Which 9mm pistols have reliable ban-state magazines?

[asme]

I know this issue has come up in several threads over the past few months, but I figured another one in a different direction would not be a bad idea.

I am an armored car guard in California. In July, the exemption for people in our industry to possess and acquire high capacity magazines effectively goes away unless the firearm or magazines are somehow company-issued and kept at the branch when not in use. I carried a Glock 17 beforehand but I have never been impressed with how the 10-round magazines worked with anything but ball ammo. If you shoot anything like JHP or leadless "sinterfire" ammo through it, the magazines bind on the last round or a little bit of the follower goes "crack!" and falls off, or something.

I bought a glock 26 in preparation for waving my high capacity magazines goodbye and have been openly carrying it at work for the past few months. It's a little weird, but it's 10 rounds and it works. That said, a part of the reason for carrying a firearm is as a psychological deterrent, and for that I prefer a mean-looking full size handgun.

I'm asking for PF's anecdotal experience. Have you ever owned a full-size pistol, especially in 9mm, where the 10-round magazine works as well as the full capacity, even with ammo designed for shooting things other than paper?

[GardoneVT]

HK 10 rounders are trustworthy. I haven't had any issues with 10 round Beretta 92 magazines either.

[Sal Picante]

Beretta 10 rounds are quite reliable...

[fatdog]

I run the HK USP/C LEM as my primary gun, and when CDNN pushed the 10 round ban state P2000 USP/C mags out the door for $10 each last year I stocked up as my practice mags. They get beat up a lot, and I have never had a single malfunction of any sort with any ammo. Many thousands of rounds so far.

[MK11]

Long time ban state resident here. Smith M&P mags work fine, Sig 320 mags seem to work fine and Browning HP mags have all worked fine. Sig P-series 10 rounders also work fine as long as you run them in the specific gun they were designed for. My P228 will choke on 10 rounders designed for a P226 (yet it runs fine on high cap P 226 mags).

[TGS]

The correct answer here is "Pretty much everything but Glocks."

Glock is the only company that I know of that decided to implement some sort of retarded design. Pretty much everyone else just uses a different baseplate design that acts as a block, essentially just shortening the mag.

[JustOneGun]

If money is an issue working hard to find a reliable Glock 17/19 ten rounder would be perfect. You could just use an extension sleeve to make the grip larger.

If there is no reliable Glock 17/19 ten rounder then perhaps a platform change to a reliable pistol that was made to shoot 10 rounds or less? If money is not such a big deal perhaps moving to a 1911, etc? I suggest that because if your going to change platforms anyway then avoiding the whole, artificial low cap mag problem might be an option. Sort of, "the sky is the limit" idea.

[1986s4]

Any double column magazine that has been neutered to 10 by just shortening the mag body and using what is essentially a long baseplate seems to work just fine in my experience. Glock can make a reliable 10 round mag as evidenced by their G26 mag.
I think you have plenty of choices.

[Lost River]

Are you dead set on 9mm?

A .45 ACP Glock G30S would be a solid choice in that role.

It is G19 sized, many G19 holsters are interchangeable, and the G30S comes standard with 10 round mags.

I have no idea if it is mean looking though.

[spinmove_]

Word on the street is that Glock is starting to make 10 round double column mags which differ from their previous iterations. Haven't seen one in person yet, but they're far from being tested and fully vetted at this point.

From what I've heard and seen HK, SIG, Beretta, and S&W neutered mags either run well or well enough (I think he neutered M&P mags have issues ejecting because of the way the polymer on the lower part of the magazine body hits the magwell/frame). Either choose something from them or find something designed to have 10 rounds or less regardless of caliber.


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