Do they make good 1911 magazines?

Thanks

Lots of people mak good 1911 mags. More importantly is weather or not your 1911 likes them. I have had excellent luck with Checkmates but I prefer Wilson. I would venture to say your 1911 will probably handle them well., BUT you won't know til you try them.

Thanks

This would be a replacement for an old gun

Tripp Cobra Mags

Chip McCormick Power Mags

Wilson Combat

Checkmate Industries.


Pick from among them and see which work perfectly in your own pistol using the ammunition you shoot and use for self defense.

Don't load up on any one single type until they've proven themselves in your own 1911 and with your preferred ammunition.

Checkmates came with my Dan Wesson Specialist, 2 of them. They run and that's all I can say about them. Do Wilsons or chips run better than the checkmates? I can't gauge that because I haven't had a malfunction with my checkmates. A good mag is a good mag.

The Only Check-Mates that are really worth a shit are the 7 round blued wadcutter mags with welded bases.  A Wolff 11lb spring makes 'em even better.  

Everything else Check-Mate makes is junk.  

I speak from real world experience making 1911s as reliable as any handgun can be over high round counts.  The hybrid and 8 round crowd will be along shortly with tales of '300 flawless rounds' and other bs like that.

I use wilson or McCormick exclusively except for my old USGI gals.

My two favorite 1911's are from two grumpy old farts at the shooting club that refused to pay more than $7 for junky gun show mags. They were always proud of what they spent on the guns, but we're so cheap about reloads and mags.  Now they have wilson mags, the old gold cup and early customized Springfield are very relaible.  Got them for a great price too lol.

 
I agree with the new Checkmates not being worth buying.


I found some at a good price and bought 8. I thought they were good mags.


They don't feed for shit in my RO and they seem to scrape the case when loading them. It's hard to explain, but they don't feel right.


I threw them in the back of a drawer and I'm back to buying Chips.

I have 21 of the 7 rd. hybrid feed lip mags in stainless . I run extra power springs in all of them and change those out once every couple of years . I have run over a  hundred thousand rounds through these mags and have very little problems if I keep the springs updated. I shoot mostly wadcutters and few fmj and hollow points from time to time.


I recommend Checkmates.

KR

http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/feeding-time.html

I use them in my RIA 9MM and haven't had a issue with them.

I have thousands of rds thru Checkmate mags in USPSA matches in my Beretta 92FS. Not a single problem.

You must treat them very lovingly.   A few slide lock reloads and drop a partially loaded mag a few times and they're toast.  

This article has sold more Check-Mate mags and rendered more 1911s unreliable than any other fuckery on the internet.  That guy had an out of spec gun.  

Those mags are actually decent, they're built to a spec.   It doesn't hurt that a Beretta 92 is quite possibly the most reliable handgun on the planet.

I have three of their 7rd, stainless, hybrid-lipped, CMF follower mags and they perform excellently. I have added some screw-in base-pads to each of them.

My only complaint is that they do not make an extended & removable base-pad version with exactly the same configurations as stated above.

I thought that is what this mag was  CM45-8-S-H-RB,  the 8 round version of their best mag.  Is Checkmate still OEM for Colt?  I haven't run any Checkmates in a while since I have tons of Metalform mags.  Checkmates worked for me in the past.  David

I think they do make an 8 round hybrid.  They used to anyway.  They never did work very well.  The only point of contact with the case is at the back end by the rim and that heavy stack of rounds did two things.  1) beat the feedlips up 2) couldn't be held securely enough and inertia fed like crazy.  

8 round mags really need to use wadcutter lips to hold the top
round securely.  

G.I and hybrid lips feed very smoothly, but they just don't hold up, and they don't hang on to the top round tight enough.  

 
I drop mine ,but its not on concrete . And I can say that I haven't dropped many that had any rounds in them. I believe the hybrids are the Colt OEM mags at least some of mine are marked colt .

I had some of the old wilsons and the springs didn't last long , and before that it was just GI mags. I get along great with the Checkmates for the shooting that I do.

KR

'

Yep, they're fine if you baby 'em.  

I don't abuse gear by any means, but I do use, and treat it like a tool.  

Check-Mate's welded bases start to bend downward at the front of base on the very first slide lock reload.   They'll continue to bend for a little while and allow the mag to be over-inserted causing a helluva mess.  Then the spot welds break.  Mag is toast.   This has happened to me (starting with 6-8 brand new mags) in 4-5 full range days which consisted of roughly 2000 rounds.  I've done this with several sets of CM/Colt mags over the few years.  

Check-Mates removable base mags use a very low grade plastic that breaks along the way that slides onto the rail at the bottom of the mag.  This also happened on the only 4 removable base mags I used in about two range days.  

The hybrid feedlips only make contact with the case right at the case rim.   This is a stress riser, as the entire impact of that stack of rounds on a slide-lock reload is placed there.  The front of the feedlip gap is wider, causing the bullet end of the cartridge to rotate up, wedging the feedlips apart during a slide-lock reload.  

That's what kills those mags in short order.  

The wadcutter lips are MUCH more durable.  If they would make a removable steel base plate, or a good polymer, their 7 round wadcutter mags with an 11lb Wolff spring would be the most reliable 1911 mag on the market bar none.

Check-Mate makes the best 7 round dimpled follower, put that follower, along with an 11lb Wolff spring, into a CMC Powermag and it makes ONE TOUGH MAG that is as reliable as a magazine can be.  I actually like that combo better than a Tripp Super 7 kit, but it's more expensive, and you have to scrounge bodies, springs, and followers from three different sources.  

Check-Mate has the potential to build an awesome mag, but the perverse fetish for 8 rounds in a 1911 would likely make it a marketing flop not worth the investment.

I guess I don't seat mine that hard. Interesting .

Interesting...

Which follower? The "CMI Patented" one? Does that make the CMC body only hold 7 rounds like a Super7 kit?

What makes that combination better than a Super7 conversion?

I was hooked on the 8 round hybrid extended Check-mate magazine before I ever read the article.  I do enjoy the article as it replicated my findings.  Check-mate 8 round hybrid extended magazines with the captured dimple follower have performed without incident in any pistol I have tested them in, including resolving issues in the pistols of others.  

Our findings have also showed an increased incidence of broken extractors with Wilson magazine use.  I am not going to set up a controlled test with this variable, as I have no interest to do so.  It is merely an observation at this point.  

Your luck may vary.  A thousand rounds is usually a couple days of shooting for me, not an isolated session so I can not compete with the amazing people who shoot 2,000 rounds between bites of their sandwich.

The seven round g.i. follower.  It makes it a 7 round.  I like it better than the Tripp because the dimple does help to hold the last round and the metal follower will plow through dirt in the body better.

Also, you're referring to the "7 ROUND 1911/COMMANDER & 6 ROUND OFFICERS - .45 ACP" springs, rather than the "8 ROUND 1911/7 ROUND OFFICERS" ones? (They both come in 11lb flavors I think.)

I don't know how anyone could run those mags even moderately hard for more than a little while without tearing 'em up, but whatever.

As far as Wilsons....

Yeah.  That's an inertia feed mag and they are the cause of most all misdiagnosed FTRB malfs and broken extractors.  

As a side note, the Checkmates (bothe extended and welded floor plate) have also run 100% in a Ruger P90 using my pinky to hold the mag in the frame.

It'll be the 7 round gov't/6 round officers.  It's a good spring and will outlast the magazine by a long while.

1911s are finicky about mags, bottom line. My two 1911s like Checkmates; one of them hates Wilsons. I run Checkmates exclusively, and install 11 lb springs in them first thing. I had some Tripp Cobra mags that were great, but I traded them to a friend for a like number of hybrid-lip Checkmates that were making his Colt choke. This is funny because Checkmate makes Colt's magazines, so go figger.

A 1911 is only mag finicky if something is wrong with it.  Steep feedramp likely.  

Check-Mate hybrids are very inconsistent magazines.  It's a weird design that is very sensitive to any variance in width between feed lips and spring strength.  They either work or they don't, and they don't last long when they do.  

Any of my 1911s would happily eat from any mag on the market during casual use.  

I'm not the only one that has had problems with Check-Mate mags.  Far from it.  

A bullet hitting the ramp is not going to phase a hard 4140 frame.  Ever.  

Wadcutter lips don't feed as smooth, but they're stronger and last longer.

The hybrids and g.i. lips do feed very smooth.   I like the mags, just never had any long term success using 'em.

But it will sure hurt an aluminum frame over time

Checking in to state my favorite mags: Tripp research mags, CMC powermags with tripp kits, and wilson ETMs with the flatwire springs.
The ETM follower may not engage slidestops as positively as desired (I bought 4 mags, 1 would do this. no other mag I've ever so much as attempted to use has ever done that)
Putting a tripp follower into said mag "Fixed" that, but would also convert the mag to a 7 rounder

Don't Springfield Pros ship with Check-Mate mags now?

Colts come with Checkmate hybrids with a flat welded base plate in 7 or 8 round capacities.
Springfields typically come with checkmate wad cutter with flat welded base plate.  
Sigs come with Checkmate hybrid magazines in an 8 round capacity with a removable polymer base plate.
Rugers have an identical magazine to the Sig.
Ed Brown 8 packs are Checkmates that look like the Sig and Ruger mags.  They even have the same follower and base plate.
Joe's 1911 Mag Mania sells some unbranded Checkmates.

I am sure there are plenty of other companies that have magazines supplied by Checkmate.  Checkmate makes about 15 variations of magazines with many different options.

They have all worked fine for me.  

This. I have 2 SA Loaded 1911s- one from about '90 with a non-ambi thumb safety and parked finish and a stainless with ambi safety from the l;ate '90s. Both will shoot any mag with no problems. I have a mix of Shooting Star, some Chip McCormicks, probably some Checkmates and several Wilson 47Ds that I bought years ago when they were the hot new mag.
I don't keep them segregated, I just load them and grab whichever is closest at the time. I can never tell a difference in feeding or reliability when shoot steel plates or slow bullseye shooting.
I am, however, thinking about upgrading the mags with the Tripps kit before the mags do start giving me problems. I like the Wilsons but have  never really been comfortable with the follower.

And on the flip side of that same coin, the universal response to 1911 malfunctions is 'get rid of the crappy stock mag'.  

The Springfield mags are the best mag they make.  With an 11lb spring I think they're the most reliable 1911 magazine you can get, period.  They're just not very tough.