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1911 Magazines...........WOW!!

4226 Views 26 Replies 25 Participants Last post by  Cryhavoc
Hi,

I have been out of shooting for over 20 years, and things have really changed!! I have a Colt Gold Cup Series 70 that I wanted to pick up a few extra mags for and when I looked at waht was available I was overwhelmed with what is out there. Can someone offer a little advice as to what I should look for, what I should avoid, do they ALL fit my Colt? Where is the best source? OMG!! so many........confusion!

Thanks in advance for any help

Redraider
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I would buy Wilson Combat magazines. They have a no tilt folllower and the mag body is SS. They are the gold standard of mags for the 1911 these days. Just get magazines that are made for the 1911 government model for your gold cup.
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All full size Govt/Commander mags should fit in your colt.

Consistently recommended are:
Wilson
Tripp
Genuine metalform
10-8



Lower budget, recommended by a lot of people:
Mec-Gar
Chip McCormick (I have a bunch of these and they all work)
The cheapest consistently reliable magazine in my experience is the Checkmate 7 round "hybrid" mag. They're around $20 and are basically an updated Colt 7 round design with feed lips that work well with a wide variety of bullet shapes. They don't look cool or tactical or whatever, but they work well.
There are fake colt mags out there. If you read up on them you can spot them.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=340690

Here's a good read (take it with a grain of salt):
http://www.10-8performance.com/pages/1911-Magazines.html

more stuff
http://hipowers-handguns.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-is-best-7-or-8-shot-1911-45-acp.html
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I also shoot a Series 70 Gold Cup but am blessed with a supply of pre-WWI and WWII USGI 1911 mags, so I use these at the range. They can usually be found at gun shows for about what new factory mags would cost (lanyard loops are much more expensive) or less, and their collectibility makes them an investment. Most of my WWII mags cost <$20 and they're still fairly common. All will function well in a Series 70.
I've had really good luck putting Chip McCormick guts in cheep surplus magazines. It turns them from seven to eight rounders. Check that the housing falls free when the mag release is pressed, before you bother with the upgrade.
I've had some really expensive Cobra Mags, that the springs were so stiff that it caused malfs in my Series 70, but they work in my Commander.
+1 on the McCormick mags. Excellent, always work. So do the Wilson combats, but the Wilson is pricier.
I use Chip McCormick exclusively. I prefer the Power Mag or Power Mag+ for carry. I have some standard Shooting Stars which are 20 or so years old that have seen a lot of use and abuse and are still going strong, I use them for practice mags now.
Midway USA has the top of the line Wilson Combat M1911 mags on sale this month. You can't find a better mag.
Never had a problem with anything from Chip McCormick. The 6 Chip mags I own have outlasted the factory Para-Ord 7rnd mags & the guts from two of them are still going strong in the Para bodies which now hold 8rnds )
Chips 10rnd mags are also great. I have two that I use for night stand duty as I'm not concerned with holstering it.

The Wilson mags are also flawless & I have been buying their 47DC ( Full-Size, 8 Round, Lo-Profile Steel Base Pad ) as they are about the best mags for EDC I have found. Even after leaving these things loaded for +2yrs the spring still pops them out strong.

My experiences with the Mec-Gar mags were so/so they always worked & fit the gun well but 2 of the ones I had would pop the followers when you dropped an empty mag. I never had the gun jam because of this, but I disliked having to reassemble mags just because I had run them dry.
Discount 1911 mags.

Ok, I'm probably gonna get a bunch of flak for this but this guy has been getting some good reviews for his mags. and the consensus is that they are probably made by CheckMate.
http://www.joes1911magmania.net/index.php
People on http://forum.m1911.org/forums.php Have been buying them and reviewing them for a while. Judge for yourself.

Here is the thread - http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=90436&page=8&pp=10
Redraider,

Both Wilson Combat & Ed Brown 1911 magazines are good to go for a life time, I use both in my custom Ed Brown with never a slip-up.DI5
I have 3 wilsons and a bunch of chip mccormick's never had a issue with either, I would recommend both.
I've run Chip McCormicks, Checkmates, Colts, and Tripps in my 45s, and would recommend any of them. Get into a 10mm, and the story changes, but I'd say you'd have a hard time going wrong with a 7 round from one of the above, or Wilson. Oh, some interesting reading here: http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/ .
+1 for the Chip McCormick's, NEVER had a problem with them. Order them straight from them and they currently have free shipping, use

promo code C M C1911 and get another 10% off. I like the Match mags with the bump pads, easier to slam home if you have a magwell

on your gun.....Good Luck!
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Always used wilson combat 47D 8 rounders. I have a colt 70s series government model my dad gave to me about 10 years ago. Been running 2 wilson combat mags through it since then and I haven ever had any issues, the price is worth it. Just picked up three more yesterday. I did break a follower on one of them about 3 months ago, it happened when I broke my slide lock through newbi error.
+1 on perazziboys comment. love my chips and no issues with them.
I must have gotten the lemons from Chip McCormick. I bought three of his Shooting Star mags several years ago, and they turned my will-feed-anything 1911 into a jam-o-matic. I replaced the Shooting Star followers with Wilson followers, and they run perfectly. Now all I buy are Wilson mags.
I must have gotten the lemons from Chip McCormick. I bought three of his Shooting Star mags several years ago, and they turned my will-feed-anything 1911 into a jam-o-matic. I replaced the Shooting Star followers with Wilson followers, and they run perfectly. Now all I buy are Wilson mags.
I have had issues in 2 of my 1911s with the Shooting Star mags as well, they now sit in the safe unused.

I have several of the 8 rd Kimber mags and use them more than anything else with no problems so far. But the best is the Wilson mags hands down in my 1911s.
I gave away a bunch of USGI mags from my Navy days. I crushed and scrapped a few dozen 'problem' and 'mystery' mags.

Now I stick with Chip McCormick Shooting Stars. I bought a dozen of each. 8rd stainless for carry and defense and 7rd blue with base pads for match use in my GCNMs. They work perfectly with 185gr jacketed and 200gr H&G lead SWCs as well as any and every hollow point I tried , including the old Speer 200gr 'flying shot glass'. And they are also very reasonably priced. Mec Gar and Metalform are also very good mags. I've heard from reliable sources that Chip McCormick mags are actually made by Metalform.

I have a 2 old Pachmayr stainless 7rd mags that work great with any JHP or SWC. Considered the best years ago , the 'Made in Italy' stamping can only mean they were made by Mec Gar.
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