Chip McCormick Railed Power Mags

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BarryLee

New member
I have been considering some ten round 1911 magazines for range use, so when I saw the new Chip McCormick Railed Power Mags (RPM) I thought I’d take a chance. I’ve only had them a few weeks and put maybe 200 rounds through the two. They have worked fine with basically nothing negative to say about them. I suppose any real advantage will come from added longevity, so it may take months or years to see if it is a better design.

So, what do you think about the new design? Has anyone else tried these yet? Is it the next big innovation, just a gimmick to separate us from our money or something in between?

http://cmcmags.homestead.com/RPM2.html?_=1453760142897
 
I have a couple. They are working ok. I have not worn out a Power Mag yet, and I have had them a lot longer. Come to think of it, I have only worn out two old Devel/Mag Pak and one Wilson over the past good many years.
 
Is there a photo of the inside of the feed lip? The promo refers to it as a "double wall," but it doesn't look like a double wall to me. It looks like a standard wall with a small lip crimped over it, and I fail to see how that would in any way prevent long-term spreading of the feed lips in a magazine that might be susceptible to same.
 
Okay, I'll play resident skeptic for today.

These new magazines are NOT "double-walled." The mag tube is still a single layer of steel sheet metal. All he has done is to extend the rear portion of each side a bit higher, and then fold it over onto (into) itself. This does not make it "double walled," this makes it a single wall with a rolled lip.

The rolled lip is certainly stronger -- against bending along its length. But that's not how 1911 magazine lips fail. What happens is the walls get weak and the feed lips splay outward. Sometimes they can be re-bent to get a bit more life out of them, more often once they splay out they're finished. The point being that rolling the upper lip over on itself will do exactly NOTHING to prevent this kind of feed lip splay. It can't -- because the splay occurs lower than the portion these mags have rolled over.

IMHO, this is a non-answer to a "problem" that isn't really a problem.
 
I don't know about these "railed" Power Mags, but the regular CMC Power Mags are top notch - as good or better than the ubiquitous Wilson 47Ds, and usually a few bucks less to boot.
 
The rolled lip is certainly stronger -- against bending along its length. But that's not how 1911 magazine lips fail. What happens is the walls get weak and the feed lips splay outward.
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Two points. First, in theory, the feed lips are the pressure point for the top round applying pressure to spread the sides of the entire magazine body in a lever-like action. Reducing the movement of the lever (at the feed lips) should therefore reduce pressure all along the magazine body and especially on the feed lips. Second, slamming the magazine into a locked back slide is hard on the feed lips. Strengthening the lips will obviously help. If you're shooting paper targets on the range, you can lower the slide before reloading. In action shooting, a pistol is often shot to lock -back and a mag slammed home. I know some will reload with the last round still in the chamber but many do not.

I don't own any RPM mags but I am interested. I've never liked the devel follower in the Shooting Star mags but never bothered to try the "improved" devel follower in the McCormick PowerMag which, I understand, is also used in the RPM.
 
KyJim said:
Two points. First, in theory, the feed lips are the pressure point for the top round applying pressure to spread the sides of the entire magazine body in a lever-like action. Reducing the movement of the lever (at the feed lips) should therefore reduce pressure all along the magazine body and especially on the feed lips.
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That's not theory, it's fact. It is obviously the upward pressure of the top round that spreads the feed lips. And all rolling the edge does is lower the point of contact. At the point where the spreading actually takes place, these mags are still "single wall" and will spread just as quickly and just as far as any other quality 1911 magazine.

Second, slamming the magazine into a locked back slide is hard on the feed lips. Strengthening the lips will obviously help. If you're shooting paper targets on the range, you can lower the slide before reloading. In action shooting, a pistol is often shot to lock -back and a mag slammed home. I know some will reload with the last round still in the chamber but many do not.
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The magazine feed lips in a 1911 never contact the slide. And especially not if the slide is locked open -- with the slide locked open, the magazine falls directly under the ejection port, forward of the breech face.
 
That's not theory, it's fact. It is obviously the upward pressure of the top round that spreads the feed lips. And all rolling the edge does is lower the point of contact. At the point where the spreading actually takes place, these mags are still "single wall" and will spread just as quickly and just as far as any other quality 1911 magazine.
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But then the pressure is at a lower point on the mag wall; i.e., there is a shorter lever applying the pressure. How much, I don't know. That's the theoretical basis for my assertion. Does it mean anything in real life application? I don't know.

The magazine feed lips in a 1911 never contact the slide. And especially not if the slide is locked open -- with the slide locked open, the magazine falls directly under the ejection port, forward of the breech face.
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I simply said, "slamming the magazine into a locked back slide is hard on the feed lips." That's because it leaves the feed lips to retain the weight of all the rounds in the mag. Here's what Chip McCormick says:

1. Practice Smart – Don’t Kill Your Mags – The key to reliable feeding of your 1911 pistol is your magazine feed lips. Slamming fully loaded magazines into a pistol at Slide Lock greatly increases the pressure on the feed lips. Repeated impacts are the most common cause of spreading open the feed lips. Do it enough times and you can fatigue the metal. Keep reloads at Slide Lock to a minimum to increase service life of your magazines. Reloads made with the slide forward (in battery) places little or no stress on the feed lips.
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http://cmcmags.homestead.com/FAQ2.html?_=1446916232674
 
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