Redhat,
I've been shooting 1911's in IPSC competition for 20 years, and I haven't yet seen the situation where wear on the mag follower was so extreme that it 'made the magazine hard to get out'. Thanx for giving me one more thing to worry about <G>
Mostly, when the slide doesn't lock on the last shot, it's because the slide stop is worn. This is especially true when it happens on EVERY magazine, not MOST magazines, but it's when there's only a failure to lock back on SOME magazines that it is attributable to the mag follower.
Here's my read on 'magazines that are hard to get out'; the shooter has gone to slide lock, rammed a 10-round magazine into a single-stack gun, and the magazine has gone just a silly millimeter farther up the stack than it was suppose to. That's a REAL hard magazine to get out, and you're done shooting until you manage to bang it out. Of course, this isn't a consideration when your original problem is that the slide is NOT locked back, so why am I even mentioning it? No reason, it just seemed like a good idea at the time ....
Ultimately, I've never considered failure to go to slide-lock a major problem. In competition, you should be aware of how many rounds you've fired, should have already figured where/when you need to make your reload, and it should not (ideally) include going to slide-lock.
In a self-defense situation, if you're at slide-lock you have either won or lost, and it isn't an issue except for checking the Area of Engagement for leftover semi-targets or inadequately neutralized goblins.
Here's a guideline: if you're shooting a single-stack, and you have a couple of seconds without a neutralized target ... reload. Retain the expended magazine if it seems like a good idea, but having more ammunition than you think you will need in your Blaster is ALWAYS A Good Thing.
Jerry the (Kimbers are great! Until you reload with the slide locked back!) Geek