Just because something comes with a gun doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work perfectly with that gun. Especially with the 1911 platform, ensuring that your magazines actually work is a key step in troubleshooting malfunctions before you start blaming your firearm and looking for the warranty card.
One shooter and TTAG reader (who wants to be known here as ST) recently had a run-in with some bad factory magazines and wanted to share his cautionary tale with us . . .
Being a newcomer to firearms myself, I approached 1911 ownership with a little bit of trepidation. On a whim I rented a Nighthawk Customs 1911 at my local range and fell in love with the nigh-telepathic trigger feel and handling of the gun.
I resolved to buy a 1911 after my rental session, but not before I did some extensive research beforehand. A Rock Island Armory .45 ACP Tactical may be an inexpensive pistol to most people, but not for a college student fresh out of the military.
Next payday came around and I purchased an RIA 1911 Tactical. Being that it only came with one magazine in the box, I picked up two spare mags for it in the store. The only ones the sales staff had were a Mec-Gar and a Kimpro Tac mag, so those were what I bought.
At the next range session something funny happened. With the included 8-round Act-Mag the 1911 refused to feed hollowpoints. After shooting that mag and loading the Mec-Gar 8 rounder, the gun happily fed and fired every hollowpoint PMC round without incident. Same thing with the Kimpro mag.
A hypothesis germinated in my mind as I loaded the Act Mag, slammed it home and hit the slide release. Sure enough, it failed to feed again. I unloaded the mag, stuck the same hollow point rounds into the Kimber mag in the same order as they were in the Act Mag. They fed and fired without incident.
Ever since that range session I’ve made it a rule to buy aftermarket quality magazines with every 1911 purchase. I’ve since sold that RIA, but nevertheless I’ve NEVER had a malfunction with my 1911s unless I used the no-name magazine that was in the box with it.
This experience was repeated in December last year.
After James Yeager recently made a video slamming 1911s, all this came back to the fore for me. I realized it may not be common knowledge among the Armed Intelligentsia to mistrust 1911 mags that come in the box with an $800+ firearm.
While Mr. Yeager makes well thought-out points, a thought occurred to me while watching his videos. While he states that his observation of the students he taught who used 1911s noted several malfunctions, did he take the time to note which magazines the students were shooting with?
If his clients are taking their 1911s to his high-intensity training course with the factory no-name mags that came with their pistols, its not a stretch to assume they wouldn’t have any better luck than I would with the magazines RIA included. It’s no wonder Yeager and a lot of others would think the 1911 is a jam-o-matic.
To ensure my letter isn’t a sample of one, my Remington R1 that’s in the video I made works 100% with Kimber mags. The factory no-name mag it came with caused a feed malfunction with hollow point PMC ammo, ammo that same exact pistol fired without incident from a Kimpro mag. It’s the same brand of ammunition I initially shot though that Rock Island 1911.
At this point it’s wise to consider what separates a choice 1911 magazine from the substandard. Comparing my Kimber Kim-Pro Tac mag to the parkerized no-name 8-rounder that awaited me in the Remington R1 box, we can see some important differences right away.
The Kimber magazine has a pleasing reflective finish on it. The mirror shine attracts fingerprints, however the finish doesn’t impede reloads or inhibit a tight grip like its flashy appearance may suggest. The witness holes are marked and staggered, with easy to read text and Kimber stampings on the side.
As you hold it, the magazine has a sense of solid heft which belies the shiny impression one gets at first look. The metal magazine body is tight and solid. With the rounds loaded there’s no flimsy shake rattle and roll.
Insertion and ejection are smooth and slick…as long as the owner doesn’t fumble the reload of course. The magazine comes with a flat GI baseplate, but Kimber thoughtfully includes two bumper pads in the packaging in case one is more comfortable using bumper-ed magazines.
While the shiny finish may turn some people off, it has practical benefits in that you can clearly see the rounds loaded and dirt & carbon deposits don’t stand a chance of staying on the mag long enough to end up in the weapon.
The Remington no-name magazine is a different story.
The tube body is parkerized with no markings besides basic numerals next to the witness holes. I can’t tell you who makes this magazine as there’s no stamping or origin on the follower or metal tube.
At least the Act-Mag with my old Rock Island Armory had a factory stamp on the side. This thing is as unmarked as an undercover Chicago Police cruiser. Unless you turn it over to see the “R .45 AUTO” printed on the bottom of the mag baseplate, you’d never know this was sold with a Remington pistol.
The tube body doesn’t feel nearly as solid as the Kimber magazine’s. I get the sense my Kimber magazine will last as long as my 1911 will — that is to say, long enough to be dug up from my sarcophagus as artifacts in 10,000 years. I can’t say the same for this nondescript magazine.
Its tube body is made of metal, but not of anything I’d bet will last even 20 years. It was this magazine which yielded the previously mentioned malfunction. The parkerized finish seems to be an afterthought-its already wearing away at the edge near the tops of the magazine feed lips.
Essentially, what comes in this box is a device meant for range use only. The Kimber magazine reminds me of a Glock or quality AK magazine-a tough unit meant to last which can withstand the wear and tear of its expected duties. The R1’s included magazine feels like a Pro-Mag imitation meant to sell at a price first with function as a distant priority. I get the sense whoever designed this magazine has the same regard for 1911s as Hillary Clinton does the 2nd Amendment.
I wrote this so that — in addition to competition and range users of the 1911 — others in the Second Amendment community don’t trust their lives and the lives of their families to magazines of suspect or unknown origin just because they came with their firearms. As you doubtlessly know, even weapons known for their “perfection” like the GLOCK pistol are useless if the magazine used is of substandard quality.
While I can’t presume to judge the worth of every 1911 magazine, I can state that no 1911 owner should blindly trust the quality of the magazines which come with their gun. Unlike other manufacturers, trust in a 1911 magazine must be earned at the range and not given at the gun counter.
The old saying “you get what pay for” makes sense with mags.
Several quick thoughts I’ve picked up. First spend 3 bucks on a paint pen at your local hobby shop. They come in all colors, I like white. Then write on the side of all your magazines a unique id. A number or a letter, etc. That way when you are at the range, you can be assured that a particular mag is giving you problems or is working fine.
Second tip is to buy yourself a bound notebook. This will be a journal.Make it your journal for shooting. When heading out to the range, grab it and toss it into the range bag. When you have a problem, jot it down. Used this ammo, used this mag. Shot this number of rounds. No problem, or FTF, etc. Heck I even write down when I cleaned the guns, time etc. Competition guys have been doing this for decades. You won’t be forgetting or have to guess what was what by the time you get back to the house maybe hours later.
Third and finally, if a mag gives you consistent problems, destroy it. Smash the hell out of it or return it to the manufacturer for a refund. Especially for a CCW gun, don’t leave it to chance that it will sneak into your pocket someday when you need flawless function.
For iOS guys, Gun Log is a great free app that obviates the need for a physical notebook. Not sure if it’s available for Android. Check it out.
I tried searching for Gun Log in the Apple App Store, but it can’t find it. Does it go by a different name?
Thanks Moonshine.
Odd, it comes right up for me. There’s a +p (paid) version and the free version. Check again.
Found it. Search wouldn’t find it for me. But I was able to locate it by threading through categories (Sports), then by name alphabetically.
Another option is just to use Evernote.
Good ideas on that. By the way. Taurus makes mags for the 1911 and they have the Taurus stamp on bottom. The Taurus shoots JHP fine except the last round. It jams on last round. I bought a bunch of Act Mag made in Italy. They have not jammed at all on JHP. RIA may be using a different spring in the mag or some gov BS that they make them to fail on JHP on purpose. Maybe not, but we never know.
my ria came with an act and it still jams on fmj and jhp from time to time. also doing a soft rack will jam every time regardless of ammo. granted im still breaking it in and if thats the problem then after a couple more boxes its will be feeding as well as food stamps. if it persists ill try friends mags out till i find one that works well then just buy a shit ton of good mags on ctd or the website formerly known as slick guns
Excellent point Nick, I personally use only Tripp Research Inc 7R-45-WO mags in both my 1911’s whenever I’m going to compete with or carry them.
Nice article, ST. In addition to the brands you mention, I’ve also gotten excellent results with Chip McCormick’s mags and especially with Tripp Research Cobra Mags. If you can’t get a 1911 to feed right with Cobra Mags, you know it’s a gun or ammo problem.
The 2 mags that came with my s&w 1911 e series have never given me a problem. That being said, I still prefer my Chip Mcormic shooting star mags for carry and competition. They are just made better. I completely agree with ST.
#1 cause of problems in most semi-auto guns (rifles included) which feed from a detachable magazine is …. the magazine.
Usually, the problem is the angle(s) at which the round is presented to the chamber, and this is usually controlled by the lips of the magazine, their spacing between each other, the inward bend at that top of the magazine, etc.
The only mags that work reliably with my Springfield USGI .45 are Metalform’s mags. Which, thankfully, Springfield with the gun.
I’ve tried Wilson Combat, I’ve tried McCormick Shooting Stars, I’ve tried Pachmyrs and just about every other damn thing. Some feed fine but won’t hold the slide open on the last round, some won’t go in, and some just plain suck at everything.
Honestly the gun manufacturers need to get together and standardize their 1911’s mag ****. It’s beyond ridiculous that it’s hit or miss all the time.
My Wilson Combat Mags ROCK! You cannot go wrong with them! Yeah they are expensive, so what, so is life!
+1
It’s funny because the author seems to really like Kimber aftermarket mags, but in my case I found that the factory mag that came with my Kimber was functional, but of lesser quality then the Wilson Combat mags I bought at the same time. They are much more smooth and nicely finished, however all of the mags have fed 100%.
Chip and Wilson work great on most of my 1911’s. I agree that with 1911’s the mags are critical. Had a lot of experience with ftf’s, locked slides and failures to hold the slide open on an empty mag with other brands. But I think the important thing to note is that each gun is unique and will react to particular mags in a unique way. Test and find out for sure.
Or buy a Glock… Just sayin’
Glocks jam if you limp wrist them. You know like if you are shot and wounded and cant hold the gun firm. That is why spec forces don’t use them.
Too funny…..I have seen German SF with Glockalong with many SWAT teamz.
LAPD SIS SQUAD uses 30S Glocks….begged glock to make them
No. Just no. If your Glock jams, you’ve got a bad magazine or ammo.
On top of that, how does “it jams when you use it wrong” fit with “professional shooters have problems with it”? It probably jams if you load the mag backwards, too. 😛
Glocks work fine no matter which way you load the mag’s….Everyone knows that!
Pistols that were designed around military ball ammunition usually work better with ball ammo funnily enough.I have run many thousands of rounds of ball through RIA factory mags with no issues. If you want a pistol that is going to be 100% reliable with hollow points, a 1911 (or a Luger or a P-38 etc) isn’t a good choice.
You get what you pay for… x2 Wilson combat mags for my 1911 numbers 1 feeds everything and holds 8.
I currently own 2 1911’s; one is a Auto Ordanance Commemarative 100 yr model full size and the other is an ATI FX Titan Compact(3.18″ barrel).
The Auto Ord’s factory mag has worked flawlessly and I have shot Win White box ball, Hornady Critical Defense and Zombie Max, and Tula ball through that mag and never had a ftf or any other misdeed. The spare for it is a Chip McCormick which feeds the same ammo just fine.
The ATI came with an ACT mag and I have 2 Mec Gar mags for it as back ups. They all feed every type of ammo listed above just fine with no failures.
Two things I did do as soon as igit both 1911’s was to load each mag with ball and hp ammo and sit and cycle rounds through the guns by hand watching how they fed and ejected.
Based on my meager experience rebuilding and tuning 1911’s a lot of feed prob’s can be fixed by adjusting the metal follower leg that the slide lock catches and by checking to make sure the feed ramp is smooth.
The gun techs at Brownells or any good gunsmith can walk you through how to fix or adjust these areas, or a gunsmith can do it for you fairly quickly.
As far as 1911’s, etc be jam o’ matics… Never had that problem really. Have owned quite a few polymer and steel and all steel pistols and always seemed to have good luck with them with just routine maintenance and cleaning.
Change out springs and followers when needed!!!
Good article, ST, and DrewN is absolutely correct. 1911s have a reputation for being finicky with hollowpoints but reliable with ball ammo, and magazines have been the Achilles Heel of semiautomatics since forever.
Nice write up. I have seen M1A, Mini-14, and especially ARs and Orlites have problems that were 100% mags. Never had a problem with an AK except for a drum and I have never had a problem with an old 226, including accidentally using 92f mags that didn’t lock in.
read the whole thing at
http://www.10-8performance.com/pages/1911-Magazines.html
I am still working through the crate of cosmolined GI mags from the 1940s that I run in my 1950’s C-1911
With some allowance for break in, a new gun should work properly. If it doesn’t, it’s a warranty issue. In this case, the problem may very well be the magazine. However, it’s RIA’s obligation to supply one that does work and, if it doesn’t, to replace it with one that does. In ST’s shoes, I would take the offending magazine back to the dealer, describe the situation and request a replacement under warranty. Repeat, if necessary, until they provide one that works.
Once upon a time, 1911s were only expected to work with military ball ammunition. Nowadays, they should work with virtually everything. If RIA’s 1911s won’t work with some types of ammunition, they need to make this clear up front. Then, the buyer has to make a decision.
Note that a bad magazine may not be the cause of a feeding problem. When I bought my Gold Cup, thirty years ago, it would not feed semi-wadcutters. A good gunsmith cured that.
Why would you expect a 101 year old design to feed modern ammunition types with 100% reliability? Sure, modern manufacture 1911’s are better at feeding SWC’s and HP’s, but the fact is the pistol wasn’t designed around ammo with those bullet profiles. It was designed to feed 230 gr ball at 855 fps, and it will do that all day,week,month and year long. Complaining that it doesn’t is like buying a 426 Hemi Charger and complaining that it won’t run reliably on 87 octane lead free gas.
Because it can and has been done. ST bought two different, non-RIA magazines and they both work. It’s the POS from RIA that doesn’t. Since ST only has one example, it is more likely to be an issue with one defective unit rather than a systematic problem with everything from that supplier. Either way, RIA should make good on it.
To use the 426 Hemi Charger metaphor, it’s like taking the car to a drag strip and having a tire disintegrate. Maybe it’s just one bad tire or maybe the OEM tires are not up to the car’s performance.
In RIA s defense theu say in bold letter across top ball ammo. I have tired Kimber mags and they sucked in my Gun. Chip McCormick and the stock act mags. I have 3 act mags one really sucks. The other two unless the hollow point is seated deep I have had feeding issues. 90 percent in my experience is people not changing there recoil spring. The factory one will be worn out in about break in in Officer such as mine. I only use Wilson Combat officer Springs you will have a devil of time putting a new spring in 24#s hard as all get out to compress. I shoot mainly lead round nose 230 grains I cast myself. Since then even with the crap mag the gun is 100 percent reliable. I still prefer a 12ga or a rifle after all the handguns purpose is to get to a rifle. Also Rock Island Armory has a lifetime warranty.
The mag that came with my Kimber Pro Carry is 7 round blued steel, windlows but no numbers. I had problems and bought a Chip 8 rounder that is made of a slightly thicker steel,numbered witness holes. Flawless. I have no problems with hollow points or wad cutters–at least after I polished the ramp that came covered with Kimpro finish.
I had serious issues with a NIB stainless Springfield earlier in the year, when the factory magazine jammed & wouldn’t release during a Practical Pistol match.
It was stuck solid & had to be pried out after disassembling the gun.
I was advised to try Chip McCormick magazines & I now have four 8 round Power Mags that function flawlessly with ball, LRN & SWC.
Heh. What you don’t realize is that the Kimpro magazine you like so much is a re-branded Checkmate magazine. Checkmate also makes the magazines provided with such diverse 1911s as Colt, Dan Wesson, Ed Brown, and even Ruger’s modestly-priced SR1911. So it is entirely possible to get a great magazine right out of the box.
Right-on – Here’s a thorough analysis of 1911 magazine function in which Check-Mate shines:
http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/
Roger that.I found out that Kimber mags were Checkmate back in 08.
I promply ordered Checkmate mags from TopGunSupply.
I bought the same gun, an RIA 1911 .45. It also cam with an ACT mag. Not only did that mag refuse to feed hollow point ammunition, one day at the range, it blew apart in the middle of shooting. It was only a couple of months old. Just broke, and everythin came flying out of the gun, leaving my with a 1911 that had an empty metal shell in the grip and a pile of ammunition at my feet. DO NOT BUY ACT MAGS!!!
Place a treat inside or underneath an overturned box.
It doesn’t do you any good to be up 1,000% in a fake account.
The unique designs and colors of online games fascinate thhe individual to play the game.
I got the same Remington. From day 1 it would only fire 230 gr FMJs flawlessly. Using 185 lead SWCs it would FTFeed the last round. Contacted Remington, this is what they told me:
Our recoil spring is a 16 pound spring. This is pretty standard, and is suited best for the 230 grain rounds. Sometimes the action can run too fast for the 185 grain bullets. There are basically two options for correcting this. A magazine with a stiffer spring, such as one from Wilson Combat, or a stiffer recoil spring, such as the 20 pound Wolf spring. The magazine speeds the rise rate of the rounds and gets them in front of the breech bolt quicker. The heavier recoil spring slows the action slightly for the stock magazine spring to have time to place the next round in front of the breech bolt.
Tried both suggestions and they both worked. Since I needed more mags for USPSA, I now use the Wilson Combat mags and it feeds everything just fine.
Im a Glock guy but I gotta say that that R1 Enhanced is one fine gun. I shoot it almost as well as my 9mm G34.
Confirm this review and we’ll help an made up creature!
I’ve owned 5 or 6 1911’s over the years from everyone from Springfield and Kimber to Bersa-Llama. Other than the Kimber, none of them came with magazines that would feed 2 full mags without a failure. Even the cheapest of those guns ran flawlessly once I went out and bought Kimber Pro mags for them though. All the trouble I had those first 6 months of shooting, thinking my Llama 1911 was junk (it kinda was) were because of horrible magazines.
The worst of all came from a Springfield Champion. It’s my favorite pistol, but both of the magazines it came with are pure junk. I keep them in my range bag to this day to practice malfunction drills because I know they’ll mess up at least once or twice per 7 rounds. They look close enough to my other mags that I just mix them in and try not to look at which magazine I’m grabbing and do my best to recover quickly when things go south.
Kinda makes me wish somebody made horrible Glock magazines that were that bad that you could count on them failing during practice.
HUH ive been running federal hst with my act mags in my ati 1911 just fine. Theyll feed federal hst, nosler jhp bullets fine. What they dont feed is barnes tac xp full copper rounds everything else has been really reliable in them. Only mags i carry with.
I found that both my kimber ultra carry cdp and custom two full size 1911s came with mags that caused many ftes and stoppages while at the range for my initial break in. I then reds Massadayoobslfi preference for Wilson combat mags I know he has shot thousands morerounds than I and probably tried them all I ordered several for my 1911s and the rest is all problems solved not a single FTf or fte or any stoppage ever thru hundreds and hundreds of rounds now I only use – and recommend Wilson combat mags to any 1911 users!
I bought a new colt 1911 O1991 series 80 last year. It came with two 7 round mags. I haven’t had a single problem with FTF’s or FTE’s with these factory 7 round mags. But I wanted to to be able to meet the California Max capacity of 10+1 rounds. So I purchased 5 original Colt 10 round Mags. I had FTF’s with all of them. It just seemed to me that the mag springs were week. So I purchase some Wolf +5% extra power mag springs for the 10 round single stack 1911 mag. When it came to loading I could only get 8 rounds in. So I ended up sniping 5 coils off and reassembling. And walla, I had no problem loading 10 rounds and to this date after putting an estimated 3000 rounds thru, I have had no FTF’s or FTE’s no mater what type of ammo HP or RN rounds. It’s a Colt after all. I love this gun,
I have a 1911 Colt Delta Elite 10m purchased in 2015. It came with 2 mags, which one was junk (only load 4 rds) and replaced by Colt (6 months for replacement to arrive). I have been using the 1 mag and just tried the replacement. It malfunctions on the next to the last round 4 out of 7 tries. I looked at the Combat and its rating for the 10m is poor, not like their 45 mag. Because i use this for home defense and i love this Delta, it would be great to buy a couple of mags that will work every time. I would like a recommendation for a mag from someone that has the 10m Colt. It has nothing to do with the ammo as the 1 good mag i have has never malfunctioned regardless of what i have loaded in it. I go to the range at least 2 times a month and put many rounds through this Colt/mag.
My only problem is that I read this article before even firing my Citadel 1911 and I went out and got an extra CMC 8 round mag to go with it, because my new gun came with 2 ACT mags. 3 bads on my part. 1. assuming ACT is bad, 2.Believing CMC are better. 3. Reading this article as gospel. The ACT mags that came with this gun are actually fantastic. Better than the Chip McCormick Shooting Star I bought. Until today that CMC mag. had been tight fitting and would not release easily and drop away like it should. Not cool for any reason! I marked the mag,. to see if it was binding. It was and a shade too large front to back. So I filed, sanded and buffed the hell out of it and then cleaned all the crud out of the mag. and re-blued it. NOW it works flawlessly. ACT mags are fine, Nickel follower, nice polished blue finish. The only problem is that you can’t find them or i would get more of them for sure. All ammo has fired fine in this gun and all mags have worked feeding wise. The sights are really quite nice on the Citadel, grips etc. Very nice firearm.
I’ve had a few problems (I think about 12 or 13) with my Springfield 1911A1 magazines, but after about 200 rounds, the mags never had another FtF with 180 HP, 200 HP and 230 HP and FMJ-RN
I’ve had two RAI Tac Ultras (full size .45 and compact 9mm) – no problems with the factory mags in either of them. Or with the guns themselves – flawless, great, accurate, reliable. Best value in 1911s today.
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