Ranger plates on gun magazines? Yep, that’s why base platers matter
Wilson Combat Magazines
I’ve been around the gun community for so long that there are certain things that just start to click, and then you feel like you’ve arrived. I didn’t understand why people were so particular about 1911 magazines and all of the various pads and plate lengths. We’ve been selling AR15 parts and accessories for more than 7yrs and and I never felt the need for putting ranger plates on my pmags or GI magazines until I started shooting competition events. Just those fractions of a second difference and primarily, the ability to securely grip or clear an empty magazine was improved if you had an extended base plate. Sometimes magazines don’t drop free because of the shooting angles you are on and this seems to be very common with some 1911s.
I have stuck with Wilson mags for my Colt and Springfield Armory guns and haven’t looked back. Some people like the 7rd magazines but I have never had an issue with any of my Wilson Combat magazines in 8rd, especially the ETM magazines. The Black Elite Tactical magazines seem to be the hardest one for us to keep i n stock because our distributors don’t seem to get very many of them. There are design improvements that are primarily geared to the competition shooter. The National IDPA event ususally gets a lot of Wilson Combat supporters and I was fortunate enough to attend some of those. 45acp is a great round for shooting steel and if you need a good magazine for your 1911, stick with the best.