The alloy guns at that time were all 4.25" guns which would probably be the issue, not the base material of the frame.Originally Posted by GJM
There is a 7rd +P mag..its kind of the "Uber Mag"
http://shopwilsoncombat.com/1911-Mag...ctinfo/47C-HV/
The alloy guns at that time were all 4.25" guns which would probably be the issue, not the base material of the frame.
There is a 7rd +P mag..its kind of the "Uber Mag"
http://shopwilsoncombat.com/1911-Mag...ctinfo/47C-HV/
I prefer Wilson 7 rounders above all others.
To keep this from being a totally WC happyfest, I've been exceptionally pleased with the Check-Mate 7-round welded baseplate magazines in my 4.25" Nighthawk Custom Talon II; I'm running mine with their high-performance springs, hybrid feed lips, bull-nose fully skirted/dimpled follower; mine are blued carbon steel tubes. My initial administratively-loaded magazine has no additional basepad, my reload magazines have the smaller screw-on polymer basepads.
Best, Jon
I have also had good results with these, as well as the Checkmate 8-rounders with extended base pad. Between the two I have thirty in inventory. Wilson's ETM is an excellent magazine as is the original 47. The 47D is problematic at best. The only reason I can see as to why WC still sells them is because people still insist on buying the things. (and probably load them with Hydrashoks or Silvertips too, just so we can turn our gun into a total crapfest) Of course, if they didn't sell the 47D their spring and follower replacement kit wouldn't sell nearly as well.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
7 round mags are often preferred because they help slightly out of spec guns (typically mag catch in the wrong place or too much/little extractor tension) appear to run better. In practice, downloading a good 8 round magazine will work better than a 7 round mag as it gives more room for the spring. Losing that last round does 2 things to help get the gun to function. First, it prolongs (significantly) mag spring life. Secondly, and this is the big one, it allows better, but not ideal top round positioning. If you watch a 1911 feed, you'll notice the top round (#1) nose dives significantly, and that phenomenon goes away with each successive round until about #3, where they all feed the same. It does this because of 2 reasons - first the rim of the top round hooks into the extractor grove of the second. You can demonstrate this to yourself by thumbing out rounds from the magazine. Second, the first round is the one with the most unbalanced spring pressure on the follower+ammo column. Combine these two factors, and you get the the 1911 gets the crown for feedway stoppages. I might, historically, be a bit overly harsh on the 1911 experts out there, but fact of the matter is they are more often than not just parroting what they've been told by the people they trust. I know of a handful of people who've made a point of studying 1911 feeding, including Boland, Kelsey, et. al. Fact of the matter is this: a 1911 or Commander gun, if it is built right, will run all day every day with 8 round mags. If you get something slightly our of proper location, then a 7 round mag gives you a little more margin of error. But only on round #1.
The key to 1911, or any magazine fed gun, is the magazine. Check and make sure your magazine is being held in the right location. Use good magazines. Make sure your disconnector rail isn't rough. Someone I trust (take that for what it's worth, which is exactly what you paid for it) in the industry pointed out this to me: The top 8 rnd 45 mags were designed around 200g LSWCs. Go put 500 rounds through the gun before making any decisions. Do it from 8 round mags. If you get a FTF or FTE, look at it before clearing it. Take some detailed pictures.
On aluminum frame durability. This is a little flying blind, as we really don't (at least I don't) know what the exactly alloy or condition it is. And the stresses seen by the frame are very much dictated by the ammo used, and how the gun is set up. For example, a FBFPS, a 18lb recoil spring, and PF170 loads will be a LOT different than a radiused FPS, PF205 hard ball and 16lb recoil spring. If you keep fresh springs in the gun, a 23lb hammer spring, a FBFPS, and shoot the "IPSC" load, the gun will likely run forever. Or at least until you are sick of shooting it. As a data point: The yield strength of that material is likely around 35KIP, and if you stay below 1/3 of that, the part will have in excess of a 1 million cycle life. Nothing will get you more gains in service life than that FBFPS and hammer spring.
In my opinion, much ado has been made over nothing in the 1911 world. The guns are neither complex nor mysterious. They follow physics like all other machines. Be objective, use good mags and ammo. You'll likely not have a single issue with the gun. You'll likely be able to put thousands of rounds through it w/o a single issue. Remember just about everything in the 1911 world was designed with that IPSC load in mind. Not 230g HSTs at 870FPS.
There are a lot of well meaning people giving advise, but they have confused or mixed issues. So take what everyone says, including me, with a grain of salt.
Mr. Riehl,
If you care to help me out a bit here I'd appreciate it. I have an XSE Colt Combat Elite. Had it for a good while, and it's completely factory stock. When I use the 2 8 round mags it came with, it'll run 200 gr. LSWC's at about 170 PF all day long. I bought a couple Wilson 8 rounders for it (47D's I think). They turned it into a jam-o-matic with that load, but it still ran great with round nosed ammo. Since I just shoot the gun casually on occasion, I sold the Wilson mags to a friend, but I've been wondering ever since what the deal was. I've also tried quite a few other mags, both 7 and 8 round capacity, and this gun just won't run SWC's with anything but Colt 8 rounders. Any thought's you don't mind sharing?
need pics
I'll try to get some, might take a while. Thanks
Interesting information on the Wilson 7-round magazines. I prefer seven-round magazines myself, but I use Colt OEM (often Metalform) or Metalform tubes with Tripp Super 7 follower kits.
The Wilson CQB that I received in summer 2014 came with 2 Wilson 47D's. I was surprised to see the gun ship with the older mags, but it has performed great with no issues. Since this gun likes 47d's maybe I can save some money on magazines in the future. I guess we will see.I have also had good results with these, as well as the Checkmate 8-rounders with extended base pad. Between the two I have thirty in inventory. Wilson's ETM is an excellent magazine as is the original 47. The 47D is problematic at best. The only reason I can see as to why WC still sells them is because people still insist on buying the things. (and probably load them with Hydrashoks or Silvertips too, just so we can turn our gun into a total crapfest) Of course, if they didn't sell the 47D their spring and follower replacement kit wouldn't sell nearly as well.
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