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Ballistic Artist

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Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 3, 2012
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socialist republic Kalifornia
Hey all,
What brand of 1911 mag do you all prefer? Ive been runnin a Kimber custom 2 for a few years now and have been trying a few different brands of mags trying to find one I like so I can purchase a shit ton of them. I tried chip mccormick power mags and power + mags and their "anti tilt" follower is a piece of SHIT. It tilts more than the old ww2 style follower. It wont lock the slide back on the last round and it started jamming regularly at about 1000 rds. I like 8 round mags and they must have a REAL anti tilt follower. What do you run??
Thanks in advance.
 
Wilson combat are my go to 1911 mags. I'm with you on the chip McCormick ones, had one too many break malfunction.
 
Tripp Cobra Mags all the way.

Wow, these look good. Definitely like the Hybrid follower. Looks to be anti tilt. And how they have all the replacement parts. Looks like they even have a 10 rounder that would actually function. Also, pretty cool that its owned by the guy who started STI. Are they all considered Cobra mags? I couldn't find that specific model. They are a bit pricey but I use this weapon for competition and as my SHTF sidearm, so I'm willing to pay for reliability. Thanks for the input.
 
Wilson and some Shooting Stars, if I have a problem with a mag it goes. Sometimes they take a few loadings to settle in.
 
I replaced my Wilson 47D's with Tripps. The upper part of the base pads on the Wilsons had deformed to the point that I had to smash them into the gun. Both run great, but the Tripp is a better mag.
 
If CMC's don't work, try Tripp. I have never had a mag related failure with a Tripp. That said, I use them less than my CMC's. I have a 10-rounder with a known issue that I use at the range. It fails to lock back every once in a while. I tried a couple of things to fix it, but I just refuse to trash it.
 
I've run my Springfield's with Chip McCormick power mags and I had great luck with them. I did have one that was the Power + and it gave me problems. I called them up and they sent me a new follower- problem went away.
I would wonder if part of your problem could be your gun and not just the magazines? Granted I would try some other brands first to see if one brand works better for you but seeing that you already have issue with 2 different brands and over all pretty respected brands of magazines if the problems persist with other brands of mags I would start to think it may be the gun out of spec?
 
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I've tried Kimber, Chip McCormick, and Wilson. The Wilson's are my favorite. Oddly enough, the Kimber mags that I've owned in the past have functioned very well also. The CMC mags that I've had we're less than reliable and won't buy another. I don't have any experience with Tripp mags as the less expensive Wilson's and Kimber's have worked well for me, but I don't recall seeing ANY negative reviews about Tripp mags.
 
I would wonder if part of your problem could be your gun and not just the magazines? Granted I would try some other brands first to see if one brand works better for you but seeing that you already have issue with 2 different brands and over all pretty respected brands of magazines if the problems persist with other brands of mags I would start to think it may be the gun out of spec?

I would maybe lean this way as well. My dad has a Custom II that ran like a top with every mag he put in it, then at like 1500 rounds it went south. Put a new main spring in, not much better. He had no extractor tension at all. Cases just fell out of the extractor. Tweaked that a little and the gun runs like a top again.
 
I've run my Springfield's with Chip McCormick power mags and I had great luck with them. I did have one that was the Power + and it gave me problems. I called them up and they sent me a new follower- problem went away.
I would wonder if part of your problem could be your gun and not just the magazines? Granted I would try some other brands first to see if one brand works better for you but seeing that you already have issue with 2 different brands and over all pretty respected brands of magazines if the problems persist with other brands of mags I would start to think it may be the gun out of spec?

Thanks for that thought. But, I have been a Gunsmith for a few years now. I took a couple of "advanced Tuning" Classes when I was at school, and have worked on quite a few 1911's and fixed a lot of "feeding issues". (Brazilian and Philippines made shit mostly) I frequently check my personal weapon for worn parts and extractor tension. Everything passes. My Kimber works great with Kimber mags and with some old G.I. mags that I have. I don't have any problems with Kimber mags but I don't like the fact that their 8 round mag does not have any length added for the 8th round. its just a 7rd body with one more jammed in there. If my gun has an issue with the mag, It either; wont hold the slide open on the last round or the last round or second to the last round in the mag will jam. My standard load is a 230 grain lead round nose (Hardball profile) moving at 855fps avg. of 5. Im not saying that I know everything but this is one gun that I get to work on a lot. I guess Kalifornians like 1911's cuz damn near everybody has one. Probably because that's one of the few guns that's still legal in this socialist piece of shit for a state... Thanks again for the input everyone.
 
The best in my pistol have consistently been Wilson ETMs and the Tripp Cobra Mags. I used some of the Tripp 10-rounders for a while and they functioned well, but the baseplate had a tendency to fly off when it hit the deck. Could have just been my particular mags, dunno, but it is worth mentioning that you can buy them melonited from John Harrison's webstore, and the black looks much nicer and doesn't wear. I had shit luck with CMC so I got rid of 'em and bought more ETMs.
 
I was having issues with the first round out of my brand new Chip McCormick Power mags "nosing" down and jamming between the barrel and frame. I sent a friendly email to Chip McCormick asking for thoughts and potential remedies. What I received back was a smart-ass email telling me my pistol (Springfield Champion Operator) was the problem and an explanation of how a magazine operates. It was condescending and I then called Tripp Research and spoke with the owner and he immediately was able to identify the problem. I asked if he could guarantee that his mags would not do the same thing and he didn't skip a beat in saying he did. Picked up 3 Cobra Mags and have not looked back since.
 
Who actually manufactures the tripp mags? Are they Mec-Gar?
 
I was having issues with the first round out of my brand new Chip McCormick Power mags "nosing" down and jamming between the barrel and frame. I sent a friendly email to Chip McCormick asking for thoughts and potential remedies. What I received back was a smart-ass email telling me my pistol (Springfield Champion Operator) was the problem and an explanation of how a magazine operates. It was condescending and I then called Tripp Research and spoke with the owner and he immediately was able to identify the problem. I asked if he could guarantee that his mags would not do the same thing and he didn't skip a beat in saying he did. Picked up 3 Cobra Mags and have not looked back since.

Yep, that sounds right. The problem you were having with the CMC mag sounds like its due to that chicken shit follower that mcCormick calls an Anti Tilt. Its really just a ratfucked ww2 style follower that has a tail that's about half as long as it should be. (That's why rounds nose dive and the slide wont stay back) If you take an empty cmc pwr+ mag and push forward on the follower, it will slip right out of the mag body and will go flying if you don't catch it. Seriously, I have an 8 round and a 10 round cmc pwr+ mag and you can do this with them both. JUNK! That's all I can say about them. Definately goin to order a Couple Tripp mags. How do their 10 rounders work? Im thinkin to get one 8 and one ten round to try them both.
 
Wilson ETM's or Tripp Cobras. My gun won't seat the Mec-Gars but my buddies have all been running high rounds through theirs with no worries. Have seen a few issues with the Tripp 10 rounders, but isolated.
 
I replaced my Wilson 47D's with Tripps. The upper part of the base pads on the Wilsons had deformed to the point that I had to smash them into the gun. Both run great, but the Tripp is a better mag.

^^This


I had one Wilson, only used it a few times and the follower was getting chewed up. That's what happens when you make a follower out of polymer.... I also don't like how thin the guage of metal is. I traded it for a KimProTac, which I then replaced the springs and follower with Tripp innards. My Tripps are my best mags, and everything else slowly but surely gets replacement springs and followers from Tripp. A 3" 1911 will let you know when your non-Tripp springs are going south....
 
WOW. This is yet another one of those GREAT f'in threads that makes SH such a fantastic place to "hang out". It's been years since I messed with my 1911's but I have the bug again and bought a couple more. I was looking to replace my existing mags and did a search for Wilsons in the hopes of finding a few for sale. Instead I find out that the Wilson's have been surpassed by Tripp. It's not often THIS many guys, especially gun guys, agree on ONE product basically being THE one to use.
Thanks to you all for sharing your experiences with the various makers. Gonna stock up on Tripps as soon as I find some in quantity.
 
WOW. This is yet another one of those GREAT f'in threads that makes SH such a fantastic place to "hang out". It's been years since I messed with my 1911's but I have the bug again and bought a couple more. I was looking to replace my existing mags and did a search for Wilsons in the hopes of finding a few for sale. Instead I find out that the Wilson's have been surpassed by Tripp. It's not often THIS many guys, especially gun guys, agree on ONE product basically being THE one to use.
Thanks to you all for sharing your experiences with the various makers. Gonna stock up on Tripps as soon as I find some in quantity.

My buddy Tony has them in stock right now.

Tripp Research Cobra Mag-1911 45 8rnd
 
Ballistic Artist,

Seems like everyone has already hit you with Tripp, great choice. For what it is worth we issue the CMC mags with our 1911's and they seem to run with little to no issues. That said, I run Tripp and have never had an issue with them in a pistol.

In my Colt M45 (CQBP) I am running the Wilson 7 round magazines, which is what the USMC ordered with this pistol, and they run fine in this pistol. I have not tried them in any others and am going to beat them up with the pistol to see how they all run together.

10 rounders are a different monster and are not functional for any type of duty/deployment. It just seems everyone's measurements are off and they are difficult to run with any consistency. If you are in the LA area let me know, I will pass some Tripp 10 rounders for you to try, I think I have a few new units in a locker.

Be safe,
FourNineThree
 
I've ran CMC 8rd power mags and Wilson 10rd mags shooting single stack and limited ten for the past 12 years and have never had a problem with either one.
 
I run ACT 8 round mags in my NHC. I haven't had any issues with them at all. They're a few years old now and have been dropped on the ground multiple times and still function very well. After reading the above posts, I'll try some Tripp Cobras.
 
I have been using Tripp and CMC magazines for many years in a variety of 1911's without issue.