Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Best 1911 Magazines

What is your choice for the absolute best magazine for your 1911? I've owned a number of different ones over the years. The Shooting Star used to be the gold standard, supposedly. I never saw much difference between them and standard GI issue, other than another round. Now it seems like a lot of people use Wilson's. I'm in the market for about half-a-dozen or a dozen new ones. What should I be getting? Btw...guns are a Colt Gold Cup and Springfield Loaded, both in 45 ACP.

I still like the Wilsons.

Whatever magazine YOUR 1911 likes!

My Delta prefers the factory Colt mags.
My wife's 1991 Commander doesn't care...it will work with any mag we've tried in it.
The XSE Lightweight Government Colt takes Wilson 47Ds.
And the DW Valor is pretty easy to feed, 47Ds or Metalform Pro Series with the round follower.

1911s can be picky.

I'm very happy with the current Colt 7-round mags. Or the Colt-spec mags from Checkmate. I used them in my RIA with it's less-than-perfect frame ramp, and they fed fmj, hp, and swc all perfectly. Same results with them in my Ruger. If your gun won't run with them, I'd be looking for other problems.

The 8-round mag that came with my Ruger (which I suspect is made by Checkmate) also works perfect.

I like and use McCormick magazines

Been using Chip McCormick magazines for many years. Shoot primarily LSWCs

Several manufactures I have talked to in the past liked Metalforms.

Have a new Les Baer PII with the 1.5 option ordered and will be trying the CM magazines initially.

I like the MetalForm standard 7 round mags (flat, dimpled, followers), which reproduce pretty closely the magazine designed by JMB for the 1911. I've never had a problem with them. When I carry a 1911, it's got one of those in it.

I like and use 8 rounders and a lot of 10 round McCormick magazines never had a problem with them not feeding properly.

The dimpled, flat, follower is essential, IMO, mainly because it saves the extractor hook from excess wear. Followers lacking those features, once the springs become even a little weak, will allow the last round to slip forward enough under recoil so that it will be pushed into the chamber ahead of the extractor hook, which only snaps over the rim after it's fully chambered. The rim is supposed to ride in behind the extractor hook for every round, and that little dimple is there to see to it that even the last round in the magazine does just that, weak spring or otherwise. Most mags that hold more than 7 rounds have smooth and rounded followers, thus permitting the last round to slip forward of the extractor hook. This is harmful due to the peculiar design of the 1911's internal extractor. For those built with an external extractor, it's not an issue.

I am not having any trouble, therefore see no reason to give up the extra round.

It's a problem that develops gradually, and will result in the extractor hook wearing out prematurely from repeatedly being required to snap over the rim. For the same reason, we are advised never to load a round directly into the chamber of a 1911, but only from the magazine.

In competition, I always used Wilson stainless steel with the plastic follower. They were utterly reliable and easy to take down and clean.

The other day at the range, I had a 7 round Macormick Officers size stutter and fail to lift the round up, leaving it about 1/2 inch below the lips. Dug out the Wilson's to finish the range session. Took the Macormick home and pulled the follower noticed it had pretty sharp edges and probably dragged against the body a bit. I buffed the heck out of the follower to round the sharp edges and it seems to work better now.

Glock, oh wait, never mind.

I use the model 47 Wilson mag. These are 7-rounders and I've never had a problem. Even the three I've had for about 20 years work good. The three old ones should probably replaced as the parts for them are no longer available. I only use seven round mags.

Tripp Cobra Mags, Wilson 47D, mainly because of the follower design that is guided/supported from & back & cannot tip or the new(er) Colt factory mags in that order of preference.

The old McCormack mags were very good, but should not be used in alloy frames; I've not tried any newer version on them as I think the others listed above are far superior today.

I have a Christensen 1911 that came with 3 stainless mags that have their name stamped on them but look exactly like McCormacks & in that gun, they work flawlessly........haven't tried them in any other gun.

MM

Ultimately, the best 1911 magazine out there is the one that proves reliable in YOUR pistol ..... and they ALL need maintenance and component replacement from time to time.

I've been lucky I guess and never owned a finicky 1911 so I've used all of these designs interchangeably with no excess wear and tear on anything.

Tripp cobra for me

Well If you asked me 10 years ago I would've said "Wilson 47D". But now I'm kindof liking Chip McCormick Power Mags better.

Wilson's aren't magic - the springs weaken over time and you do need to disassemble them and clean them once in a while. And I think they are over-priced for what you get.

My advice is to find the Chip McCormicks on sale and stock up. Don't need the Power Mags necessarily.

Which one of the nine versions (that I know of) of Glock factory mags are your referring to?

Glock Perfection, oh wait, never mind.

The absolute best is determined by the bullet profile: USGI (tapered lips) for hardball, wadcutter (straight lips/timed release) for wadcutters, and hybrid (tapered lips/timed release) for hollowpoints and most everything else.

For USGI magazines I prefer Colt originals and Check Mate, the latter being the only source of new stuff that I know of.

For hybrid magazines I prefer Colt and Tripp (Cobra).

I don't use wadcutter magazines, such as Wilson, because they typically disable/bypass controlled feed. I have no use for a disabled 1911.