1911 Magazine Question

[Hawg]

I use McCormick 8 round flush fit but I only load 7. If I can't take care of business with 8 rounds total then one more probably isn't going to help me much.

[Squeak]

cpttango30: Are those factory grips? They are BUTIFULL!! Where did ya get those?
They look like something that Claud Wallace ("woodnut") would come up with.

[1911junkee]

Originally Posted by Hawg

I use McCormick 8 round flush fit but I only load 7. If I can't take care of business with 8 rounds total then one more probably isn't going to help me much.

WHA.....?

[carver]

I haven't stuck this pic up in a while, so here goes. Like the rest of you guys I like the better mags, they are simply more reliable. As Josh said, if it's a 1911 mag then the only thing that keeps it from fitting in any 1911 is the length.

For those times when 7,8, or 10 rounds just ain't enough! You can always go with 20!

[Jim K]

There might be something very wrong about using a magazine longer than what the gun is made for. I once did that with a 10 round magazine in a standard M1911A1. I inserted the magazine and smacked it with the palm of my hand to make sure it seated, then tried to release the slide. The slide wouldn't move forward. When I tried to eject the magazine, it wouldn't come out. It took me ten minutes to get that magazine out. And this was in the middle of a pin shoot, so folks were unhappy. But I couldn't leave the firing point with a loaded gun, and had to keep it pointed down range, not ideal working conditions.

What happened was that the magazine had no stop and of course, the floorplate was well below the pistol grip. So the magazine went in too far and wedged itself onto the slide stop. The slide stop was forced upward, and would not move. And of course, with the slide fully to the rear the slide stop wouldn't come out so I couldn't disassemble the gun.

Lesson learned. I tossed that magazine and bought a couple with the stop welded to the front to substitute for the floorplate. They worked fine.

It is easy to tell that story on myself and laugh because it happened on a range. Not at all funny had it happened in a less benign environment.

Jim

[45silverback]

While, as many have said here, any 7 or 8 rnd magazine should work in any 1911 with a full-size grip frame, it is not always the case. 1911's can be very finnicy about magazines. The old GI spec guns were a little more forgiving, but some of the more modern, tighter fitted guns simply don't like some magazines.

I use McCormick Shooting Star mags presently. I have somewhere over 20K rounds through my Commander out of 6 of them. I don't recall ever having a magazine related failure with them. I've tried other mags, usually borrowed from buddies at the range with mixed results. For instance, a friend swears by Tripp Research mags, but they just won't run in my colt. On the other hand, the McCormicks I use and the Tripps he uses will run fine in his gun ( A Baer gun). I have tried Wilson mags and they run fine. Novak mags wouldn't run at all. I will say though that I can't remember one of my McCormics not running in whatever gun they were stuck in.

Regardless, I won't use a magazine for carry untill it has a couple hundred faiure free rounds through the gun I plan on using it with. I pretty much avoid cheap gun show magazines all-together.

[Hawg]

Originally Posted by 1911junkee

WHA.....?

I dunno, all the 1911's I grew up with only held 7 in the mag. It seems kinda wrong to load 8 in one and I despise a mag sticking out the bottom or a mag with a bumper.

[targetacqmgt]

Originally Posted by JLA

chip mags have a kewl follower design that facilitates magazine disassembly thru the top. without removing the floor plate. Great thing because alot of chips mags are true to the original design in that the floor plate is welded in on some of them. I have never had a magazine malfunction with chip mags. and I use both the shooting star mags and the power mags.

Question Why does the military services (Army in particular) limit the M1911 rounds to 5 in an 8 rd mag?? I was told that the mag springs lose ump over time with 8 rds. Now understand the M1911's that were issued to Ammo dump guard and such were alsomost NEVER shot. So the theory was the service life of the maf was preserved with 5 rds where 8 would degrade the mag spring over a looooooooong time (years),

[targetacqmgt]

Originally Posted by 45silverback

While, as many have said here, any 7 or 8 rnd magazine should work in any 1911 with a full-size grip frame, it is not always the case. 1911's can be very finnicy about magazines. The old GI spec guns were a little more forgiving, but some of the more modern, tighter fitted guns simply don't like some magazines.

I use McCormick Shooting Star mags presently. I have somewhere over 20K rounds through my Commander out of 6 of them. I don't recall ever having a magazine related failure with them. I've tried other mags, usually borrowed from buddies at the range with mixed results. For instance, a friend swears by Tripp Research mags, but they just won't run in my colt. On the other hand, the McCormicks I use and the Tripps he uses will run fine in his gun ( A Baer gun). I have tried Wilson mags and they run fine. Novak mags wouldn't run at all. I will say though that I can't remember one of my McCormics not running in whatever gun they were stuck in.

Regardless, I won't use a magazine for carry untill it has a couple hundred faiure free rounds through the gun I plan on using it with. I pretty much avoid cheap gun show magazines all-together.

That makes a lot of sense given a failure in a combat or law enforcement situation would be YOUR death prob.

[targetacqmgt]

Originally Posted by carver

I haven't stuck this pic up in a while, so here goes. Like the rest of you guys I like the better mags, they are simply more reliable. As Josh said, if it's a 1911 mag then the only thing that keeps it from fitting in any 1911 is the length.

For those times when 7,8, or 10 rounds just ain't enough! You can always go with 20!

Carver I sometimes think you ain't wrapped tight

[WHSmithIV]

Hmm.. let's see. I have a Citadel 1911 and I love it. I've tweaked it, it looks great and I did post a pic of it in the 1911 topic. Provided I have enough ammo to range shoot with - I happily put 1½" groups from 50 ft. My 1911 came with 2 8 round mags. They look fine. I just bought an older Colt 7 round mag - fits fine but I did need to run 0000 steel wool over it with my preferred gun oil to have it slide in smooth (it IS an old mag circa WWII). It does work fine. Fired 3 full mags without a problem.

Now, these 10 round mags - well, I did bid on a few on the bay. Didn't win them for the $3 I was willing to pay to test them. That was around 6 months ago and, looking back I'm glad I didn't buy one. I can shoot 1½" groupings at 50 ft. with my lil ole 1911. Not much worse at 100ft. I'm guessing that with 3 mags I could certainly kill 15-20 targets in a necessary moving situation and with 5 mags that number goes up proportionately.

[1911junkee]

Originally Posted by JLA

Chip McCormick makes flush fitting 8 rounders. I much prefer the flush fitting mags so I bout about 10 of them..

Chip McC is the man! It is the only mag I really trust. It is the very 1st thing a 1911 of mine gets, even a new one.