Checkmate 1911 single stack magazines entering the market

[adweisbe]

There is a new player in the market and there are a number of us that are excited to try the designs they are offering. Checkmate was one of the suppliers of USGI magazines and is also currently one of the suppliers of Colt magazine. Their mags are going to be offered with the Colt "hybrid" feed lips and the original USGI feed lips. The magazine is a critical and oft overlooked part of any firearms and the 1911 suffers from a large number of sub-par magazines with weak springs and misshapen tubes, feed lips, and followers that cause a variety of feeding issues. There is a group buy going on over at http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=29142&page=1&pp=10 and the prices are pretty amazing. Don't let the price fool you, these magazines are not junk.

They will be doing flush fit 8 round magazines some time in the near future.

 

[TonyDedo]

I'll take a look at 'em, but it's going to take a hell of a mag to tear me away from my Wilsons.

 

[adweisbe]

I'll take a look at 'em, but it's going to take a hell of a mag to tear me away from my Wilsons.

I am still questing... All the current aftermarket mags (McCormick aside) have flaws in my experience. The Wilsons have weak springs, don't always lock the slide back, and the follower wears at the point where the slidestop and follower meet. ACT mags crack at the rear of the feed lips if you so much as look at them funny. McCormick are the best in my experience, but they suffer from the same rare failure to feed as the rest of them and the feeding with hollow points is marginal. I also have a rough time seating flush fit 8 rounders (some have suggested clipping coils) and some mags seat easier then others. Metalform allegedly makes the tubes for McCormick and they also produce for Colt, but the QC was a bit spotty in the last group buy.

 

[Len-2A Training]

CobraMags are the cat's meow!

They ain't cheap, but they are worth every penny I paid for them (a lot less than list, it was an earlier group buy)!
http://www.trippresearch.com/products/45acp/45acp.htm

 

[adweisbe]

CobraMags are the cat's meow!

They ain't cheap, but they are worth every penny I paid for them (a lot less than list, it was an earlier group buy)!
http://www.trippresearch.com/products/45acp/45acp.htm

http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/index.html
Wadcuttah!
They use the wad cutter feed lips too.

Pic of USGI tapered lips:
http://forum.m1911.org/showpost.php?p=275801&postcount=3

Fake USGI mags (i.e. why USGI mags have a bad rep):
http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/appendix.html

Hybrid lips! Must find a good picture of hybrid lips!
First picture shows the hybrid lips http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/following-up.html

 

[drgrant]

I am still questing... All the current aftermarket mags (McCormick aside) have flaws in my experience. The Wilsons have weak springs, don't always lock the slide back, and the follower wears at the point where the slidestop and follower meet. ACT mags crack at the rear of the feed lips if you so much as look at them funny. McCormick are the best in my experience, but they suffer from the same rare failure to feed as the rest of them and the feeding with hollow points is marginal. I also have a rough time seating flush fit 8 rounders (some have suggested clipping coils) and some mags seat easier then others. Metalform allegedly makes the tubes for McCormick and they also produce for Colt, but the QC was a bit spotty in the last group buy.

You must beat the snot out of your magazines, or run them in funny
guns, or something. I use a mix of Wilsons and CMCs in three different
1911s (two are kimbers, the other is an auto ord/caspian mutt gut)
and have never had any problems with either brand that weren't dirt
induced. (eg, from me not cleaning the mags often enough).


-Mike

 

[M1911]

CobraMags are the cat's meow!

I disagree. I bought a couple for my Delta Elite. The springs are ridiculously heavy. So heavy that on the one magazine that I can load to capacity, I have a hard time getting it seated in the gun and the slide cycles noticeably slower on the first couple rounds. The mag is reducing reliability, not increasing it.

On the second magazine, the caliber stamping near the base of the magazine tube was done too heavily, noticeably bending the tube wall inward. As a result, this magazine cannot be loaded to capacity.

I like the design concepts behind the Tripp magazine. But in my experience, the implementation is unacceptable.

 

[adweisbe]

Feeding is always rough with anything except ball. Ka-chunk, and the bullets have a nice dent in them. It happens in all 3 of my S&W 1911s.

Smoothness from best to worst:
1. Ball
2. H&G #68 wadcutter
3. Hollowpoints (Golden Saber, Gold dot, Fed HST)
That order also reflects how often I experience the occasional random FTF. The gun will go 400 just fine, jam, and then go another 400 without issue.