All posts tagged Colt 1911

How many mags do i need for a handgun?

pistol magazinesBack when the 1994 assault weapons ban was into effect there were more headaches in the gun world due to the fact that factory handgun magazines were so expensive.   People cut corners with other brands and had issues.    When it comes to owning a handgun, especially an auto, I highly recommend having atleast 3 magazines.    Not only can guns malfunction,  but magazines do wear out and break at some points and its always good to have some extra comfort if one goes down.    Most of the time it’s the floor plates that come loose and a loaded mag will just dump rounds on the ground.   I’ve seen it happen with rifles and handguns.    If you ever run a Carbine course, you’re defanitely going to want to have atleast 3 mags for your pistol, too.

It’s very rare these days that I work as a firearms instructor but I still work with a lot of people that are just getting into carrying firearms for the first time. I must admit that I made a lot of the novice mistakes in buying holsters and accessories when i first started carrying, and sometimes its nice to give first hand accounts of what NOT to do.    I’ve seen a lot of people pick up a good quality handgun and then completely ruin the firearms reputation by using 3rd rate pistol magazines that jammed the gun  up.   The 2nd most common thing I see are people shooting with cheap ammo.   I don’t get the whole Wolf handgun ammo thing.   I own and shoot many Com-block rifles and the Wolf ammo works flawlessly, but I have never had good experiences with their handgun ammo.

 

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And I didn’t have issues with my 1911 anymore

After a few range sessions, I didn’t have a single malfuntion and I though it was time to test out some hollow point defensive ammo.   I loaded up the 2 Colt Magazines I had and the 2 Wilson mags and started blasting.    I had an malfuntions with the Colt magazines and none with the Wilson.    I wasn’t too sure of the technical reasons why this was occuring, but after signing  up a popular gun forum known as the www.TheFiringLine.com  I found out why.   Wilson Combat did a great job in designing their plastic followers to hold up better than the majority of the metal magazines you’ll find for a 1911.   The followers and magazine body are aligned properly for better feeding into the barrel and will increase ammo tolerance.

My First 191Wilson Combat Magazines1 was a Colt 1991A1 and It came with 2 Colt 7rd magazines.   I shot about about 500rds through it and I had an occasional malfunction.   The problem I kept having was the slide would close on an empty chamber.   I did some reading and found that it was most likely the magazine slide stop tab was bending and wasn’t full engaging the slide stop.    A pair of needle nose plyers fixed that for a few hundred rounds more then the problem came back.     I found out about Wilson Combat Magazines and picked up a few mags.   The magazines weren’t flush with the bottom of the gun, but I got use to them pretty quick.

 

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Increase reliability of the old dog

Wilson Combat MagazinesWe’ve all  heard about how the 1911 isn’t as reliable as a Glock, but firearm reliability has increased for just about every semi-auto that is in production these days.    Guns that were made 50-80yrs ago are manufactured better, magazines have become more reliable and ammunition is far more reliable now than it was even 30yrs ago.    When using a semi-auto, we have to think about the purpose for it and what we think we need in a certain situation.   I love the people that think they are going to fight off 50 bad guys with there Glock, but the reality is that if you think you are going into that bad of a situation, bring a rifle.

I consider myself a 1911 enthusiast, but I’d take an M4 over any handgun, any day.   A 5 shot snub nose is good enough for most white colar environments, but if you think you can carry a full size auto, 7 or 8 shots of 45acp is plenty.   1911s are not out dated, but they are also not modern weapons and are being beat out by some of the firearms coming out now, so is the DI M16 by the way.   If you own or know anyone that owns a 1911, you absolutely will increase the reliability of the gun by using Wilson Combat magazines.

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