Metal mag followers and aluminum frames...

[wetidlerjr]

Good ? Bad ? Doesn't matter.

Your opinion is needed. :D

[1911Tuner]

Matters if ya use 8-round magazines with the steel Devel-type "folded" follwers. Use 7-round mags with the standard followers and the standard 13-coil springs and there won't be a problem.

[warmrain]

My experience is that the Kimber (made by CMC) and the CMC magazines gouge the feed ramp of my Kimber CDPs. The skirted polymer Wilsons followers do not. Nor do the newer Kimber magazines which have metal followers with a skirt.

I have modified my old Kimber magazines and the CMCs with Wilson kits (spring and follower).

[daveohno]

Matters if ya use 8-round magazines with the steel Devel-type "folded" follwers. Use 7-round mags with the standard followers and the standard 13-coil springs and there won't be a problem.
Tuner, the Wilson 8 rd. mags with poymer followers should be ok with an alloy frame?

[John]

Tuner hates 8-round magazines! And I tend to lean his way too, if that matters.

[daveohno]

Tuner hates 8-round magazines! And I tend to lean his way too, if that matters.
Well, I like the extra round being available, but, I have to read what you fellas say because you have far more experience with this than I do. So, there is a definite liklihood you know better than I do.

[warmrain]

Look at:
http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=15281

[wichaka]

Tuner, the Wilson 8 rd. mags with poymer followers should be ok with an alloy frame?


I use Wilsons exclusively, as well as Metalform mag bodies with Wilson 8 round conversion kits in them........and they are fine to use with alloy framed guns.

[Weg Ban]

This is what makes all of this stuff so interesting. I don't have any alloy-framed pistols so that issue doesn't affect me, but a while back I had a series of FTF stoppages and several instances where two of my pistols were failing to stay open on the last round. I finally figured out that this was happening only when I used two (of the ten or twelve) magazines I had (all Colt, BTW — these were, however, the oldest ones I had). So, first I used a micrometer and concluded that the magazine bodies were okay (at least, they were the same as the others that worked in every dimension I thought of to measure). So then I ordered a couple of the Wilson kits mentioned above (new springs and plastic followers). Cleaned up everything and tried again. No more FTFs, but I was still getting the occasional failure to stay back after the last round. So, I just surrendered. Pulled the springs for stock, tossed out the magazines and the followers and bought two more new Colts from Brownells — end of problem — now any magazine in any gun (I've got five).

[warmrain]

... I was still getting the occasional failure to stay back after the last round. So, I just surrendered. Pulled the springs for stock, tossed out the magazines and the followers and bought two more new Colts from Brownells — end of problem — now any magazine in any gun (I've got five).
Same problem, different fix. It was the springs in my oldest magazines that were not always getting the follower up to trigger the slide lock on empty. Pulled the springs for landfill, ordered new ones from Wolff - end of promlem.

That makes me think Weg Ban, those springs you through in stock may be the cause of a future problem... :rolleyes:

[Weg Ban]

Yeah, I thought of that. I tried the old followers and old mags with a brand new Wolf magazine spring that I had in stock (only one, so I didn't try both of the old ones). No FTFs, but slide lock still wasn't reliable, so I concluded that it had to be the magazines somehow. The Wilson springs are so-labelled, so if I do get the problem back when I try them, I'll know to toss them too.

[warmrain]

Yeah, I was getting some partialbolt over failures too (on Colt magazines) and Tuner suggested I go to the 11# Wolff springs for that reason. Of course Johnny's advice was correct and that problem went away too.

Though on the Wilson magazines I don't know that stronger springs are available...?

[RickB]

I don't shoot my LW Commander much, as I have plenty of all-steel guns to shoot, but I did a limited test of a few of my Shooting Star and Power Mag magazines, and didn't see any marks on the frame. If I was going to shoot the gun a lot, and there appeared to be an issue with the metal followers, I'd invest in a few mags specifically for that gun, but since I have a half-dozen mags that fit and work, I'll continue using what I have.