1911 magazines, manufacturers of mags and how reliable they are?
I don’t know the answers to all of the 1911 magazine questions but I do know that standard GI magazines are really not the best thing to run in a 1911 if you are carrying for protection. I have a ton of them I use for range mags but they don’t hold up very long. GI magazines are meant to be throw aways, and if you compare them to the M9 magazines, there is an obvious durability difference. I’ve replaced springs and followers on magazines and it’s really been worth all of the efforts. On something like a Glock magazine or a Magpul Pmag, I’ve replaced magazine springs and occasionally a follower. Some gun magazines are so inexpensive that you might as well just toss them rather than have to tweak it the whole time.
It’s always good to keep your eyes open for manufacturers that have good warranties and the Chip McCormick 1911 magazines that we sell are good about that. I guess the thing that Chip McCormick magazines knows is there are finicky 1911 guns out there and if there mag doesn’t work in your gun they’ll replace it. The Chip McCormick power mags are really the ones you want to use if you are putting a lot of lead downrange. The 8rd magazines are really the most common for CCW and even though the 1911 was issues with 7rd magazine, I have personally had no reliability issues with any of the 8rd power mags that I have. The Chip McCormick 10rd magazines are very popular for IDPA and Competition shooters but they do throw off the balance of a 1911 in my opinion.