Jim Watson
New member
I have some .45 Powermags and Tripp 9mms.
Both do well in my guns.
Both do well in my guns.
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Need Help: Wiley Clapp Lightweight Commander
- Thread starter Joshua 2415
- Start date
Hunter0924
New member
Check-Mate 7 round hybrid lip magazines.
That should fix your problem. As far as 8 round magazines, well the Government Model was designed to run with a 7 round magazine and I have never favored the 8 round magazine in a Government Model myself.
That should fix your problem. As far as 8 round magazines, well the Government Model was designed to run with a 7 round magazine and I have never favored the 8 round magazine in a Government Model myself.
Joshua 2415
New member
Reporting Results
The McCormick PowerMags didn't solve the problem.
Discussed the issue with a 1911 guy that works at my local range. He obviously assumed I was doing something wrong (limp-wristing, etc.) and asked if he could shoot the gun. Sure enough, he had the same problem. He referred me to the range's gunsmith.
The gunsmith saw rough spots on the ramp where the bullet nose had been banging into it. He didn't know whether the rough spots were the cause, or the result, of the problem. But he polished things up, and went back to the range with me. Nope. Still had jams on the 8th round, with several different brands of magazine.
Puzzled, he was about to give up. But then he pulled the magazine out of his own 1911 which he carried IWB, and asked me to try it. The mag ran fine. We re-loaded and shot again. Fine. Did it again, fine. After running his mag several times without a problem, we looked to see how it was different from everything else we had tried. It turns out the follower on his mag was a solid base, plastic design where as the other types we had been using were what he called "leaf" designs.
He didn't even know what brand of mag his was. It had no company markings on it. He offered to give it to me for free, but in exchange I gave him the two new McCormick PowerMags I had just purchased. I didn't have any use for them if they didn't fix my problem.
So I went home and googled the images of 1911 mags and scrolled through until I found one that had a plastic, solid base follower that looked like the one he gave me. It was a Mec-Gar. I immediately went to the Mec-Gar website and ordered two of them. I was held up for a while due to the holidays and surgery, but yesterday I went to the range to test them.
I ran each of the two new Mec-Gar mags through several cycles, and there were no malfunctions. My Colt ran like a top! I'm very pleased.
However, I do continue to wonder why these two Colts (the previous one that I struggled with for two years, and this new one) were both having trouble, while my Ruger Commander will eat anything, regardless of mag type. Are they built with a difference in design, or what? This is something of a rhetorical question, don't really expect anybody to have an answer...unless maybe there is one.
Thanks for all the help!
The McCormick PowerMags didn't solve the problem.
Discussed the issue with a 1911 guy that works at my local range. He obviously assumed I was doing something wrong (limp-wristing, etc.) and asked if he could shoot the gun. Sure enough, he had the same problem. He referred me to the range's gunsmith.
The gunsmith saw rough spots on the ramp where the bullet nose had been banging into it. He didn't know whether the rough spots were the cause, or the result, of the problem. But he polished things up, and went back to the range with me. Nope. Still had jams on the 8th round, with several different brands of magazine.
Puzzled, he was about to give up. But then he pulled the magazine out of his own 1911 which he carried IWB, and asked me to try it. The mag ran fine. We re-loaded and shot again. Fine. Did it again, fine. After running his mag several times without a problem, we looked to see how it was different from everything else we had tried. It turns out the follower on his mag was a solid base, plastic design where as the other types we had been using were what he called "leaf" designs.
He didn't even know what brand of mag his was. It had no company markings on it. He offered to give it to me for free, but in exchange I gave him the two new McCormick PowerMags I had just purchased. I didn't have any use for them if they didn't fix my problem.
So I went home and googled the images of 1911 mags and scrolled through until I found one that had a plastic, solid base follower that looked like the one he gave me. It was a Mec-Gar. I immediately went to the Mec-Gar website and ordered two of them. I was held up for a while due to the holidays and surgery, but yesterday I went to the range to test them.
I ran each of the two new Mec-Gar mags through several cycles, and there were no malfunctions. My Colt ran like a top! I'm very pleased.
However, I do continue to wonder why these two Colts (the previous one that I struggled with for two years, and this new one) were both having trouble, while my Ruger Commander will eat anything, regardless of mag type. Are they built with a difference in design, or what? This is something of a rhetorical question, don't really expect anybody to have an answer...unless maybe there is one.
Thanks for all the help!
Aguila Blanca
Staff
That's an interesting observation. Although new Colt Government and Commander models ship with hybrid-lip magazines, the Officers and Defenders only come with the wadcutter type magazines. And all aftermarket magazines I've seen for the Officers and Defender from Colt, Metalform (a Colt OEM supplier) or Check-Mate (also a Colt OEM supplier) have been the wadcutter type mags. The factory mags for my Para Slim Hawg (ever smaller than a Colt Defender) are also the wadcutter type.RickB said:I think the hybrid lip design does not retain the rounds securely enough for small guns; a combination of not being able to get as good a grip on the gun, and the violent cycling of the small/light slide.