All posts tagged Reviews on 1911 magazines

Importance of having magazines drop free from all of your guns

It’s Chip McCormick magazinesreally a good idea to test all of your magazines out and not leave them in their new packaging.    We recently had a recall on Magpul Generation 3 pmags after several Police Officers complained to us that they were not dropping free from their AR15 rifles.  I personally asked them to bring them back in and tested them out myself in my LWRC M6A1.   All of the mags I tested out hung on me and I went on AR15.com and found several people complaining about this on youtube.com and other places.   Obviously Magpul was pumping out magazines without doing a very good quality control.   I also found that several of the AK magazines I had for various guns I owned did not work in all of my AK rifles.  Didn’t know until I pulled them out of storage on a range day.

Even if you are stocking up on pistol magazines you really should take them out of the rapper and do a quick magazine drop test.   I own several 1911 pistols and various brands of 1911 magazines did not drop free but all of my Chip McCormick magazines did.   Many competition shooters want longer base plates on their pistol magazines because they can grab them and pull them out while moving through a course.  I’ve seen the look of shock on some first time IDPA shooters when had a gun on an angle or where using inferior “range mags” that weren’t there CCW mags.  Don’t buy the cheap stuff because there are sometimes unintended consequences to buying second rate magazines.

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1911 magazines, manufacturers of mags and how reliable they are?

Chip McCormick magazinesI 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.

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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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The 1911 is a better gun

I started out with a Colt 1991A1 over 20yrs ago and at the time I thought I was getting a second rate 1911 but it was a good price so I got it.  I fell in love with the gun immediately and It just fit my hand that the first time I shot it I thought I was missing paper and it turned out I was shooting out the center of the target.   After shooting the gun for 3 range sessions I started having problems.   I had a good relationship with my gun  shop and when I went back in I talked to him.  He told me I should be using more than 1 magazine with the gun and talked about magazine rotation.  Then I picked up a few more Colt 1911 magazines and after a few range sessions the gun started closing on an empty chamber.

This whole issue was apparently very common with 1911s and many of the GI magazines were actually meant to be thrown away on a battlefield and not re-used.  I tried the quick fixes but they didn’t hold up, I later found out about Wilson Combat Magazines and now the Wilson Combat ETM magazines are my primary 1911 magazines.  Barrel designs and more durable parts have made the 1911 a superior firearm than it’s original GI version.   Although the guns are still pretty heavy compared to composite materials, many people still find the 1911 guns to be the most comfortable 45acp to shoot.

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