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Wilson Combat mags, differences? Advantages?

meth0d

meth0d

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I'm looking to pick up a few more magazines for my S&W 1911 and I've heard that Wilson Combat is among the best.

So I went on Midway and see there are a few different styles, black or stainless, 7, 8 or 10 round capacity.

Are there any major differences in stainless compared to the black? (Aside from the obvious color difference) Does one last longer, is one more corrosion resistant, etc.?

The one I'm curious about is the base pad vs. aluminum base pad. Are there any advantages of one over the other?

Lastly, any other brands I should consider? I think I read Chip McCormick makes a good magazine too.

Thanks! [cheers]
 
Wilson Combat

I have a SW1911PD and a Colt Officer's Model 1911. Between the two guns I have about 20 mags and 14 of them are Wilson Combat. Any aftermarket part I put on the guns are also Wilson Combat. The factory mags for both guns work fine but from what I've read and from what I've experience myself these magazines are about the best quality there are. I have a couple Chip McCormick mags as well and I wasn't impressed. I find the followers on the Wilson Combat mags cause rounds to feed flawlessly and I've never had any kind of malfunction while using a Wilson Combat product. As far as the Chip McCormick mags I have are concerned, in my humble opinion the followers kind of suck so I only use them as back up mags at the range.
I have several 8 round 47D and ETM magazines. The ETM magazines have sort of a flared rubber base pad but if you're carrying a full size 1911 it tends to print under a shirt. They fit perfectly with an extended mag-well though. The 47D, however, have slim rubber base pads and don't print as much. I also have 7 round officer's model magazines which are cosmetically similar to the 47D model magazines and allow one more round than a colt factory magazine. I carry on a semi-daily basis, alternating between the government model and officer's model and wouldn't trust my life to any other magazine.
The magazines I use are all stainless so I couldn't tell you how the blued or matte black magazines are but I'm sure the only difference is the appearance. I don't currently own any with flat or flush aluminum base pads, only the rubber base pads so I can't help you out there either.
I would strongly recommend these magazines to any gun enthusiast and insist on them for anyone who would carry a 1911 for self-defense. Hope I've helped you out. If you have any questions then you can PM me and I'll do my best to answer them.
Max
 
I have found that Metalform mags are as good as any on the market and are among the least expensive. Chip McCormick mags are also excellent and relatively cheap. Metalform makes some of the best mag tubes in the business; they supply Colt. They also make the tubes for McCormick.

I have been using Metalform mags for over 20 years with no problems. I just can't bring myself to spend more $ for the high end mags when these work so well.

I have found no advantage in the various base pads; cheap plastic seems to work as well as anything else. SS is more corrosion resisitant that blued steel, but I have not found it to be any more durable in the mag tubes I have used.
 
The diffeence between the Wilson 7 round and 8 round is the follower. One has a convex follower and the other has a concave follower (allowing the one extra round). The 8 round mag body also has an additional drilled, view hole for the extra round. I have both in SS and they both work fine. Very high quality IMO.
Can't comment on the black vs ss though.
Wilson's also offers different magazine base thicknesses which you can purchase and is a nice option for customizing to your needs.
 
Buy one and TEST it in your gun first.

My Kimber HATES wilson 47D's. Absolutely hates them. (they cause jams and ejection failures) My mutt gun does just fine with them. Oddly enough my kimber has no problems with the wilson bureaucrat, which is a 10 round mag with an inverted follower... go figure.

Should be fine on the SW1911 because it's just about OEM for those guns, but I'd still test it out first.

I've had better luck (on average) with CMC powermags or things that emulate them. They're relatively cheap, too, which is an added bonus.

-Mike
 
Just a little fyi, most of the 1911 mags sold by S&W are Wilson Combat mags. If you go to their store in Springfield and look at the mags in S&W packaging on display they all say Wilson Combat on the base plate. A good friend of mine that works in the factory pointed it out to me one day.
 
I like Wilsons the best although I've used others that worked well too. On the new magazines- check to make sure the magazine lips don't hit the ejector!
 
I own several Colt 1911's. Full size, Commander and Officers Models as well as a couple OM size Kimbers.

In my quest to have on hand as many loaded magazines as Bruce Willis had in "The Last Man Standing" I bought a lot of 1911 Mags. Name a brand and I bought them.

My Gold Cup didn't care. It would shoot ANY mag with no issues. However, a couple others I own would not.

I switched over to Wilson Combat Mags and no more problems with any of them.

I've cured several issues with friends 1911's and jamming problems just by handing them a Wilson Combat magazine and said "try this one". I recomend the 47D's.

Your mileage may vary......

Hope that helps,
 
+1 on the Metal Form's. They function great at a fraction of the cost, buy more mags! If you cherck Gunbroker, you can buy them in bulk for 9.00 a mag and as stated earlier, they make them for Colt and others, very high quality.
 
MadMax41985 said:
I have a SW1911PD and a Colt Officer's Model 1911. Between the two guns I have about 20 mags and 14 of them are Wilson Combat. Any aftermarket part I put on the guns are also Wilson Combat. The factory mags for both guns work fine but from what I've read and from what I've experience myself these magazines are about the best quality there are. I have a couple Chip McCormick mags as well and I wasn't impressed. I find the followers on the Wilson Combat mags cause rounds to feed flawlessly and I've never had any kind of malfunction while using a Wilson Combat product. As far as the Chip McCormick mags I have are concerned, in my humble opinion the followers kind of suck so I only use them as back up mags at the range.
I have several 8 round 47D and ETM magazines. The ETM magazines have sort of a flared rubber base pad but if you're carrying a full size 1911 it tends to print under a shirt. They fit perfectly with an extended mag-well though. The 47D, however, have slim rubber base pads and don't print as much. I also have 7 round officer's model magazines which are cosmetically similar to the 47D model magazines and allow one more round than a colt factory magazine. I carry on a semi-daily basis, alternating between the government model and officer's model and wouldn't trust my life to any other magazine.
The magazines I use are all stainless so I couldn't tell you how the blued or matte black magazines are but I'm sure the only difference is the appearance. I don't currently own any with flat or flush aluminum base pads, only the rubber base pads so I can't help you out there either.
I would strongly recommend these magazines to any gun enthusiast and insist on them for anyone who would carry a 1911 for self-defense. Hope I've helped you out. If you have any questions then you can PM me and I'll do my best to answer them.
Max
Click to expand...

Did you actually have any failures with the Chip McCormick mags? These mags use a follower developed by Charlie Kelsey of Devel fame. It looks a little funny because it is different from most, made out of spring steel and designed to collapse to accomodate the last (8th) round.

I must admit that I prefer the plastic followers that Metalform uses but have never actually had a problem wiith the Chip McCormick mags.
 
M1911 said:
Yes. Failures to feed.
Click to expand...

My experience also. Found that in my Kimber Grand Raptor II, the McCormick mags had way too many FTF's. Original mags...no problem. Wilson...no problem. Chip's were just not reliable. Am speaking of his 10-rd. mags.
 
Ray-500 said:
My experience also. Found that in my Kimber Grand Raptor II, the McCormick mags had way too many FTF's. Original mags...no problem. Wilson...no problem. Chip's were just not reliable. Am speaking of his 10-rd. mags.
Click to expand...

I'm speaking of 8 round mags.
 
M1911 said:
I'm speaking of 8 round mags.
Click to expand...

Understood. Just have to say the the 10 rounders from McCormick were a big disappointment. Ended up tossing them because I was so disgusted with failures. Fortunately, I only had a couple, so it was not a big loss.
 
I find it amusing that people have had trouble with CMCs. I've only ever had them screw up on me when they were really, really filthy.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
I find it amusing that people have had trouble with CMCs. I've only ever had them screw up on me when they were really, really filthy.

-Mike
Click to expand...

I understand, can only go by own personal experience. None of my pieces ever get "filthy"....unless its an experiment. The CM's had failure after failure in my Kimber 1911. Was extremely disappointed. If you had none of this, you are very lucky....or I am very unlucky. [wink]

Sidenote: ProMag sucks for my Sigs. Cannot be trusted in whatever caliber (that I use) for reliability....jams, hangups, etc. Factory mags....never a problem. Its all "trial and error". [wink]
 
M1911 said:
I don't know why you find that amusing. No, mine we're not filthy.
Click to expand...

That's what I find interesting. None of my mags EVER get to what you can call "filthy". As far as "clean" goes, it should not be an issue in terms of reliability and function (for me). [wink]
 
M1911 said:
I don't know why you find that amusing. No, mine we're not filthy.
Click to expand...

I find it amusing because at central MA pin shoots, CMCs are probably at least 50% of the 1911 mags in use. Nobody ever complains about
them.

Ray-500 said:
I understand, can only go by own personal experience. None of my pieces ever get "filthy"....unless its an experiment. The CM's had failure after failure in my Kimber 1911. Was extremely disappointed. If you had none of this, you are very lucky....or I am very unlucky. [wink]
Click to expand...

If you guys saw what that 47D I had does to the Kimber I have, you'd be like "WTF?" On the other hand they do work fine in my other 1911. Sometimes IMO the 47D is the best thing since sliced bread (makes fussy guns run right) other times the things are a curse. [laugh]

One thing I'm noticing is I think the guys making these mags are not entirely consistent from lot to lot. For example at one time I had 4 wilsons, two
were 47Ds, another one was a 47 with a low pro basepad, and then there is the 10 rounder. The one with the low pro base and the 10 rounder all
dropped free easily from any of the 1911s I had. The two "standard" 47Ds had to be pulled out of the gun, until a gunsmith buffed the seam on the backside of them. Weird.

Sidenote: ProMag sucks for my Sigs. Cannot be trusted in whatever caliber (that I use) for reliability....jams, hangups, etc. Factory mags....never a problem. Its all "trial and error". [wink]
Click to expand...

I think we all can agree on that... Promag is pretty much garbage in
anything. [laugh]

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
One thing I'm noticing is I think the guys making these mags are not entirely consistent from lot to lot. For example at one time I had 4 wilsons, two
were 47Ds, another one was a 47 with a low pro basepad, and then there is the 10 rounder. The one with the low pro base and the 10 rounder all
dropped free easily from any of the 1911s I had. The two "standard" 47Ds had to be pulled out of the gun, until a gunsmith buffed the seam on the backside of them. Weird.



I think we all can agree on that... Promag is pretty much garbage in
anything. [laugh]

-Mike
Click to expand...

Yup....at least for me....thumbs down on Pro Mag. Waste of money. Becoming more of a Sig convert. Tried only one of Pro Mag for the 220. Would never, ever, feed reliably. Disconcerting. Ended up tossing it. A waste of money. Without reliability, its useless. [wink]

Have never had a malfunction (mag type) with any Sig mag. It appears that whoever their contractors are (made in Italy) the workmanship is first class.

Take what I'm saying with a "grain of salt"....as stated, becoming a Sig convert. However, after 30+ years with 1911"s, guess I might be entitled to an opinion. [wink]
 
Ray-500 said:
My experience also. Found that in my Kimber Grand Raptor II, the McCormick mags had way too many FTF's. Original mags...no problem. Wilson...no problem. Chip's were just not reliable. Am speaking of his 10-rd. mags.
Click to expand...

I have been using the Metalform 10 round mags for quite a while with no failures. Their only weak point is that they employ long steel followers that are vulnerable to grit. They should be cleaned every time they are dropped on a dirt or sand surface.
 
Gammon said:
I have been using the Metalform 10 round mags for quite a while with no failures. Their only weak point is that they employ long steel followers that are vulnerable to grit. They should be cleaned every time they are dropped on a dirt or sand surface.
Click to expand...

Have not heard of them, but will check them out. Thank you.
 
Cross post from the January Acquisitions thread:

Got 2 $25 gift certificates to MidwayUSA for Christmas, applied them to the purchase and got two 10 round stainless Wilson Combat mags for $11 each!

IMG_0697.jpg
 

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