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Thread: Colt 7 round magazines

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  1. #1
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    Colt 7 round magazines

    Are Colt 7rd Stainless Steel magazines as strong and the same as the Colt 7rd Blue magazines? Also are the dimensions the same? I have heard of people leaving there Colt 7rd mags loaded for 50 years, but those obviously were carbon steel mags not stainless steel mags.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by junior-colt
    Are Colt 7rd Stainless Steel magazines as strong and the same as the Colt 7rd Blue magazines? Also are the dimensions the same? I have heard of people leaving their Colt 7rd mags loaded for 50 years, but those obviously were carbon steel mags not stainless steel mags.
    Contemporary Colt magazines are manufactured by Checkmate and Metalform. I would not anticipate any significant difference between SS and blue. I'm not certain about your dimensions question; the feed lips will be different between today's mags and those of the '50's.

    As for comparing '50's magazines with current magazines, it's apples and kumquats, alas.

    Regards,

    Walt
    Author, The M1911 Complete Assembly Guide,
    The M1911 Complete Owner's Guide, NEW The 10/22 Complete Owner's and Assembly Guide,
    The M14
    and M1 Garand Complete Assembly Guides
    and The AR-15 Complete Assembly and NEW Owner's Guides

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by wjkuleck

    As for comparing '50's magazines with current magazines, it's apples and kumquats, alas.
    So you are saying today's magazines are of better or lesser quality?

    Sorry for not understanding!

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by junior-colt
    So you are saying today's magazines are of better or lesser quality?

    Sorry for not understanding!
    Not necessarily better, or lesser; different.

    For example, Colt magazines now have what 1911Tuner has termed the "hybrid" lip profile, a blending of the old GI-tapered lip with the parallel "wadcutter" lip. WWII magazines had spot-welded or riveted baseplates, modern ones are surface-welded. "Hybrid" lips are more compatible with modern bullet profiles than either of the earlier types.

    Modern Colt, and by that I mean genuine Colt, magazines are every bit as good as any magazines down through the history of the pistol. They're just not the same as in "days of old."

    Regards,

    Walt
    Author, The M1911 Complete Assembly Guide,
    The M1911 Complete Owner's Guide, NEW The 10/22 Complete Owner's and Assembly Guide,
    The M14
    and M1 Garand Complete Assembly Guides
    and The AR-15 Complete Assembly and NEW Owner's Guides

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by wjkuleck
    Not necessarily better, or lesser; different.

    For example, Colt magazines now have what 1911Tuner has termed the "hybrid" lip profile, a blending of the old GI-tapered lip with the parallel "wadcutter" lip. WWII magazines had spot-welded or riveted baseplates, modern ones are surface-welded. "Hybrid" lips are more compatible with modern bullet profiles than either of the earlier types.

    Modern Colt, and by that I mean genuine Colt, magazines are every bit as good as any magazines down through the history of the pistol. They're just not the same as in "days of old."

    Regards,

    Walt
    I thought I had read that Colt magazines have always had "Hybrid" lips, but I might be wrong. My real question is if Stainless Steel Colt magazines of today, are as "good" as the magazines of the "old days"; considering several people claim carbon steel is stronger than Stainless Steel. I see people using some really old mags, that still work, so that leads me to believe to old magazines are of really good quality.

    Thanks for all you help.

  6. #6
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    Some old magazines are good quality ... others are just old.

    A couple of years ago I picked up a Sistema (Argentinean licensed copy of a military M1911A1). The Sistemas were built using tooling bought from Colt and they had excellent metallurgy and workmanship.

    My Sistema would NOT feed. I sent the magazine to 1911Tuner to ... well, to tune. He played with it, got it looking good, loaded it up ... and the lips spread right out again. Too old and tired to hold a set -- and this was a military-issue magazine of good quality.

    I haven't any stainless 1911 magazines that are more than ten or fifteen years old, and any that are that old would have come to me used so I have no idea how many rounds they've fed. I see no functional difference between the stainless and carbon steel magazines -- within the same brand.
    Hawkmoon
    On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hawkmoon
    Some old magazines are good quality ... others are just old.

    A couple of years ago I picked up a Sistema (Argentinean licensed copy of a military M1911A1). The Sistemas were built using tooling bought from Colt and they had excellent metallurgy and workmanship.

    My Sistema would NOT feed. I sent the magazine to 1911Tuner to ... well, to tune. He played with it, got it looking good, loaded it up ... and the lips spread right out again. Too old and tired to hold a set -- and this was a military-issue magazine of good quality.

    I haven't any stainless 1911 magazines that are more than ten or fifteen years old, and any that are that old would have come to me used so I have no idea how many rounds they've fed. I see no functional difference between the stainless and carbon steel magazines -- within the same brand.
    Thank you Hawkmoon, that is what I was mainly looking for. If you have had Stainless Steel mags for more than 10 years and they are still working properly. That would lead me to believe Stainless steel mags are of high quality as well. Have you changed the springs in those mags?
    I just recently bought some Colt Stainless steel mags and was hoping they were as heavy duty as old carbon steel mags. I have a stainless Colt and wanted the mags to match the gun. The magazines are 7rd of course.

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