Recommendations on 1911 Mags?

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gordx

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Hello All: I just bought my first .45 (SA G.I. 45). When I took it to the range I got mis-feeds right away on just the last round (again and again). Are the supplied mags just bad? I bought a Chip McCormack 8-rounder and that helped a little.
 
No problems with my stock Springfield magazine. I, and many others, like Wilson Combat 47D 8-round magazines.

Perhaps we can help with your problem. Please describe, with the maximum detail possible, what you mean by "mis-feed".
 
I bought a box of Remington .45 ACP 230 Gr and loaded the "row" of 5 in the mag. The first 4 went fine and the fifth jammed. Having never fired a .45 this alarmed me. I removed the mag and pulled the slide to eject the unfired round. It was pointing up and had to be plucked out. The next grouping of five produced the same result (again only on the last round). I went back into the shop and bought their in-stock mag (the Chip McCormick). Got the same results on the Remingtons. I bought some MagTech ammo ane the next 2 or three mag loads seemed fine. IT seems the gun is unusually picky.
 
Shouldn't be the magazine, is it the standard 7 rd mag with the dimpled follower?, which should be good to go - especially new. Did you clean and oil the pistol before shooting it? Ammo could have been out of spec - shouldn't have been but?? Could be too much extractor tension. I'd give it a good cleaning first and maybe try removing the recoil spring and plug and see how it push feeds - IF USING LIVE AMMO BE VERY VERY CAREFUL.
 
1911Tuner and others make a strong case for using 7-round magazines instead of 8 rounders. I've had good luck with Wilson Combat magazines - both 8 and 7 rounders. But I use the 7 round Wilson for personal defense.
 
Never had any problems with the two 7 rd SA mags that came with mine... Course I've never had any problems with the 10 rd CMC or 8 rd CMC mags I've bought in addition to those either...
 
Stock SA mags are quite good- I have several. Before making final determinations, make sure your gun is broken in; it will take 200-500 rounds before the gun settles down (usually on the lower end of that).

I like Chip McCormick PowerMags the best; I know 1911Tuner disagrees with that choice, but my gun is quite happy with them. The regular SA mags are made by Metalform, and they have yet to do me wrong either.
 
stock colts are fine for the range, but for carry, I wouldn't trust anything except wilson 8 rounders. I have tried loading 8 different rounds, firing on weird angles, clean, dirty, and everytime the wilsons feed right. I can't say the same for factory colt, mec-gar or SA mags.
 
I have several dozen 1911 mags, all the way from OLD GI mags to new McCormick 10 rounders. The consistently best mag for the money IMO is the McCormick Power Mag. I have put tens of thousands of rounds through them without a bit of trouble, and it is the only mag I have owned that I can say that about.

The Wilson mag is a great mag too, AFTER you put a quality spring in it.
 
Misfed Last Round

Howdy gordx,

Your last round malfunction is known as a Bolt-Over-Base feed, and is caused by the slide outrunning the round as it struggles to get into feeding position under the inertial forces of recoil. The magazine is probably okay. Most of the 7-round mags that come with the GI Springfields are, though a few have shown up recently that aren't. The problem is that the spring is too light...and light mag springs most often rear their malfunctioning heads on the last round, when tension is at a minimum. A Wolff 11-pound spring will cure the problem unless there's something wrong with the mag. Order from Brownells.
 
As far as 8 rounders go, CMC PowerMags and Tripp's CobraMags for me.

I've never had a mag related problem with PowerMags, CobraMags, or MetalForm 7 rnd w/ round-top followers ...I have had issues with some 47Ds though (last round feed issues specifically).

I chose to run CobraMags and MetalForms because I like the followers better (PowerMag followers can chew up an aluminum feed ramp).
Best
 
What everyone else said about Wilson 7 or 8 rounders goes ditto for me. The Tripp Cobra Mag is also a great product. I can also vouch for the comment on Wolff mag springs, these are a cheap fix for mag feeding problems, you can also order these direct from Wolff, since their customer service is excellent.
 
ACT-MAG, usually stamped with some other company name but always has ACT-MAG real small stamped in the metal. IMO, these are the best mags that money can buy. I have them stamped as Novak, Armscor, Nighthawk, etc but they are identical and function flawlessly.
$14.99 for 8 rounders at CDNN in Blue or Nickel (I've found them as low as $9.99 elsewhere). I use these mags in all my 1911's and my Sig P220 and have never had a mag related failure of any kind.
 
CMC mags have been flawless in my 1911's, as long as I only keep 7 rounds in them.

Springfield mags with dimpled followers have been fine.

Hi-Standard OEM mags have been fine.

Mec-Gars have not.

Tested on Sistema, Series 70 Colt, Springfield Mil-Spec, and customized Norinco, all with standard 16# recoil springs.
 
Well, while I kept a couple of Wilson magazines for range-only usage, I personally don't prefer them for defensive-carry use anymore. I've found I'm not alone in this when discussing it with other folks, too.

I prefer Metalform/Wolff ... flat, dimpled follower & 11 lb Wolff spring.

I've been trying some Tripp Cobramags, and so far they appear to function decently with a variety of ammunition in a Colt XSE and an older steel Commander. I've heard that Tripp is going to be using another vendor to supply the mag bodies in the near future, so I'll wait and try some of those, as well.

I'm reserving my opinion on the ACT mags until I've had more time to test fire them in a couple of different pistols.

I've used more 1911-type magazines than I can remember over the years, always searching for the 'best one' to use in my various .45's. I actually had the best luck for a while with Vega mags, and that was while using the JHP's of the 70's in my Commander (including the 200gr Speer standard pressure load).

I dislike the folded-leaf followers as they appeared in the Shooting Star, Ruger & Colt magazines, just to name some of them. I noticed that while the current Ruger & Colt 8-rd magazines use the same follower, they each use a different spring, both in number of coils and minor variations in design of the springs. Ruger adopted a machined dimple in each magazine lip in order to help prevent displacement of the top round during recoil, and I was told that this was the result of more folks wanting to use the heavier recoiling +P ammunition.

While the technology and production methods seem to have been catching up to the improvements and bullet design changes in ammunition, it still seems that we keep seeing a well produced 7-rd magazine, with a properly designed follower and heavy duty spring, are still often offered as the best magazines to help insure reliable functioning with a wide variety of ammunition, in a wide variety of shooter's hands ... Surprise ...

HSMITH The Wilson mag is a great mag too, AFTER you put a quality spring in it. ;) The only thing different I'd offer is that they're an 'okay' magazine afterward, in 7-rd capacity (Govt/Comm length), with a heavier spring which is suitable for their follower (top coil shape) ... but the follower designs don't always seem to help prevent the last round from being displaced forward by recoil, especially if +P ammunition is used.

We may find out we're all attempting to "rediscover the wheel" as time passes ... to some extent, at least ... ;)
 
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