Same thing with our SA 9mm ROs. All of the factory mags (Checkmates or Metalforms) they came with run fine with 8, but when we tried to up the round count, reliability dropped off. Getting that "lagniappe" round in is as much fun as trying to cram a large, feisty dog into a tiny pet carrier, and gata naranja very early in the game said, "@#$% it"... which was unladylike, but not uncalled for.
So with 9mm 1911s, "eight is the number, and the number is eight" as far as we are concerned- no matter what the advertised capacity or who makes it. The majority of the troubles I see at the range with .45 1911s also involve magazines taking more than seven.
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gn
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There's a few magazines that are built with 8 rounds of 45ACP in mind (i.e. longer tube) - the Wilson HD/+P mag is the only 8 rounder I would trust for anything more than plinking at the range, assuming you can get past the whole feed lip and smooth follower thing. There's enough space in the system to allow it to seat with all 8 rounds without undue force, and the flat wire extra powerful spring will happily shove rounds straight up every time with force to spare. I would not / do not trust any 8 round mag in a standard length tube; the compromises that have to be made to make that work are not conducive to a reliable magazine, especially at the edges of the reliability envelope.
Some good points here. I agree with the magazine seating difficulties with 8 round welded baseplate magazines, but have not had such issues with 8 round extended tube magazines (all of mine are Check-Mates). I may have mentioned it earllier in the thread, but my recipe for 1911 .45 ACP magazine reliability involves extra-power magazine springs and a fully skirted follower(dimpled or undimpled doesn't seem to make any difference). While I generally prefer a hybrid feedlip configuration, mine with wadcutter or semi-wadcutter feed lips run just fine. I also prefer carbon steel tubes to stainess steel, as I think that carbon steel is less likely to encounter feed lip spread over time. Seven round magazines in the format above are excellent, but for competition (IDPA) I prefer 8 rounders. For carry, I usually run a 7 round as my loaded magazine, and reloads are 8 rounders, either Check-Mate or CerTac extended tubes.
Best, Jon
I've given up on .45 ACP Commanders-the juice simply isn't worth the squeeze in my opinion and experience. If I go to a 9mm 1911, however, in that case I would be predisposed to a Commander.
For practice/training with my 45s I mostly use Ed Brown 8-rd magazines and they work great. I keep my carry gun and HD gun loaded 7+1 with Wilson Combat 47 magazines.
For my 38 Supers I use Ed Brown 9-rd magazines and again they work great. I got a bunch of them via their trade-in program when I got out of 9mm 1911s.
I'm a lowly USPSA A class SSTK shooter. I recently switched to the Wilson Vickers HD/+P mags. I reload like a gorilla and from time to time with CMC or Tripp mags I get over insertion problems and the feed lips eventually spread. I picked up 1 of the HD/+P mags off of a prize table a while back and was pretty impressed with it in a couple of practice sessions. I heard that Wilson warranties the tube and spring for life. I verified that with a phone call to Wilson customer service and was told that if I ever experienced problems with them to call and send the tube in and they would send a new one; competition shooting did not void any warranty. Followers are considered a consumable item and, per the folks at customer service, should be replaced annually for those who shoot a lot. I am now running the Wilson/Vickers HD/+P with Dawson base pads (an expensive combination but worth it to me) exclusively, I shoot 200gr SWC at 175PF and have not had any problems. This mag set up is a little heavy, I hollowed out the back of my grips with a Dremel to comfortably be under the 43oz weight limit for USPSA SSTK Division. In my opinion the Wilson/Vickers HD/+P 8rd 45 mags are the best option available of any 8rd mag currently on the market. My opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it, your experience may vary.
Springfield honoring it's warranty and then some ??? Here is my surprised face.. Springfield and Dillon in my experience are top notch in the warranty department. Good experience with Wilson Combat too.
As for magazines; my Colt .38 super with Brown drop in 9 x 19 barrel run great with Tripp, Wilson and Mecgar magazines.
Have you tried going with a 17# recoil spring to see how that impacts reliability and pain in the joints? I like running slightly heavier springs for reasons stated somewhere earlier in the thread. My carry guns get 18.5#. Maybe a little heavier but not 18.5 will be a good compromise?
Also, am I the only one that has good luck with the ETMs? I used to use them for carry and would rotate them out every few months (9-12) for new ones and rotate them back in until I thought perhaps it was time to retire them to the practice bin. I have since switched to HD/+P mags but wouldn't hesitate to use the ETMs again. I toss them if I need to but in the last 8 years and approximately 35,000ish rounds of shooting competition, practice, dry fire and training classes along with being dropped on gravel, concrete, tile, snow, and mud, I have tossed less than a dozen due to them getting worn out. CMCs, Baer mags, and 47d are a different story. But the ETMs are consistent no matter what 1911 of mine I use them in.