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Thread: The Art and Science of Keeping Your 1911 Running

  1. #191
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    We are nearly 200 posts on in this thread, so I may have said this before. I have had great success with Mec Gar 8rd mags in .45 ACP. I got a few when older Colt and Springfield mags failed me. No issues through hundreds of rounds with the Mec Gars.

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  2. #192
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    Nov 2013
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    Illinois
    Interesting. I've never used mec gars, because as a rule the only 1911 mags I've used with all plastic followers are from a manufacturer that rhymes with Shmilson Shmombat

    On a slightly different note...there are some gunsmiths that I know of that dislike Wilson mags because the followers are plastic and wear down faster than something that uses a metal follower or a follower with a metal insert.

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    Last edited by 45dotACP; 09-07-2019 at 09:18 PM.

  3. #193
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    NW Florida
    Quote Originally Posted by 45dotACP View Post
    On a slightly different note...there are some gunsmiths that I know of that dislike Wilson mags because the followers are plastic and wear down faster than something that uses a metal follower or a follower with a metal insert.
    That very well may be true. However, think of all the auto pistols you own, and think of how many of those guns use plastic followers in their mags. Is it all of them?

  4. #194
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    Indeed...well maybe the Beretta followers are, I'm not sure.

    I'm personally a pretty huge fan of the Wilson ETMs. But I'm also a huge fan of the Brownells 8 rounders and CMC power mags. Not giant fan of the 47D 8 rounders given the huge number of solid 8 round options. ETMs are almost always on sale, and I've retrofitted my non HD+P mags with the flatwire springs just because.

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  5. #195
    Quote Originally Posted by JTQ View Post
    That very well may be true. However, think of all the auto pistols you own, and think of how many of those guns use plastic followers in their mags. Is it all of them?
    All? No. In fact, Many true single stacks have metal followers, like the P938, Nano, P225, P7, etc.

  6. #196
    Member That Guy's Avatar
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    Jan 2012
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    During our 1911 period, my girlfriend and I went through quite a lot of Meg-Car 8 round magazines. We shot a fair bit in an indoor range back then, and discovered the base plates fractured easily when dropped on a hard surface, especially if a few rounds remained in the magazine. Those magazines that survived the drop treatment, cartridges would gouge out a part of the plastic follower until eventually cartridges would be presented at a bad angle for feeding.

    Compared to the prices of other 1911 magazines locally, especially since in IPSC Classic Division you absolutely need an 8 round magazine when shooting .45, it was mostly an okay magazine. But if you have access to more durable magazines, I wouldn't use Mec-Gars. Especially if you do speed reloads. Some of those magazines broke their base pads on the very first time they were dropped.

  7. #197
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    Jan 2016
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    The Hills of Tennessee
    I haven't had any issues with the base plates on the Mec gar magazines. A few have deformations from impacting concrete during practice, but none have split. The followers have held up fairly well. I'm not saying they are the best magazine in existence, but they have worked well in my guns. I am limited to 8rd .45 magazines, so their other 1911 items may not be good.

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  8. #198
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    May 2014
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    Gotham Adjacent
    My biggest issue with the Mec-Gar "Novaks" magazines are weak mag springs. I honestly never got enough life out of the mag spring in one to determine if the followers didn't hold up.

    Out of frustration for weak mag springs I rebuilt them with Tripp Super 7 kits. They worked fine for that. Those all got sold with my 1911s the first time I cleaned house. I haven't tried the Mec-Gars in...oh I guess almost 10 years now? So they may well have improved.

    With the sale prices on ETMs it's tough to argue with them cost wise. I just picked up six of them from Brownells for ~162 bucks, that's 27 bucks each, basically.

  9. #199
    Quote Originally Posted by GreggW View Post
    What about the Checkmate mags didn’t hold up? Baseplates?

    I stumbled on these by accident. I have a Springfield Operator that would run with ETM’s. Someone loaned me a Sig mag and it ran like a top. Not sure how many rounds I have through the original two I bought but it’s a lot over the last two years. I would have gladly ran the Wilsons they just didn’t work in my gun.
    Mainly the base plates coming off, springs and ammo flying everywhere, and also allowing the over-insertion of the magazine, locking up the gun. This was across the board with about 100 magazines.

    Of course, I warned the higher-ups about going to 1911’s to begin with, and told them that magazines were expendable items and we needed to budget money every year for replacements. They looked at me like I had three heads. At least they listened and bought the Wilson ETM mags for duty.

  10. #200
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    Feb 2016
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    SF Bay Ahea
    Quote Originally Posted by TC215 View Post
    Mainly the base plates coming off, springs and ammo flying everywhere, and also allowing the over-insertion of the magazine, locking up the gun. This was across the board with about 100 magazines.

    Of course, I warned the higher-ups about going to 1911’s to begin with, and told them that magazines were expendable items and we needed to budget money every year for replacements. They looked at me like I had three heads. At least they listened and bought the Wilson ETM mags for duty.
    We have 3-4 guys that run Checkmate mags in their .45 ACP 1911's. All 5" guns and we run HST2 non-+p 230 grain JHP or American Eagle 230 grain ball for a practice load. BUT, when we buy mags once a year, we get the LEO price and buy 10-20 mags each. Mags are wear items and we haven't had the Checkmates fail catastrophically. As soon as a mag malfunctions by failing to feed, or failing to lock back when empty, it gets bent and thrown away. Overall, we've been pretty happy with them.

    People try to make their mags last like they are family heirlooms. When you treat them like the wear items that they are, it seems to work out. It's expensive, but that sweet trigger pull has a cost.

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