1911 Magazines

[The Annoyed Man]

My Sig 1911 has become very finicky and has been jamming a lot at the range. I shot it yesterday, and it had been thoroughly cleaned the day before, including disassembling and cleaning both magazines. At the range yesterday, after a number of jams, I tried shooting it using one of the magazines from my son's Taurus PT 1911, and it functioned much better. Since the original magazines were both clean on arrival at the range, I don't think dirt was the issue.

I know that a lot of jams can be traced to magazine malfunctions and that seems to have been born out yesterday, but rather than just going out and buying different manufacturers products until I found a good one, I was hoping you guys who shoot 1911s could help me narrow the search. I'm perfectly willing to spend a little bit more for a better product.

I need to buy three 8 round magazines. What brands do you all like?

[Mike1951]

Before I get trampled by the folks recommending the Wilsons and Chip McCormacks, I'll make my usual suggestion of Mec-Gar mags. They are 8 round, typically less than $20 and I have never found anything that works better.

[smyrna]

I picked up a couple of Chip McCormick's at a recent show for about $14 each. They are both 8 rounders and function well. Mec-Gar's as mentioned earlier are good too.

You might really inspect the factory mags on the Sig. Could be a bur or nick on the follower or the mag lips. You might even buy springs and followers for the Sig mags and salvage them.

[flintknapper]

TAM,

What kind of "jams" were you having: Failure to feed?

If so, can you explain what some of the malfunctions were: Slide not all the way into battery, bullet hung up on ramp, bullet nose diving, etc....

It is possible you may be able to "tune" the mags. you have.....but sometimes it is just easier to get new/different ones.

[ghostrider]

I've had good luck with McCormicks, though I don't like the follower design. PSI inports "ACT-mags" from Italy (available from Brownells) that I'm very impressed with - they are often sold as Novak mags. In 9mm metalform appear to be the best choice, though I haven't tried their 45 mags. Tripp Research makes excellent magazines as well, they're just a bit pricey.

[nitrogen]

Check out this article a friend of mine wrote on 1911 mags.

http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/

More than you ever wanted to know.

[The Annoyed Man]

TAM,

What kind of "jams" were you having: Failure to feed?

If so, can you explain what some of the malfunctions were: Slide not all the way into battery, bullet hung up on ramp, bullet nose diving, etc....

It is possible you may be able to "tune" the mags. you have.....but sometimes it is just easier to get new/different ones.

Flint, it's been a little of everything - and it doesn't help that the practice ammo I've been shooting (Winchester white box) is exceptionally dirty - but I've had mostly failures to go all the way into battery. However, I've also had a few stovepipes and some nose dives. Also, it frequently fails to lock back on the last round. On Saturday, it would be no exaggeration to say that I experienced 1-2 jams per magazine load, and almost every load failed to lock the slide back on empty. I finally put the gun away. It was just too discouraging.

This pistol has a polished ramp and throat, and for a time it was feeding reasonably well. But everything on it is "match" grade, and it runs a little on the tight side. Even under the best circumstances, I've experienced an occasional jam. But now it happens enough that I pretty much carry my H&K exclusively until I can solve the problem. If I can't solve it, I'll sell it and buy a Kimber.

[stevie_d_64]

"trampled"??? here??? No way!!!

I just bought 3 WC "Elites" this very afternoon for the new addition...Will be in on Wednesday...

I would have stole the ones I bought for my Dad's .45 back, but that would un-ethical!

To say the least, mean...

[WarHawk-AVG]

Did you put enough lube on the slide?

Cleaning is good..but you have to leave ample lube, otherwise the friction can slow down the slide and cause failure to chamber or the weak lockback

I use Gunbutter and a little dab will do ya and it makes for one smooth operating 1911

Heck they fired 1000 rounds out of a single .45 (in 10 min43sec nonstop!!!) with gunbutter in it and it kept on kicking

[The Annoyed Man]

I haven't tried Gun Butter, but I do lube the slide rails pretty liberally. In fact, I have a tendency to overlube them, and then I have to wipe off the excess. I'll check out the Gun Butter.

[gregthehand]

I use Wilson Combat, Chip McCormicks, and Novak magazines all with good results. These work in all my 1911s.

[Tactical_Texan_CHL]

I haven't tried the Mec-Gar mags for my 1911, but the factory mags for my KT P3AT were Mec-Gars, and I'm on of the lucky ones to never have had trouble with my Kel-Tec. The mags are very well made pieces, so I'd have no trouble believing Mike1951 about his mags. I have plenty of mags for my 1911 right now, for Christmas the year I got it, my brother got me 6 Wilson's, and I have a few Chip McCormicks, otherwise, I'd probably try them too. I like GunButter on toast, sometimes with raspberry jam.

[MoJo]

MecGar and ACT (Novak, Wolff, and others) are both excellent mags they look a lot alike I think this is because the ACTs are made by a man who used to work for MecGar. They are both made in Italy. Try them you'll like them. I also really like McCormick mags.

[Winston33]

My kimber Pro CDP hates hollow points. They get stuck on the feed ramp using anything but a Wilson Combat mag. However even with Wilsons I still cant shoot 200+ grain HPs.

[boomerang]

My kimber Pro CDP hates hollow points.

That's a bad habit for a concealed carry gun.