All posts in Magazines

Has anyone made plans for a Mapgul pistol mag?

I’ve been getting good at sensing changes in the gun industry and I think we’re on the precipice right now.   Synthetic stocks are far superior to what was out a decade ago and machining has improvement so well on the AR15 design that even the direct impingement guns are superior to what was out a decade ago.   I think  if you have the money to spend, you can get a good DI gun that is as reliable as a piston gun.   On the discussion of rifle magazines, once you get to the point that you can drive your car over a magazine and then still reliable shoot it in your gun, you have arrived at the top of the mountain.

I think Glock magazines are pretty tough, but I’ve never seen somebody drive over one with a car and still have it run.  If anyone has seen a pistol magazine as tough as the Magpul Pmags let me know? Wilson combat magazines are the most reliable gun magazines, but I don’t think any 1911 magazine would hold up to a 200lb person standing on it let alone a 2 ton truck.   Maybe we don’t need gun magazines to be this tough, but I sure think that if we can improve the light bulb, we can improve the handgun or pistol magazines.

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Speed loaders and stripper clips

I remember finding stripper clips laying around on gun ranges and not having an idea where they came from and what they were for.  Most of them were for bolt action rifles and probable surplus ammo.   I see a lot of ammo that is sold in bulk like 9mm, 45acp, 8mm Mauser and 7.62×39  are sold in loose ammo cases.  The loose ammo can be cheaper, but it is also a pain in the butt to load if you are going to do some serious range reporting.   Loading up 3 or 4 magazines isn’t a pain, but try loading up 10 magazines and you’ll feel the difference in your fingers.  The military usually issues ammo on stripper clips for this very reason.

Many of my reloaded rounds are on stripper clips because I really don’t like the idea of storing rifle ammunition in loose containers.  All of those primers floating around that don’t have anything behind them bothers me.  Maglula speed loaders are the best option for you if you do have ammo stored in loose ammo cans.   Stripper clips are a better way to store them and for 5.56 ammo, you can find a military speed loader for only a few bucks.   Expect your magazines to show some wear from these loaders, but serious shooters should consider having them.

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Favorite guns for IDPA

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend some of the IDPA National competitions in recent years and it has still amazed me that the 1911 is the number one firearm that is being  used.    I’ve spent enough time on the range to know that the 45acp is more consistent in knocking down targets and makes bigger holes.   The triggers on the 1911 design can be sweetened and even though there are some draw backs to the 1911 design, for competition, there aren’t any.   Glocks have a good showing because they have a consistent trigger design like the 1911, but they are very different to shoot.

I understand that many shooters will probable shoot a 9mm more proficiently over a 45acp and I have done personal evaluations of novice shooters and done comparisons.   The 9mm is easier to shoot and will most likely get you a higher hit percentage. For more advanced shooters, they won’t have problems with the 45acp.  Wilson Combat magazines are still the number one 1911 gun magazine that I see at these events followed by Chip McCormick.   Every 1911 design can be tweaked and modified just like a pile of Legos.

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Tactical vests and firearm retention

Gun vests are as diverse in application and gun holsters are.   There are various types of vests for specific missions and some of the best ones to get are the ones that you can configure yourself.   Not everyone needs to carry 12 gun magazines for their M4 Carbine and most of that would even be considered extreme for a combat soldier.   I am a big fan of leg holsters because my primary fighting weapon is an M4 rifle and I don’t like the idea of putting a handgun up on my vest because it’s one more thing for my rifle sling to snag on.   Eotac and Woolrich Elite vests suit me better because they are softer and don’t have a holster for retaining a firearm, it’s all magazine and gear and the pistol magazine holder is inside the pockets, not outer pouches.

I am also not a fan of vests that carry tons of rifle and pistol ammunition, it’s good to be able to carry a backup handgun incase your primary goes down, but I’m more inclined to bring a spare bolt and firing pin so I can replace most broken parts on my M4 in only a minute.   Having 2 or 3 Wilson combat magazines for my 1911 is all I need for most practical purposes.  If I need more handgun ammunition than that, I might as well pack a few grenades and be able to call in an airstrike, too.  If you are wearing a tactical vests, in my opinion, it’s cross draw, or it’s a leg holster for your handgun.

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Kahr firearms and .380 pistols

I remember the first time I ever shot a .380 pistol and it was an NAA Guardian gun.   They seemed so small that my initial impression was it was just a step up from a fly swatter.   I’ve done some not so scientific ballistics tests on metal fence posts and saw the penetration differences between a .38 Special and a 9mm, and there is a substantial difference between those calibers and penetration.  The .380 is practically a 38 Special short and people need to be realistic when they want to consider what a firearm engagement will be with a pocket pistol such as this.   Worrying about accuracy ans sights on this gun IMHO is pointless because this is the type of firearm that will only stop a threat if it’s put into the main reactor of the Death Star or  you unload the whole  thing and hope the bad guy isn’t wearing body armor.

I have shot a lot of Kahr firearms and I think the 9mm pistols are very well made and I see no reason to change the caliber to a smaller one when the 9mm already fit in your pocket.   Kahr magazines are what you want to use in the gun and I would not compromise on this issue with a concealed carry firearm.  There is  nothing wrong with having range magazines so you don’t wear out your primaries, but it’s mostly only with 1911 firearms would I stray from factory magazines.   If you have a semi-auto that holds 5-7rds and can carry a backup magazine,  and you’ve done some training, you should be good to go.

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Messing with John Moses Browing’s designs

I recently got a crash course on disassembling 1911 handguns that were not GI guns.   I have several Colt and Springfield guns that only give me problems if I am shooting something other than ball ammo.   I really don’t feel the need to carry hollow points for such a slow and large caliber already.  All of the 1911 guns I own cost me less than $500 and I have seen so  many malfunctions with guys with higher end guns.   I know Kimber messed around with John Moses Browning’s design and went back to the original extractor design after a failed attempt to use an external extractor.

Many of the shorter barreled 1911s have a short reliability life when it comes to recoil springs because they wear out faster from the amount of stress the 230gr chunk of lead causes.  I guess because the 1911 has such a slower cycling rate, many people that bobble the gun will cause malfunctions.  Wilson combat magazines have improved the reliability of many 1911 guns I have shot, but there is something to be said for GI Milspec reliability.  The original design worked very well and deviating from that doesn’t really mean an improvement.

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Wolff gun magazines and Wilson Combat

I finally got to pick up a few of the Wolff gun magazines that some of my friends have raved about and I’m still trying to find out how I didn’t know about these for so long.  I guess getting stuff made in the  gun accessories and firearms industries is getting easier now and many companies can go out there and just find somebody with the tooling.   These did feel more like Chip McCormick magazines and they were fairly close in design.   The one thing I know to monitor on 1911 metal magazines are the followers which is something I’ve had problems with in the past.  Usually it was the less expensive and practically considered to be thrown GI 1911 magazines.

Something I’ve seen happen on less durable 1911 magazines it that they will not hold up very well at all if you one up the guns.  If you have an 8rd magazine and put one in the chamber and then load it back up to capacity, you are putting slightly more tension on the magazines and the cheaper mags, and the magazine springs will fail you.  Wilson Combat magazines, Wolff 1911 magazines and Chip McCormick magazines will hold up.  I had problems with Colt magazines, GI magazines and some MecGar magazines when I did this and always had 2nd round malfunctions.   I’ve learned to not on up the guns, but single stack magazines seem to handle this better than double stack.

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Revolvers and magazine capacity

I guess I’m getting old when I have to refer to my  years of chatting on gun boards because they seem to be something from so far in the past now.  Blogging and tweeting and Facebook seem to have replaced the discussion forum format.  I have watched so many of my friends transition from full size autos to small Kahr semi-autos and the Ruger LCP.   The .380 is still revered as underpowered, but when most people think about the likely hood of dealing with a threat and how much firepower they will need and how much weight they want to tote around, people are going with smaller firearms.

I’m not in the camp that thinks that the smallest caliber gun is fine, but if that’s what you want to carry, I won’t condemn it, but you better train to be able to fight with it.   One discussion that still rings in my ears from the gun forum years was that the 1911 pistol was out dated because magazine capacity was only 7 or 8 rounds while most modern 9mm service guns held 13-19rds.  Wilson Combat magazines have made the firearm more reliable, but it’s still a very heavy gun. Magazine capacity was the big thing in the 1990s but not so much anymore.   Most Police now have quick access to an M4 and over loading a handgun seems to be a thing of the past.   Do people still look down a 5 shot revolver now that all of those .380 pistols only  hold 5 – 7 rounds?

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10rd magazines and living behind enemy lines

I guess we are all living behind enemy lines if you consider what we’ve been dealing with since the 2008 election.   I recently go around to reading some of the bull shit that is listed in the Obamacare bill and it’s loaded with nothing more than crap.   We have a bunch a lunatics in Washington DC that are trying to say that a vending machine operator has to list how many calories for each individual item they are selling.  This is all brought to  you by the people that are afraid to call Islamic terrorism what it is and want an average American Citizen to not be allowed to own a firearm that holds more than 10rd of ammunition in it.

We have a diverse group for our customer base.  We  have the concealed carry apparel crowd and we have many, many Government employees and private contractors.   Our customers that live in California and New Jersey tend to be more restricted in the gun accessories product line and when it comes to selling gun magazines, we’ve been selling a lot of t he Promag magazines to them.   The Mini 14 is a very popular firearm in California because the gun doesn’t have to be modified from the Factory configuration, but it still shoots the .223 or 5.56 ammunition that the AR15 does.

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Knock down power some range results

Sometimes ballistics testing can get too complicated and there are so many variables when it comes to testing a bullets performance that people really have to look at the results under realistic conditions and and realize that getting a hit is more important than which caliber, but when you compare hit to hit, there are differences in performances.    I’ve seen ballistic results where 9mm ball ammo was said to have hit with the same energy that a 45acp had, but I have seen multiple times that steel plates would not go down as frequently with 9mm ball ammo.   There were times when we heard  hits and nothing would drop.

Now that so many criminals are getting a hold of body armor, bullet penetration is coming more of an issue.   Even for those that are service over seas, 9mm ball ammo doesn’t penetrate a suicide bomber vest.  M855 is not very good for soft targets but against body armor it is.   We’ve been selling more Wilson Combat magazines to troops doing security detail because in their opinion 45acp worked better on soft targets and M855 was still necessary for penetration against suicide bombers and taking on cars.

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