MAGAZINES 1911A1.... WHAT IS BEST ???

[Petard]

Wilson and Chip McC in my EDC. Any others I have I keep for training drills so I can practice for FTF. I am not a competitive shooter.

 

[idlethunder]

There are several companies mentioned above that build great magazines. Over the years my go to has always been the Wilson 47D.

 

[mrowan]

The magazines I use in my 1911 45acp are from Nighthawk Custom. I have never had any issue with them at all.

 

[Barry in IN]

BEST MAG FOR 1911A1...???? WHICH ONE?

It depends on the gun. Seriously. I've had 1911s that showed a preference over one brand over another, and it might be a different mag than another gun likes.

I swore by Wilson's until I had a SA that would feed fine but not always lock open with them. I tried a regular Chip McCormick mag, it worked, so I used CMC mags in it.
The only magazines I remember never having trouble in any 1911 are eight-round Power Mags. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are the best.

My suggestion to new 1911 owners is to buy ONE of every type of quality magazine they can get. When trying them out, they might eliminate a brand or two, and/or another brand or two might stand out as working better than the others.
Only then would I order a supply of magazines.

 

[NITINOL]

Chip McCormick, 8 Rd, flush fit. (Only issue was on a tight tolerance gov gun, 1 mag wouldn't drop free. Had to rip out. All work fine in 'newer' units and clones.)
Wilson Combat. Strongly suggested to me.Just purchased; not yet used.
Always heard MecGar is another good choice.
Try the regular flavor version; then upgrade to the 'power' or 'stronger' versions.
As resources are limited and interst are many; I've stuck with the Chip McCormick Shooting Star 8 Rd units.

 

[Nikrnic]

One of the best I use for the money or not, I say that because they are very reasonably priced are ACT magazines hands down.

 

[sourdough]

Chip McCormick Shooting Star and Wolff springs when the McCormick springs need replacing. Many others work but CMC never disappoints.

 

[p269]

you can not go wrong by using wilson 47D mags in your 1911.

 

[KeysMIA]

The Trip Reserch Mags are great for my Colt Delta Elite. Followed by Wilson 47D's. I have had success with the Kim Pro mags for my Officers and Defender's.

 

[1911owner]

It didn't take long to stack up a bunch of replies. I have at least one Chip McCormick, several from Colt that came with pistols, and even 2 Norinco magazines that came with my Norinco 1911. I seem to be lucky. I haven't actually had a problem with any of them.

Nonetheless, I wound up with Wilson Combat as shown below. The order was placed 11/28/2022. I haven't looked at prices lately. I seem to be done.

Part# Description Qty Total​ 500BC-HD MAGAZINE, 1911, ELITE TACTICAL, .45 ACP HD/+P, FULL-SIZE, 8 ROUND, LO-PROFILE STEEL BASE PAD, BLACK FLUOROPOLYMER FINISH ROUND, LO-PROFILE STEEL BASE PAD, BLACK FLUOROPOLYMER FINISH 2 $84.72​ 500-45FS10B MAGAZINE, 1911, ELITE TACTICAL, .45 ACP, FULL-SIZE, 10 ROUND, BLACK FLUOROPOLYMER FINISH, FEED RAILST AMMUNITION SYSTEM , BLACK FLUOROPOLYMER FINISH, FEED RAILST AMMUNITION SYSTEM 6 $225.36​

Anything I carry has an 8-round to start. The spares I take along are the 10-round mags. At home, on the shelf, I put a 10-round in and a spare in the hide-in-plain-sight box.

 

[Peckster]

BEST MAG FOR 1911A1...???? WHICH ONE?

I've never had a problem with Colt factory mags. The only problems I have ever had with 1911 mags were Springfield factory 10mm. Wilson Combat run that pistol just fine.

 

[Airdale26]

BEST MAG FOR 1911A1...???? WHICH ONE?

Looiing for the best 1911 magazines. Well there a few. The absolute best magazine is one that works all the time.
Standard GI mag work OK but some do not. My personal experience are WIlson Combat 47D I have use the WC extended for special events. Now I am sure some one or many someones will diagree based upon their experiences. I have hused RIA, Kimber, Colt, Remington. WWII mags. WC for me work consistently evern when dirty, sandy, wet, dry and mud covered. So for me WC 47D are hte one I use. Buy or acquire sample from others and see how they work.
WC work very well aacross theboard in various Firearms for me. Now Mags do wear out, the loading fins get bent or dented.

 

[Street Survival]

100% Chip McCormick 8-round mags, I believe Wilson owns the company now.

 

[LPRoad]

Tripp Cobra

 

[Gamma4510]

BEST MAG FOR 1911A1...???? WHICH ONE?

My first choice would be Wilson 47D or Elite Tactical, 2nd choice would be Chip McCormick, either of these have given years of reliability.

 

[ThemanJC]

I've had good luck with Chip McCormick. No problems on this end.

 

[Pappy]

All my answers have been given already. I haven't had any problems with the MecGar or McCormick. I need to buy some Wilson Combat mags too
I don't have to pay for shipping from Wilson.....I drive there and buy them in person. I live about 45 minutes from Wilson Combat.
All my 1911 mag's are 7 round, for my Officers 1911

 

[Pierre]

I've had great luck with MecGar and Tripp magazines over the years....they've functioned and held up well even after many competitions and being dropped in sand and dirt. I do take good care of them, cleaning and changing springs periodically. Most recently i purchased several mags from the Brownells, they market a proprietary line of magazines and they seem to be of excellent quality as well. The only thing i noticed on the Brownells magazine is that coating is a bit thick (albeit nice looking) so it took a couple of days for it to wear just a bit before it would drop free on one of my 1911s which has a comparatively narrow magwell.

Modern 1911 magazines have come a long way in recent years.

Concur, forgot about Brownells. Have several they work great. I stay away from promag products. Had several failures with the mags coming apart, bases flew off when loaded to mag.

 

[jaydoc]

I have mostly Tripp, McCormick and Ed Brown mags. Some 7rounders, 8 Rounders and 10 rounders. My 1911A1 eats from them all with no problems. I only CC have 2 Colt factory mags that came with the gun and they work too.

 

[Bill O’Rights]

I like the McCormick Power mags and feel the most comfort with their reliability. I load 8 and chamber one, leaving 7 in the mag. Superstition maybe, but over the decades of shooting many types of magazine fed firearms, I've come to suspect (imagine?) that maxing out a mag's capacity seems to increase the chance of issues.

I strip and clean new mags and used mags, springs and followers, using Ballistol, wipe dry and rub everything down with a thin but well rubbed in coat of Mil-com. Don't know if this is the reason, but I very rarely have any mag issues.

That said, well cleaned or not, I've never had any issues with magazines that came with a firearm from reputable manufacturers. Nor have I ever had a problem caused by plastic followers.

But, ca 2015-ish (?), I bought a 2 pack of 1911 mags at a LGS, made by a well regarded manufacturer, that had out of spec mag catch/release notches. Inserted, they had a lot of vertices play. I called the manufacture. They asked me to send the mags back. I did so, and a couple weeks later, I received 6! new mags and a nice note of apology, acknowledging the defects, etc. Those 6 mags have worked perfectly ever since.

My 2 cts.