1911 .38 Super magazines

[Bitterroot Bob]

Howdy,
On the subject of magazines for a .38 Super 1911. The prices are all over the place! Chip McCormick makes a classy product that I have had great luck with in .45 ACP. Metalform mags are supposed to be Colt-spec, or the same as Colt mags. Nine rounds seems to be enough, but ten would be better. I have seen prices from $12.99 to $43.00, and everything in between. CDNN has the least expensive, but they are soo cheap that I'm skeptical about the quality. Metalforms are around $20, if you look around.
And, what about nylon v metal followers?
I also read a description stating a magazine had SWC feed lips. Huh?

Bitterroot Bob

[Mikey]

Bob:  get the Chip McCormick and you will always be happy; one more round is always nice. 

SWC magazine feed lips?  Go on back to that description and see if you can get some particulars.  I think I read or heard of that once before - maybe a re-designed follower to keep the nose higher up and most closely regulated sidewall guides to allow for easier feeding???  I dunno but it sounds good.  Mikey.

[rawhidekid]

The Taurus PT1911 I had liked the Chip McCormic mag fit and feed no problem.  Some people get hung up on only blue mags in blue guns or SS in SS guns,  but ya can't see it once it is in the gun and the gun doesn't care.

[Bitterroot Bob]

I don't know about the SWC-specific mags, either.
I have about ten mags for the 45 ACP and all feed the 452423-topped rounds just fine. Maybe that's because I took a Dremel and rouge to the ramp. Who knows? Sportsman's Guide had a deal on 7-round mil-specs for something like $6 each, so I bought four. And, they had Kimber 8-round mags for $12, so I bought an extra pair of those. Add in my two Norinco mags and a Randall nickel-plated (stainless?) one- They all work great.
I don't dump my empty mags in the dirt, so a removable floorplate isn't a priority, but I want the gun to feed. I'll examine the Taurus-supplied pair and see if there is anything special about them.

Bitterroot Bob

[rawhidekid]

I have never heard of a SWC specific mag.  I just loadedthem in the standerd mag without a problem.   Good luck & good shooting.

[Bitterroot Bob]

I stumbled on to this site:
http://www.how-i-did-it.org/magazines/index.html
It explains the SWC v ball ammo feed lips. It only confused me.
Are Metalform magazines worth a darn? I read a 2006 review that indicated that they were junk. But that was three years ago, so are they good now? CDNN has them for $14. Everyone else has them for $20 or more. The Metalform site has them for $35!
By the way, the new Taurus is in the basement and it is beautiful! What a smooth piece of work!

Bitterroot

[Bitterroot Bob]

Well,
After much consternation I sent off for four Mec-Gar 9-rounders from CDNN @ $17.99 each. They had Metalforms for $12.99, but I don't know the name and the only review I could find didn't speak too highly of them. I guess I should have picked up one just to see how it worked. The Mac-Gar Hi-Power mags I have perform flawlessly, so I'll give them a try. I will probably buy some McCormicks at some point, too, but I need dies and time at the casting bench first.


Bitterroot Bob

[rawhidekid]

wheneveer I'm in a gunshop, I check for factory carry ammo.  Today I was shown a 50 round box of Winchester silvertip for $46.50.  They also had a 25 roud box of Cor Bon 125 grn hollow points for $27.00.  I'll keep loading my own hollow points at these prices.

[HAMMERHEAD]

I'm sure your Mec Gars will be fine, they make OEM mags for quite a few brands of pistols including Beretta and Sig.
My Metalform mags have been 100%, I like the rounded follower/removable base plate style myself, even if they're only 8 rounds. I have one flat follower/welded base Metalform mag that runs fine too.
I saw the plastic followers at Midway, but mine have been fine without.
The SWC mags you linked are for .45acp, fortunately .38 Supers feed more smoothly in 1911s than either .45acp or 9mm in my experience.

[rawhidekid]

Just a heads up, many of you more experianced 38 Super shooters already know.  If you don't reload you can get Aguila 38 Super ammo for $17.00 a box on the internet..  130 grn fmj and thats $13.00 a box of 50 less than the local American Eagle.  Makes shooting on a budget better.

[Bitterroot Bob]

Way ahead of you, Kid!
The carton with ten boxes of Aguila was on the porch when I got home with the new Taurus Friday. With shipping, it came to $202. Thank you to the foreign manufacturers!
Seems like the American ammo producers have placed the Super in the same niche as .41 Magnum and .44-40. Why should Super be twice the price of 9mm? Why should the .41 ammo be twice the price of .44 Mag? Low demand? It's guaranteed at those prices.


Bitterroot Bob

[rawhidekid]

Glad to hear you got the aguila.   It had not sunk in when just reading on the net.  I bought 800 used brass out of Florida and it is by far the majority of that brass.  (Thank you Krod47mw).   As I was tumbling this brass I couldn't help but see the powder inside cleaned out better than anything I have tumbled to date.  The outside however was not so hot.  Eather shot through a verey ruff chamber or very hot load.  Best I can describe it is how a case looks that has set to long in a belt loop.  Although I can't picture that in the case of 38 Super.

[Bitterroot Bob]

Howdy,
The snow is off the range and I have been able to test the Taurus. The gun shoots the Aguilla just fine. Small groups to POA. The magazines are giving me fits, though.
Taurus doesn't list magazines on their website. Too bad, because their Super mags are perfect. Of the four Mecgars that I bought, only one will lift the slide-stop after the last round is fired. They ALL will lift the stop when working the slide by hand. I tried some aftermarket 10-round conversion kits (polymer followers that came with Wolfe springs). The new followers didn't lift the stop, either.
I guess I'm trying to avoid the cost of McCormick's, but does anyone have any ideas? No jams whatsoever, but the slide isn't locking back.

Bitterroot

[Mikey]

Bob:  from the article you posted earlier you can see that the lower lip of the follower has to be at 90 degrees to the top of the followeer to catch the slide stop lug.  I would take one of those Mecgars and work that lower lip back with a set of needle nose pliers until you get a good 90 degree angle at the lip and if you can bend it out toward the slide stop lug for better engagement it should work.  Afterall, these are just stamped parts and are malleable (? sp) and can be bent easily to better fit a specific gun.

On one of the mags in the article it showed the verticle part of the lower leg of the mag follower just nudging the slide stop lug just before the horizontal leg began to lift the lug - if you can duplicate or improve that effect by properly shaping the follower leg so it comes into aggressive contact with the lug you will have resolved your problems.  Dissasemble one of those mags and take a look at the 'L' shape of the lower follower leg - the horizontal part of the leg, or the 'foot' if you wish, can be bent up and even further out toward the slide stop side of the pistol for better engagement. 

Now, if all that fails the only other suggestion is two-fold:  either spend the $ for the better magazines or we can send off a distress call to SharonAnne to see what advice she might have from her competetive experiences with folk who shoot the Super in their/her matches, if they shoot the Super. 

Of course, you can always get a aftermarket slide stop and fit it to the pistol so that any mag works the slide stop.  I once had a slide stop that had to be fitted as just the bullets in the mag would lock it back - a bit of the 'Ol Dremel' took care of that.  HTH.