All posts tagged Colt 1911 magazines

1911 Range review on gun magazines

Wilson Combat MagazinesI have several 1911 handguns that I have run over the years and still prefer the GI M1911 styles with some slight changes like the sights.   I’m a big fan of the Trijicon HD or high definition sights because they are so much better than the traditional tritium sights.  Much brighter in the day time, too.  I’ve messed around with the Glock 30 and the Glock 21 but I find the Glock 21 to be entirely too big of a handgun for CCW and just something so well balanced as the 1911 just can’t be beat.  The Sig 220 is a close second but the trigger pull differences between a single action and a SA/DA is considerable if  you are looking for first hit accuracy.  I love my Sigs but they are not going to be as consistent with the first shot being so much hard to pull.

Wilson combat makes a lot of gun parts for the 1911 and  you can customize this gun in just about any way you want.   Hand sizes can vary so customization of a firearm is important but the one thing that I find constant is my Wilson Combat Magazines are always going to be running in all of my 1911 handguns.  I prefer the 8rd ETM magazines because they feel a little stronger and with the numbers being printed on the bottom of the magazines its easy to keep a track record of my magazine rotations when I am shooting IDPA or other competition events.  I’ve also noticed a much better knock down ration with 45acp ball ammo on steel plates and that’s really just what is so good about the 45acp.

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Warranties on gun magazines?

chip mccormick magazines I have had 1911s around for years and the 45acp is probable one of the top 3 calibers that I reload.   There are lots of things you can do with various bullets.  I’ve seen people load bullets in 1911s and they ran like champs, other 1911s had issues with hollow points or semi-wad cutters.   There are always thing you can tweak on a 1911 to make it more modern, and in fact,there are 1911s out there now that really aren’t like the 1911s that the Government had but they are very fun to shoot.   There is something about the balance and grip feel on the 1911 that is so natural unless you have small hands.

I started out with GI magazines for my 1911 and quickly found out how inferior they were.   I have mostly used Wilson Combat Magazines but recently for financial reasons, I guess it was time to test out Chip McCormick magazines and see how well they fared.   We did have an issue with 2 magazines in the last 5 years where the base plates fell off the mags, but Chip McCormick does have a 3 year warranty on their magazines.  I don’t understand any company that wants to stay in the shooting business that doesn’t back their products up with decent warranties.   Based strictly on customer purchases, I don’t see why anyone should consider deviating from the things that work.

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Magazines, ranger plates and magazine grip extensions

chip mccormick magazines I never really bothered with magazine extensions on my CCW guns because I’ve mostly learned to stick with the standard capacity magazines instead of trying to turn the gun into something that it was never meant to be.  For instance the Sig 239 is a great CCW gun and although you can put a 10rd magazine in there, the profile of the gun is going to change and depending on the clothing that you are wearing,  you may have just created a snagging location or a hang up on your shirt.   Sometimes moving around a little with your CCW method will give you an idea of how your clothing may bunch up or scrunch up in certain areas around your gear.  The Material of various shirts makes a huge difference and even though it light flow straight down over your gun, high winds can cause embarrassing situations with even the smallest CCW gun.

I never witness there being a difference in 1911 reliability between 7rd and 8rd pistol magazines but I’ve always felt the magazine durability has improved enough to get 8rds out there.  I have noticed some gun magazines have increased their capacity but the Chip McCormick magazines that I use are the Power Mags and they have a slight magazines extension that helps with faster reloading.  All of my 1911s drop these mags without any snags which is something my Colt factory magazines do not.  Drop free magazines are important because that is one step that can slow down a reload of the firearm.

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Still seeing the 1911 being used in Law Enforcement

chip mccormick magazines Today we had a police officer mention firearm retention during arrests and why the Blackhawk Serpa holster was his preferred gun holster.   Another Officer mentioned that he still used a 1911 because he liked the idea that if someone was unfamiliar with this firearm that even if they got it in a struggle they might not be able to shoot it.   There are always different scenarios that you can run with, with each tactical or mechanical device and you use.  Training and gaining muscle memory is something that is hard to change and it’s very hard to jump back and forth with firearms and be proficient.   I suggest consistency is more important and will make you less prone to making errors.

There are reasons I love the 1911 and reasons I don’t use it as a primary sidearm but if I did carry it, I would probable have to put in more range time to remember to disengage the safety every time.  If you are looking for reliable and consistent 1911 magazines for under $30 the best one I use is the  8rd Chip McCormick magazines called the Power Mag.  I have never seen a reason to  not use 8rd magazines although I think the 1911 looses it’s balance with 10rd magazines.   The 10rd Power Mags are very popular for competition shooting so again, it’s also about training and adjusting to the firearm or device.

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Be careful about about how much screwing around you do with your 1911s

I’ve had many family members and friends ask me to go shopping with them to help them pick up a firearm.  There have been many times that I have warned people about buying a certain gun even though it looked like it was a good price.  Many of the times it was a firearm that had obviously been customized.  The biggest warning sights are usually when the triggers have been changed.   That can mean that somebody was lessening the trigger pull weight and it’s also a hint that it was turned into a target gun and there may be other parts like springs or buffers inside it.   I have a family member that purchased a 1911 because he had one in the military and the one he eye balled at a gun store had exactly these issues.

After we took this firearm to the gun club it actually jammed up on us several times, I tried to take it apart to see what the spring looked like but it had a full length guide rod and I did not have any familiarity with that.   We even tried several of my wilson combat magazines that usually solve many 1911 problems but the gun still hung up.   We later found out that there was a tool we needed and there was in fact a buffer that was decaying inside the gun and causing all of the malfunctions.   There are so many new 1911s out there, Sigs, Les Bauer, Kimber ect. that you have to watch the amount of tinkering people do with them because not all of the 1911 parts and especially holsters are going to work with them.

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When you are putting hardball ammo downrange with a 45acp

It better be a 1911 if you ask me.  I have several handguns in my collection but I am really bored with most modern 45acp guns because they are too bulky or just to darn heavy for my tastes.  I’m also not a big fan of short barreled guns or compact 1911s.   They are too much maintenance and the slower cycle action seems to make them more prone to having malfunctions.  If you have to ask me what the next best 45acp handgun is, I’d probable have to say the Sig 220 which is also another single stack gun.   Many 45acp guns like the Springfield XD and Glock 21 are too much bulk for my taste and having to hold that up for any extended period of time will make me want a single stack gun.

Many guns issuing warrants or doing house clearing in Iraq and Afghanistan are using the 1911.   When we get feed back from  our customers it’s almost always Wilson Combat or Chip McCormick magazines that they are using.  Both magazines have a long history of working well in the 1911 and both can be had for under $35 dollars.  I rarely use the 7rd magazines because that extra 8rd magazine barely extends out of my guns and the not quite flush fit doesn’t bother me at all.  Having 8rds of 45acp is something that will get the job done if you look at the stats on which caliber gets the job done, magazine capacity is rarely an issue for police or self defense shootings.

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People that are still carrying the 1911 pistol and love it

If you love the way the 1911 feels in your hand you’re probable not going to find another firearm that feels the same way.  I’ve like the traditional 1911 style guns for almost 2 decades and tried out many variations of them, but they didn’t feel like a 1911 when the makers made them a double stack.  There is something about 1911 pistols that is just balanced very well.  Once you put more than about  8rds in a 1911 the gun gets heavy and for something that is so slim and contoured right, you can mess that up with 10rd protruding magazines.  That’s fine for competition shooting but I don’t think you’ll ever see law enforcment or special operations  units running those magazines even if they are reliable.

Most of the Special operations units we deal with actually use 7rd magazines although I have found that the 8rd magazine reliability issues is a myth.  All I run through my 1911 government models are Wilson combat magazines  with the 8rd wilson combat magazines that work so well.   I have been using gun grease on my Colt 1991A1 and my Springfield GI 1911 that had some minor customizations, but I have not seen a malfunction in that firearm in years.  I am still running mostly ball ammo through my guns which is the proven reliable ammunition.  Gun grease is something that I have been using more and more on my handguns because they seem to  hold up better for long term storage.

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What’s the deal with the Elite Tactical Magazines vs Wilson Combat 47D mags?

I first found out about the Wilson Combat Magazines after having not so good experiences with the Colt magazine that my  1911 came with.  At the time I knew nothing about the  throating on the barrel or the way 1911 firearms fed bullets and the limitations of ammo selections.  The 1911’s of today are not the 1911 of the 1940’s.  Those guns got the job done, but the effectiveness of the firearm’s caliber was more important than whether or not it took hollow point ammunition will run in the gun.   What is available today in not the round nosed 45acp lead rounds that were issued in World War II.

Sometimes we shop because we want the best and others we are frugal and just want the product that gets the job done and doesn’t kill our pocket book.   We’ve had extensive periods of range use with Wilson Combat Magazines and that’s why we’re going to say they are our best magazine, but you can get the well used and proven Chip McCormick magazines for about 10 dollars less.   I have personally not used those but there seems to be a  lot of complaints about some magazines not being flush fitting or not dropping free for various firearms.  There are so many variations in 1911 productions now that sometimes you might have to do some research about parts and accessories operator in the way that you want them to.

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1911 magazines the work and aren’t too pricey

I own several firearms but the ones I like tend to be the ones I actually shoot the least.  I love all of my 1911s but retired most of them from use because of one thing, I do not like manual safeties on firearms.  I find it kind of ironic that retention holsters are now so popular and basically put a manual safety on your gun, but the mindset is a little different.   Considering the number of Special Ops that have gone back to the 45acp says something but I am still  not a huge fan of the 1911 for concealed carry.   I think there is a difference between pulling a firearm from a duty holster and carrying a firearm that is concealment and then disengaging a manual safety.

The more steps and object you put in front of a process the more your margins of error are going to go up.  If you train you can always improve your ability to effectively deploy a firearm, but that’s not what I would spend time on and just carry a different firearm.   Chip McCormick magazines are about $10 less expensive than Wilson Combat Magazines and have more of a GI feel to them.  I personally prefer to use 8rd magazines and do not have issues with them.  I also prefer flush fitting magazines but I realize that not everyone just CCW the guns and might want a larger base pad for competition shooting.

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Have you switched to the ETM magazines yet?

I’ve been asking just about everyone that walked in the door if they have been using the ETM magazines, but the vast majority of people that CCW a 1911 pistol have not, they still don’t know about them.   The guys that run IDPA all use them, but that’s a whole other breed of a shooter.   I’ve always viewed IDPA to be a really good CCW training course.   It’s not about hitting inside certain rings or getting a certain score, its about hitting the target.  Any hit is better than no hit because even bad guys bleed.  I know plenty of people that do quite well with Chip McCormick magazines and if you do shoot  your 1911 often, you’ll probable save a about $8-$10 a magazines.

 

There is something that seems to be sturdier about the Elite Tactical Magazines, and if you are shooting a 1911 with non-FMJ or non-ball ammo magazines matter.   Wilson Combat Magazines are in our customers and employees experienece, the top choice for shooters.   The 1911 is still used in competition shooting due to the well known and liked trigger design and balance.   When you compared some of the double stacked 45acp guns that are out there like the XD45acp and the M&P 45, sometimes it’s just too much of a gun and it will have an impact on your speed.

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