Smith & Alexander Mag Guide

[sbninja]

Has anyone here have any experience with the Smith & Alexander Mag Guide on their Taurus PT1911?

i jsut ordered one last night, and would like to know if you had to grind the S&A mag guide to fit the mag well opening of the Taurus?

[mbuzha]

Yeah I have one on mine. and yes, like almost everything I've tried to do to my Taurus, the S&A mag guide had issues--as in, it didn't fit. Frame holes on the Taurus didn't line up with the frame holes on the magwell. I blame this on Taurus and not S&A as I have used their mag guides before on other 1911's without modification or incident. Also, had another experienced with mis-placed frame holes on the same gun. To answer your question though, you shouldn't have to grind anything if you're just trying to get it to fit. I carefully secured the mag guide in a vice and was able to "open up" the angle between the mag guide and the MSH with a rubber mallet enough to make the thing seat properly. Careful, careful... If you're talking about the mag well opening fitting flush with the Taurus frame magwell, yeah you're going to have to do some grinding if you want a really seamless fit. I left mine alone. Hope this helps and good luck. S&A magwells are great, even if Taurus sometimes isn't.

[sbninja]

Yeah I have one on mine. and yes, like almost everything I've tried to do to my Taurus, the S&A mag guide had issues--as in, it didn't fit. Frame holes on the Taurus didn't line up with the frame holes on the magwell. I blame this on Taurus and not S&A as I have used their mag guides before on other 1911's without modification or incident. Also, had another experienced with mis-placed frame holes on the same gun. To answer your question though, you shouldn't have to grind anything if you're just trying to get it to fit. I carefully secured the mag guide in a vice and was able to "open up" the angle between the mag guide and the MSH with a rubber mallet enough to make the thing seat properly. Careful, careful... If you're talking about the mag well opening fitting flush with the Taurus frame magwell, yeah you're going to have to do some grinding if you want a really seamless fit. I left mine alone. Hope this helps and good luck. S&A magwells are great, even if Taurus sometimes isn't.

Thank's, I am sure the S&A is a quality piece. I am a little saddened by the fact that there might be fit issues with my Taurus. Maybe I should just hold off on accessorizing my Taurus, untill I can buy a more quality 1911! It's ashame, because I really like the Taurus for the money. I also haven't had any issues with it's performance so far.

[mbuzha]

You never know, you might be lucky. Someone has to be. Wasn't me. I had the above mentioned issue, feed jams that were caused by the magazine seating too low because the hole in the frame for the mag release was drilled too low, and to start things off, if you engaged my thumb safety and pulled the trigger, the safety would disengage itself and the gun would fire. I don't think ALL Taurus 1911's have these problems. Yours might not. Try the magwell. If you haven't had any problems so far you're already doing better than I was at the same point. Maybe yours is ok. Good luck.

[sbninja]

Well, my S&A came in the other day. Nice piece, though it did have some extra finish/spatter on the inside of the mag guide,next the the MSH - I had to file it down.

The angle of the mag guide forks matched the frame, so no need to bend. I had to work a bit with the MSH pin hole, to get it to fit.

I did an initial grind/blend in the mag well opening, came out ok, but will try and clean it up a bit.

[Kulas]

sbninja,
Can you post pics of the mag guide installed? I'm thinking of buying an Alexander and Smith magguide also. Thanks! :)
regards,
Kulas