I have Mec-Gar CZ mags that have at least 10,000 rounds through each of them. With the same mag springs. Dropped on rocky ground countless times. And they work like new. It would be nice to think that Mec-Gar has some voodoo that can make 2011 mags that reliable.
However, I'm highly skeptical that this is possible. My view of the 2011 is a tiny island of reliability, surrounded by an ocean of malfunctions. These guns can run great until ... mags get dirty, feed lips get bent just a little, recoil spring wears, ammo is different, etc.
It would take way more than slick marketing and John Wick movies to convince me to use one for life safety purposes.
Last edited by Clusterfrack; 09-12-2021 at 11:54 AM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Back in the day, I was “thatguynon gendered specific person”. I took my mags apart and cleaned them between stages. Replaced springs yearly, etc. Today, I’ll shoot entire matches without cleaning my mags (both open and limited 2011s), and my guns run without issues. I don’t even clean them between matches unless mud was involve. Oh, and they’re the older generation mags where each one is slightly different. They still just run and run. Admittedly, both guns were initially tuned or built by a reputable smith (my open gun I shot yesterday is an EGW build from 1999). Also, both have Aftec extractors, so I never have to worry about extractor tuning after the initial setup. Sure, you may not be able to pop the box and get that reliability, but set up correctly they can be quite reliable and withstand a heck of a lot of abuse.
As for bending the feed lips, I don’t know about the newer generation magazines, however I don’t think I can bend the feed lips on the older generation magazines that I own even if I use the pair of pliers. These things have some pretty thick stainless steel.
A shooter at a match today made a joke about living dangerously and not cleaning his mags before a stage.
I laughed and said I don't think I've cleaned a magazine in 15 years.
Eta, he looked horrified lol
This thread is more confusing to me than helpful, because people keep referencing STI/2011 mag issues even though the mags that STI developed for the Staccato P are supposed to be a different design that have fixed the issues with the old mags.......so much so, that STI/Staccato company personnel have been on podcasts and whatnot describing the differences, how big it matters, and that they even are replacing 1:1 old mags with the Staccato ones (or at least were at some point when I listened to those podcasts). Supposedly, this was the cornerstone of the Staccato development, as STI had gone through a "come to jesus" moment and hired a bunch of outside professionals to turn the 2011 into a duty-grade gun.
It'd be really helpful when speaking about mag issues if people could note whether they're referring to legacy 2011/STI mags or if they're referring to mags relevant to this thread topic: Staccato. This thread is not about legacy 2011s or their mag issues.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
That's a good thing to point out, and my experience is entirely with original STI and MBX mags. About the new STI mags: I simply don't believe the hype. I've heard it too many times. I'm sure Jesus is sick and tired of 2011 manufacturers always bugging him about reliable mags.
5 years from now, after there's some real-world testing, if Staccatos run like Glocks I'm ready to eat crow.
[And I should probably stop posting about 2011s, because I do not own one anymore]
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
Last edited by JSGlock34; 09-12-2021 at 09:05 PM.
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
Not sure why Staccato is so tight lipped on the gen 3. They seemed to gush information about how the gen 2 mags were a huge improvement over the originals.
I have six of the gen 2 mags and have unreliable slide lock just like many others. Saw some information on how the follower for the "newer" (but they never say gen 3) mags has been improved, along with the slide stop, but cannot find any of those upgrades for sale for my unknown gen Staccato P (rolling changes).
Parts and references still are "gen2" everywhere.
I don't really care about added performance or cosmetic features for newer guns, but reliability upgrades especially for a company that is marketing duty ready pistols seem to be sideways.