Making 8-round magazines run in a 1911a1...

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Chris Rhines

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Okay, lots of threads in the past about 8-round 1911 magazines, and how they are generally not as dependable as their 7-round brethren. What I haven't seen yet is an in-depth technical discussion on how to make 8-round magazines work reliably.

I've seen 1911s that work perfectly with 8-round magazines, so I know that it can be done.

Any takers?

- Chris
 
It has to do with the shape of the follower and the spring that's used. 8 rounders can be as reliable as 7 rounders,if they were designed for it from the start. Simply hacking off the bottom of the follower and putting in another spring usually doesn't work so well.
 
I've had very good luck with Wilson 8 round mags, they won't run forever without attention though unlike the good quality 7 round mags. You will need to keep an eye on the spring and follower and replace as needed. Over the years Wilson and others have improved the springs and followers to the point of near parity with 7 rounders.
 
I have used a mec-gar 10rd, several wilson 10rd, several CMC shooting star 8 rd, and several of these (similar to an 8rd CMC powermag). All work fine with the LSWC ammo I normally shoot. The factory mag (springfield 1911A1 8rd) looked identical to the shooting star mags except it was stainless (including the shooting star logo on the follower). They just work. I don't own (or see the need to buy) any 7 rd 1911 mags. If the pistol was only reliable with 7rd 1911 mags, I'd fix, modify, or replace the pistol.
 
8

tsk...*sigh*

Quote:

>If the pistol was only reliable with 7rd 1911 mags, I'd fix, modify, or replace the pistol.<
**************

Spend a hundred+ bucks "modifying" or get rid of a perfectly good pistol...over one extra round???:scrutiny:

I won't even allow an 8-round magazine on the same bench with one of mine.
The downside is that I never get to practice malfunction drills. Life's fulla tradeoffs, I guess...:cool:
 
If the pistol was only reliable with 7rd 1911 mags, I'd fix, modify, or replace the pistol.
Click to expand...
Not my quote, but it might as well have been.

I've seen enough 1911s run perfectly with 8-rd. magazines to think that all 1911s should be able to run with them. It was actually your input that I was most looking for, Tuner, but not if the sum total is, "Use 7-round mags." Not what I want. I have my reasons for wanting that extra round. If it costs $100+, that's money well spent in my book.

So, again, what should I do to insure reliability with 8-round magazines?

- Chris
 
Does the gun not work with 8-round magazines now?

My IDPA guns do just fine with them. The first sign of failure is the skimpy Wilson magazine springs not lifting the slide stop. So when one quits slide stopping reliably it is still feeding OK but is time to replace the spring.

I still carry with a 7-rounder, though.
 
Hmmm, never had a problem with either MecGar 8 rounders or Wilson 47D mags in either my Sistema or my Colt Combat Commander. Never had a problem using the Wilson Officer's Model 7 rounders in my Springfield Ultra Compact.

Guess that I am just lucky.
 
I have tens of thousands of rounds through my CMC PowerMags, both 8 and 10 round mags, without a hitch.

For me the key was to buy CMC PowerMags or Wilson 47D's and throw the Wilson spring out to be replaced with a Wolf +10%.
 
Spend a hundred+ bucks "modifying" or get rid of a perfectly good pistol...over one extra round???

I won't even allow an 8-round magazine on the same bench with one of mine.
The downside is that I never get to practice malfunction drills. Life's fulla tradeoffs, I guess...
Click to expand...

If it's marginal on that 8th round, I consider it to be marginal on the other 7 also. I have (and will) loaded premium defense ammo for personal protection in those same 8 (and 10) round mags that work flawlessly on the range. The only jams I've ever had with the pistol was in the first few hundred rounds when I was learning to reload 45 ACP. There were 5 or so rounds that wouldn't fit into the chamber so I don't fault the pistol for not feeding them. I fault me for not taper crimping properly.

Like Chris, I've seen many 1911 single-stack pistols that just work so well at matches and practice that they're boringly reliable. That's using 8 and 10 round mags with people who don't spend alot of time cleaning pistols. (USPSA shooters) Add a few drops of CLP and shoot it another 500-1000 rounds happens often unless it's before an important match. I'm not that competitive, but it certainly isn't because of pistol or ammo reliability.

To me, most 7 round mags are cheap mil-surplus or cheap copies of military mags that have the feed lips angled for FMJ only. I avoid those mags at all cost and will not allow them to be given to me even for free. I have no use for them since I rarely shoot FMJ. It's mostly LSWCs and a few JHPs.

The one thing going for my (mostly) stock pistol is the ramp/throat was nicely polished/smooth from the factory. I've seen gunsmith pictures of how a throat/ramp job should look and they could have used my stock barrel for the picture.

For me, reliability comes down to good ammo, good mags, and a good pistol. I have all 3 and they work well together. I'm hoping the next 20K rounds will be as good as the last 10K.
 
trippresearch.com

Their conversion kits are the cat's meow for 1911A1's who don't like regular 8 round mags.
 
All of the 7rd factory mags I've used (Kimber and Springfield) have had terrible feeding issues. I bought some CMC 8rd mags and they've run flawlessly for years. It's funny how some people swear by 7 rounders, some by 8, some people say that no 10 rounders on the planet will work reliably...:confused:

In my case, I'll take a functioning mag with an extra round over a nonfunctioning mag with one less round that's "supposed" to work better.
 
Okay, as a new 1911 owner, it is a Charles Daly Empire SS 5in, I have 2 8 round mags that came with my pistol. Would it be "safe" to say, that in keeping with the original 1911 design, 7 round mags, feeding ball ammo, would be/"should be" the most reliable? (And yes I acknowledge that many people have experience/knowledge of 8 round mags working just fine).

Tuner obviously prefers 7 round mags. Based on experience (no doubt) and belief in the original design?

Jim Watson, am curious why you carry with 7 round mags instead of 8?

My Magcar mags weren't very reliable thru the first 100 rounds I have fired. I just took them apart and cleaned them. Ugh. "dried/sticky" oil residue throughout. Not anymore!
I did field strip and oil the pistol before the range trip. AND field stripped and cleaned it afterwards. I was hitting paper, all but 2 times out of 100, but was consistently "low". about 7 O'clock. Have realized my grip was not optimal, will work on that. Don't think I was "limp wristing".... Will report back after tomorrows range session.

Thanks for starting this thread. I am eager to learn more.
 
Because the 8-round mutant magazines are adequately reliable for competiton, but I still consider the 7s to be more reliable in feeding and with more spring reserve for long periods loaded.
 
I have never experienced any problems whatsoever from the 8 round chip McCormick mags I've been using. A couple of them are 8 or 9 years old.
 
The way I get 8-round magazines to work reliably? I put them in the gun and shoot.

Tens of thousands of rounds of .45 ACP through different 1911's using 8-round magazines over the years and never have I experienced them not working except many years ago with some Wilsons. Threw them out for CMC/Shooting Star and have never had a problem. I even use a couple of Wilson mags now and have had no problems. I'm not even sure that I own any 7-round magazines. If I do, they're buried somewhere.

Perhaps the reason that people have problems is that they're screwing with the magazines too much?:confused:

I won't even use a 7-round magazine. Kinda like how I threw out or gave away all of my 10-rd hi-power magazines...
 
Never had any problems related to 7 round vs. 8 round magazines, just the rare problem magazine.

CMC 8 rounders have worked fine in both mine and other 1911s, not impressed with Wilson magazines.

I have left both 7 and 8 round magazines loaded for years without problems, and so have a few other folks I know.

Drop a loaded mag on the feed lips however, and you might have problems.

Just my observations.
 
Being a latecomer to the 1911, I didn't know 8-rounders were a serious problem. I have a '99 Kimber Stainless Gold Match and 4 McCormick stainless 8-rounders - 3 of them the plain Shooting Star model - and I've never had a problem. After 12,000+ rounds should I change the springs or something? And one of the three was used. If it ain't broke, etc?

John
 
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