly and some had a lot of problems. With the sheer number of magazines I rescued (hey, if the humane society can sponser animal rescues, why not call it a "magazine rescue" ) swapping parts gave me a pretty good number of 100% reliable magazines. I'm not sure how the surplus magazines going through wholesale dealers are going to perform but it's been my experience that you might get a good one and you might get a bad one so you are going to want to make sure they have a good return policy in case you do get one of the bad ones.

 

[1911Tuner]

USGI Mags

Real USGI magazines are very good. The bulk of the ones seen around gun shows are later governemtn contract magazines, and are not quite as sturdy as the WW2 era and pre-war magazines,(Plain baseplate) but
are pretty decent and durable enough for hard use.

I don't have the contract numbers handy at the present, but dsk or
Jim Keenan might.

Most of the ones that I've picked up in the last 20-odd years functioned
perfectly, and only in the last five years I've replaced the springs with
Wolff 11-pounders. Once in a while I'll lose one to a broken tack weld
or a crack at the top rear of the feed lips...but considering how much
they've been used, and the fact that I probably paid about 10 dollars a dozen for'em...I can't complain a bit.

Most of'em function reliably with hardball only...but about 10% of'em
run just as well with hollowpoints like Hydra-Shok and Hornady XTPs...
Most GI hardball magazines will do fine with Golden Saber if the barrel
is throated...which all the newer ones any more...and I've got two
GI Colts and a Rand with GI throats that will do fine with hardball
magazines and Golden Sabers.

Don't have any experience with the High-Standard contract mags, but
I understand that they're pretty decent for the money. Issues with magazines can usually be fixed by setting the follower angle, using Wolff
springs, and maybe adjusting the width of the lips a little. .535-.540 inch
with a round in the mag is about right.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[longeyes]

I bought five, originally for my Sistema. My Sistema is throated (King's) but I only use them at the range with ball ammo and they are fine, no problems.

 

[Kalos]

Thanks all. Cash is going to be tight for a while due to an $800 repair bill for the car, but I might scrounge up $50 to give these a try.

 

[BigBlueEyedDevil]

Check eBay. I just purchased 5 Colt 1911 mags for $65 including shipping. They are stainless steel and the 7 rounders. Happy shopping. Also, try looking at gun shows. Tyler

 

[Zach S]

I have some of the USGI mags from ammoman.com, the wierd thing about them is that they have the short feed lips, not like my older GI mags. I havent tried anything but 230 ball in them even though they look like they'll feed HPs.
[edit]Now that I think about it, they have fed silvertips and CCI shotshells.[/edit]

I've heard of the bottoms popping off occasionally, I cant remember if that happened to one of mine or not. Mine are range-duty only, except for the two I keep in my gloveboxes loaded with ball ammo. I've lost one or two, doesnt bother me because for the price, they are somewhat disposable.

 

[BluesBear]

I have had several of the High-Standard magazines since November and they all work 100%.

CDNN has Mecgar for like $8 .$5 if you go demo.

Those $8 & $5 ones are NOT real Mec-Gar magazines!
Take a look and compare for yourself. The real Mec-Gar is on the right the ones CDNN sells is on the left.

 

[HSMITH]

I've had dozens of the GI mags and they all worked fine with ball ammo. Mine were all new though, none were surplused or used. Some of them fed hollopoints and some didn't. A simple mark on the baseplate with a paint pen worked for me to tell them apart. I still have 15-20 of them new in the wrappers, they are well worth hanging on to.

 

[wally]

Hmmm....

The six Mec-Gar mags I got from CDNN a few months ago sure look like your ones on the right. Your pics made me curious so I took off a floorplate, same spring too as your one shown on the right.

The mag you show on the left looks like the pair of Mec-Gars I picked up maybe 10 years ago at a gun show.

Its possible the ones sold as "demo" are the old style. Both styles have so far functioned 100% for me in all my 45s.

I mostly use the CMC "tactial" 8-rounders (without mounting the bumper pad) from CDNN because I prefer a flush fititng floorplate, but I blow lots of rounds thru the Mec-gars when shooting steel plates or plinking reactive targets.


I did get a "fake" Para-Ordanance P12 mag from CDNN, but they took it back without a hassle -- looked like someone put a PO baseplate and follower on a USA or Promag (didn't say "Made in Canada" on the body and the area of the slide stop cutout was formed differently from the real deal). I wouldn't have cared if it worked, but it didn't.

The "Springfield Factory" hicap 45 mags CDNN is selling appear to also be ProMags, which may have been Springfield's OEM but these also don't work in my pistol, CDNN also took them back.

--wally.

 

[Dave Sample]

Junk. I only use CMC magazines in my 1911's with one or two Wolff 7 rounders. Those are NOT Colt Magazines.