Magazine Question

[JimmyGreen]

About a year or so ago, I bought a couple of magazines for my 1911 from Sportsmansguide.com. The webpage said that they were "mil-spec" and were "very good for the price". Well, they arrived a week after I purchased them in a plastic bag full of oil. Figured I'd try them out, and if they were good, I'd buy a few more. Imagine the surprise I got when I realized that..well.. they didn't fit. The fit with the mag empty was tight enough to not let the magazine drop free when the mag release button is pressed. The only way to shoot them with the full 7 rounds in them is to load the magazine with the slide locked back, so having 7 in the stack +1 in the chamber is out of the question with these mags. So my question is this.. What could cause the magazine to not fit with the slide closed and all 7 rounds in? And is it possible to salvage these things so that they serve a better use than paper weights?

Link to the product page: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/us-mil-spec-1911-blued-7-rd-steel-mag.aspx?a=43373[url]http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/us-mil-spec-1911-blued-7-rd-steel-mag.aspx?a=43373[/URL]

 

[Shorts]

That's a good question. I think I'd do some investigating to see where there are contact/clearance issues. Places I'd look at are the slide stop notch, ejector, extractor claw, and mag release notch.


Remove the slide and slide stop and load a full 7 rd mag into the frame and see if it seats. Note the effort and watch things click into place.

Put the slide on and put the slide stop in the hole but not in the notch (let it hang free). Load a full 7 rd mag in the frame with the slide in the in-battery (forward) position. Note the effort and watch things click into place.

Maybe the slide stop notch inside is interfering with the bullet. Maybe the angle that the follower sits at or the feed lips make the bullet sit close enough to catch the notch. Do you see any markings on the top bullet of 7rds to correspond with possible contact points?

 

[JimmyGreen]

Alright. Took it apart as instructed and the 7 fit fine...as long as the slide isn't on. Seems like the follower is pushing the rounds up too high. I compared how my factory magazine fit and how the cheap one fit. Took them apart and compared pieces. After doing all of that, I think I figured out what the foul up was. I appears that the back leg of the follower was a tad bit longer than the factory follower. Filed it down a bit, and lo' and behold...it works! Cycled the gun a few times and it worked ok..aside from the weird double feed I got. So I figure that I'd just get new followers and let the be it. I guess the lesson learned is that when it comes to magazines, you get what you pay for. No more cheap-o's for me. On a side note..a magazine spring can slip from under your finger and hit the ceiling and bust a light bulb!!

 

[DCortez]

Glad you got it fixed. I have the same problem and will see if it fixes it.