1911 Magazines

The magazine is exceedingly critical to the function of a 1911, and all too many shooters induce problems in otherwise functional guns by using faulty magazines.

My number one recommendation for a 1911 magazine is the original Chip McCormick Power Mag 8 round magazine with the standard (.350") bumper.  The Power Mag design has a durable tube that holds its shape well, a strong spring that resists a set when left loaded for extended periods, and very good overall function. The Power Mag features a flush length tube, which makes it a good choice for concealment applications.  It is able to compete in function with extended tube magazines thanks to the additional spring pressure provided by the folded follower. I have had hundreds of Power Mags pass through my hands - they work well and you simply will not find a better value for your dollar.

I am frequently asked whether I recommend the original Power Mag follower or the newer Power Mag Plus.  I prefer the original Power Mag follower for most of my applications.  You will need to decide for yourself which of the two followers has design characteristics that better suit your needs.  The original Power Mag follower provides greater lift to the slide stop at lockback, and jumps forward slightly upon feeding the last round.  If you have a gun that has a heavy slide stop plunger spring or one with a hard detent cut into it, you will probably do better with the original Power Mag.  The Power Mag Plus follower produces somewhat less lift on the slide stop lobe, but its primary design features are that it does not jump forward in the tube and also rides very tightly up the inside front of the tube for more consistent follower engagement.  The Power Mag Plus is the preferred magazine for alloy frame 1911s.  The new black Power Mag shows great promise, with a tube formed from black oxided carbon steel, which should prove to be even more resilient than the stainless tubes.

The Tripp Industries Cobra Mag, A8-MG, is another good candidate for an 8 round 1911 mag.  It uses a polymer follower with a steel insert at the slide stop lobe engagement shelf that provides good durability.  The tube is extended in length for a longer spring column. These magazines tend to sit very high in the gun, so you will want to check to see if the feed lips or top round contact your ejector.  The newer manufacture Cobra Mags with the polished tube are superior to the older versions with the matte finish tube.

The Wilson ETM is a relatively new entry into the market, and I have been testing them since they became available.  The design addresses the shortcomings of the popular 47D, which was an excellent competition and recreational use magazine, but fell somewhat short in regards to service use.  The 47D suffered from premature spring fatigue, rapid follower wear, and feed lip spread.  The ETM addresses these issues and produces a superior solution to the 47D.  The ETM tube is longer to lengthen the spring column, and has design changes to improve the dimensional stability of the feed lips.  The follower tracks more consistently up the left side of the tube for better lockback, and does not wear excessively from contact with the slide stop.  I have found that the ETM spring provides sufficient tension for about six months of staying constantly loaded, after which it may not consistently lock open some guns.

**I no longer recommend the use of the Tripp Super 7 kits inside a CMC magazine tube as a home made "super mag." There is nothing wrong with this setup, but current developments with the above listed magazines have outstripped that suggestion (which dates back to 2005). It is my feeling that the day of the 7 round magazine in a full sized Government Model has passed, and that the added expense and trouble of rebuilding the magazines is unnecessary.

The Slide Stop:
Your 1911's slide stop will play a large role in the overall success of your magazines.  The slide stop lobe does a lot of work, and if it is not dimensioned correctly, you may have problems.  In a .45, the lobe needs to protrude .200", as measured from the back of the interior of the slide stop lever, and assuming installation into a gun with an in spec frame/mag well.

The Devel style folded follower in the CMC Power Mag series has some isolated problems with certain guns where it will jump the slide stop. If you have this issue, it is indicative of your slide stop lobe being too short, and the 100% solution is to replace the slide stop with one that has a correct length lobe.

In the Tripp and Wilson magazines, a short slide stop lobe can be bypassed by the follower. This can create some interesting malfunctions, including one where the slide stop gets pushed to the left (ie out of the gun) during firing, causing it to bind the gun up tightly. In the Wilson 47D magazines, routine wear to the polymer follower can create this malfunction or at least the bypassing of the slide stop lobe once the follower has worn enough.  On these magazines, it is critical to stay on top of follower replacement.

For duty use, the above are the ONLY 1911 magazines that I currently recommend.  There are certainly many brands of magazines which work well for various users and applications, but I haven't had the opportunity to wring out every design, nor has every magazine survived my evaluation.  Omission from recommendation does not mean condemnation on my part, but it certainly does mean a lack of endorsement.  Keep in mind that my recommendations are based upon large (ie. statistically relevant) sample sizes that meet my stringent requirements of the magazines being kept constantly loaded for a duty cycle of at least 6 months, performing during high volume use with ball and JHP ammunition, and being able to withstand repeated drops onto hard surfaces during training.  Almost any magazine will work satisfactorily if you never leave them loaded, shoot only ball ammunition, and they are not dropped on concrete. 

New Noveske/BCM Build

I had been piecing together the parts for this build for a few months, and finally got a chance to put it all together. Here's the parts list:
-Bravo Company Manufacturing (BCM) 16" pencil bbl midlength with Troy/VTAC TRX rail
-BCM Gunfighter Mod 5 charging handle
-LMT bolt carrier group (from the parts box) with BCM extractor spring upgrade and new LMT small parts - extractor, pin, cam pin
-Aimpoint PRO
-LaRue M68 mount
-Tango Down VFG and Battle Grip
-Surefire X300 with XT07 switch
-Vltor A5 IMod stock
-Geissele SSA trigger kit
-Knight Armament 300m flip up rear sight (from parts box, not pictured)
-LMT front sight, from parts box
-Noveske forged receiver
-VTAC padded sling and LUSA front sling attachment

The Noveske receiver is a preproduction prototype of their new forged receiver, and features a flared mag well, integral trigger guard, and reinforced receiver extension ring. It is very cleanly machined and the mag well opening is very fast without being at all obtrusive.

The rifle was function tested and sighted in with Black Hills ammunition, to include their new commercial 77gr OTM load, which is the well proven Mk262 load.

It was pouring on the day I went to sight in. In the above pic you can see the beefy trigger guard and flared mag well.

After staring at the gun in its stylish black configuration for a few days, I couldn't take it any more and got the Krylon out.

As you can see, the LMT front sight didn't make it on the build, nor did the XT07 switch. I wanted the light at 12:00, in front of the sight tower, as I'd done on a previous build. This setup makes the light fairly ambidextrous and also lets me keep roughly the same support hand position/grip whether I am shooting in daylight or low light. The master plan was to put the XT07 switch behind the front sight so that the support thumb could hit the switch. The plan was foiled when 1) the mounting knob on the LMT front sight was so huge that I couldn't get my thumb close to the front of the gun and 2) the rear plate for the XT07 was so long that I lose all the real estate gained with the long handguard. A new Daniel Defense fixed front sight is on order.

The build comes out to 8.0 lbs unloaded without magazine, and is very light and handy. The long thin forend tube is very comfortable and allows an aggressive hand position for driving the gun. The only downside so far is that the light weight of the barrel contributes to significantly more muzzle whip than on guns with standard weight barrels. It moves very quickly from target to target, but shot to shot on the same target is slower. There is no free lunch.

The gun is ready for VTAC Carbine 1.5 next week. More pics and AAR to follow. I will be doing some more detailed accuracy testing with this barrel setup and the Black Hills 77gr OTM after the class, as well as testing a Battle Comp 2.0. Stay tuned for more, and check out the 10-8 Performance Facebook page for more pics of this blaster.

Extractors, Part 2

Last week's article on external extractors got a lot of attention, so some additional questions will be answered here. 

So why so much effort for a concept that seems not to have fared well in the 1911?  Good question, considering that the various generations of Kimber external extractor ended with their discontinuance, Sig's initial runs of GSR's had claw geometry issues, and the original generation of S&W 1911 extractors performed inconsistently.  Many users have had success with Caspian's external extractor slides, and the S&W E Series uses the successful Performance Center 4506 pattern extractor.  Before dismissing the concept in whole, it is important to understand the finer points of it.

Let's first consider why manufacturers can't seem to make an external extractor 1911 work right, when almost every other pistol has an external.  The 1911's feedway makes the round travel an awfully long distance to get to the chamber.  The top round in the magazine sits very low relative to the chamber - compare it to the relative location of the cartridge in a Glock, M&P, or HK45.  In those pistols, the top round is practically pointed at the chamber, and do not have very far to go.  The 1911's feedway makes it hard work for the extractor design to be able to both control feeding as well as provide reliable extraction/ejection.  It is easy to get an extractor that will do one of the tasks well, but doing both is a harder feat.  Extractor design and placement relative to the cartridge are very critical.

Much discussion has been thrown at the issue that it is not possible to repair the external extractor 1911 by yourself.  That is far from the case, as it couldn't be easier to hammer out a pin, stuff in the new extractor and spring, and hammer the pin back in.  No specialized skill or experience is required for this operation.  Can you do this in the field without tools?  No, you will need a hammer and a pin punch.  A vise will help too, but so can a partner and a picnic table.  True, you can replace an internal extractor with just a pin punch, assuming that is has already been fitted and tensioned.  If not, then you will need some files and abrasive cloth in addition to the requisite training and experience to profile the hook and set the tension.  You will then want to test fire each fitted extractor to ensure that you have set the tension correctly, as it is easy to put on too much or too little.  In my experience, internal extractors tend to lose tension long before their claws shear off, so in actuality we are talking about tensioning an internal extractor "out in the field" rather than replacing a broken one.  See above re: test firing after setting tension.  

Also, let's be realistic about what "field use" really means.  Are we talking about being at the range for a class or a match?  If the gun goes down, your time is better managed by having a spare gun and doing the repairs when you get home or have a long break.  If you are overseas or on some other type of remote deployment, you will have some support gear with you back at base camp, and can pack accordingly.  If you are thinking about fixing the gun while huddled in some bomb crater....

So what is a 1911 owner supposed to do?  If you have an external extractor and are a high round count user, then consider getting some  spare pins, coil springs, and extractors from the manufacturer.  Though they will likely be a proprietary design, it would be no different than owning spare parts for your Glock.  Learn what it is like to hammer the pin out, and you have now taught yourself to service your extractor.  Get some Loctite 638 for the pin and now you'll be a pro on that system.  If you have a traditional internal extractor, you need to have several fitted spares, to include a firing pin stop.  Have your gunsmith set your gun up with these parts, and test fire the gun with the spares in place to ensure that they work as expected.

As a 1911 aficionado, it is important to understand where changes can benefit our beloved 100 year old design.  The argument of "if John Moses Browning wanted it there, he would have designed it that way" is a bit old, and doesn't fly.  Do you really want to go back to tiny sights, a high ejection port, heavy steel trigger, mag well without a bevel, long spur hammers with tang safeties, seven round magazines and only ball ammunition...  Should I go on?  The original gun's "torture test" was only 6000 rounds.  This might be only one month's consumption for a modern shooter, so we need to be open minded about what changes to the design can bring to the table.

External Extractors and 1911s

In the wake of my testing of the S&W E Series 1911, which featured a wider external extractor than the original SW1911, some discussion came up about the merits of the concept.  Almost every modern service pistol design features a spring loaded external extractor design.  The 1911 still gets by using a spring tempered hook machined out of a straight piece of steel that is bent to achieve tension.  It does surprisingly well with this, but it is certainly not the 21st century answer. 

I've spent a lot of time studying the 1911 external extractor situation, to include building a gun through which I fed over 20,000 rounds and countless different experimental extractors.  I have also studied the various commercially available external extractor guns.  Suffice to say that the bulk of the available options had been less than stellar, and customers were justifiably reluctant to jump on the bandwagon.  With the introduction of the S&W E Series, I think that situation is going to change, and I will be watching the progress of those guns with great anticipation.

So what does it all mean to you as an end user?

First, let's consider what the external extractor offers - consistent spring tension over the life of the part thanks to a coil spring which does not get worked very hard, and installation/setup that does not require much more than driving out a pin, stuffing the parts in, and putting the pin back in.  Compare that to the current internal extractor design which requires hand fitting of the part into the slide, filing of the hook geometry, and bending of the part to create the proper spring tension.  This all requires a skilled hand to achieve optimum results.  For a single user, the internal extractor is merely a nuisance that can be worked around by having the gunsmith fit a spare extractor or two when the gun is built.  For a group of users - such as a tactical team or a department - that "minor nuisance" grows quickly into a ton of man hours spent chasing extractor function.

As far as approaching maintenance, I think a huge part of the discussion here relates to points of reference. I am thinking in terms of LE unit or department level use vs. a single end user with a recreational or CCW gun, which makes the argument for an external extractor scream to me in a loud and compelling manner. To date, I have yet to hear any convincing arguments in favor of the internal extractor in this realm.

In regards to disassembly and maintenance, it certainly does require more tools to switch out an external extractor, but let's be realistic about what we want to do. If you're out on an extended rural patrol or on a deployment, that part of the gun can now be considered one unit, much like the lower of your M4, MP5, etc. Just like those weapon systems, don't take them apart until you're back in a controlled environment. If the use pattern consists of going to the range or a match, then go to the car and get some tools or the spare gun.

The amount of dirt that the external extractor can tolerate underneath it is far greater than that of an internal extractor, which accumulates the dirt right under the claw's locator pad. More dirt under the locator pad translates immediately into lost tension. If you get dirt/mud/etc. inside the slide, you can hit the slide with a hose or some brake cleaner and be done with it. You really have to work hard to get a lot of foreign material inside the external extractor's spring pocket when it's in a holster. If you got blasted with crud at a helo LZ and it's that bad, chances are the rest of your gun looks like a sugar cookie inside too and the extractor honestly is the last of your worries. If you consider how many modern pistols have external extractors that rarely ever see any service on them vs. all the 1911s that require some tweaking to their internal extractors, that's a clue.

As far as unit level maintenance, it's hands down for the external extractor. I don't know of too many armorers who have set up all the guns on a team or department with a fitted spare extractor. That's not very feasible when you need to do that for a whole big group. The very concept of the fitted spare is for a single end user (where it certainly does work well), but it just doesn't fly for a whole team. In fact, I don't even believe in the concept of the fitted spare, I always pack extra guns instead.

Properly executed, the external extractor breathes new life into the 100 year old pistol, and gives it a fighting chance to run with the new kids. 

Pistol Drills

Here are a couple drills that I have been working lately on the range.  I shot them for the par times using a 1911 in .45, with 230 gr ball.  Both drills are done on an IDPA target, but you can substitute a USPSA target or even use an 8" paper plate for the 8-8-8 Drill.

15 Yard Head Box Drill
Starting with hands at sides, draw and fire 5 rounds to the head box of an IDPA or USPSA target.  The head box is 15cm (5.9") square, use the whole thing.  All 5 rounds must be in or breaking the edge of the head box to count.

Par Times:
Baseline, with open top holster: 8 seconds
Advanced Goal, with open top holster: 5 seconds

8-8-8
At 10 yards, starting with hands at sides, draw and fire 8 rounds into 8" center circle, perform a slide lock reload, fire 8 rounds, perform a slide lock reload, and fire 8 rounds.  All 24 rounds must be in or breaking the edge of the 8" circle to count.

Par times:
Baseline, with open top holster: 20 seconds
Advanced Goal, with open top holster: 15 seconds

The 8-8-8 drill is pretty sporty at 15 seconds with full power ammo in a .45.  Just remember that using gloves, a duty holster, flap mag pouches, or a lower recoiling caliber will affect the par times.  If you can't make the baseline par times, shoot with a timer and determine what a reasonable par time is that will allow you make ALL HITS.  After you get all your hits consistently, then whittle the times down.

S&W E Series, Detailed Review

I had taken a hard look at the E Series at SHOT Show, and had been eagerly awaiting the release of them since. My pistol, a stainless standard dust cover model, just arrived and I must say that I am very impressed. As already noted above, street price on this variant is about $900, which seems to be a pretty good deal for what you are getting.

The pistol comes as pictured above, in the blue plastic hard case, and includes two ACT magazines and the usual legal stuff that everyone throws away. This week we will take a hard look at the pistol inside and out, and next week we will see how it did on the range. Live updates and many more pics can be had on our Facebook page.

The overall feel of the pistol was very solid and smooth, with an excellent slide to frame fit, almost no sharp edges to speak of, and positive feeling controls. The safety clicked on and off positively, and the trigger broke cleanly.

The front strap has 20lpi checkering, which is very functional and is not so sharp that it may offend. The lines are fairly clean and straight, but the diamonds do not come to a sharp point. While it will not threaten the work of any custom pistolsmiths, this checkering gets the job done. There is a very pronounced high cut at the top of the front strap which makes the gun sit very comfortably in the hand.

The E Series boasts a new flush crown treatment, which is a nice touch. The barrel is cleanly machined and locks up well in the slide. The gun is equipped with a full length guide rod, which seems to be a big thing in production guns, but I can do without it. It is a nuisance, but a very simple fix for the end user to swap out.

The magazine well is cleanly beveled, and is possibly one of the most cleanly executed ones I have seen on a production gun. The bevel actually continues all the way around the mag well, and the bevel does not abruptly stop at some arbitrary point.

I had commented on the ejection port before, and it features a forward clearance cut for live round ejection. This is a smart but often overlooked feature. Most users do not appreciate it until they work malfunction clearance drills or have to unload their gun at the end of the shift and end up monkeying around with the gun in front of the clearing barrel at the station. The rear of the ejection port also has a flute to improve the exit of the casing during firing.  The E Series features the wide Performance Center extractor, which had an excellent reliability record, and is notably superior to the extractor in the previous generation of SW1911s.

The slide has a serrated flat top treatment on all the E Series guns, and it looks good. The front sight is .125" wide x .135" high, and is a holdover from the Third Gen pistols. The rear of the slide of this model is smooth, while most of the other E Series guns are serrated. The E Series uses a Novak sight for the S&W Third Gen pistols. Again, the aftermarket customization choices for this dovetail is extremely limited.  Aftermarket choices are fairly limited for these sights, but look for a 10-8 Performance rear sight later this spring, and a front sight late summer.

 The trigger broke quite crisply at 5 lbs 5.5 oz for an average of 10 pulls on my Lyman digital gauge. I have no issues with the weight, and would be a very appropriate weight for a service pistol.

The magazine catch is the popular extended style we first saw on the Kimber 1911s. The catch on my pistol was equipped with a very light spring, which causes me some concern for duty use. I did have a bit of an issue with my mag catch as it would stick in the depressed position and require some wrangling to return to position. I am leaving it as is for initial test firing to see if it causes any issues.

The slide stop is a MIM unit, as are most of the small parts. That is to be expected at this price point, and I have no issues with that. It is clearly marked as a .45 caliber unit, which is refreshing to see versus stuffing a 9/.38 unit into a .45 and having the lobe crash into the rounds and causing false lockbacks. Yes, I've seen that before. The lobe has the proper .200" protrusion in toward the mag well, and the pin is .1985". The rear corner of the slide stop lever was probably the only objectionable sharp edge on the entire gun, and it was mild at that.

 With the full length guide rod, the pistol quickly field strips into two subassemblies.

The slide features a titanium firing pin, and the interior exhibits no excessive machining marks. Yes, that bushing wrench is necessary for field stripping.  Here you can see how smooth the interior of the slide is. The gun is built on all new machinery in Smith & Wesson's Houlton, Maine facility. The barrel link pin is staked in place, which is a nice touch not often seen.

The feed ramp is cut wide and deep, past .400", which is a good thing and also rarely seen on production 1911s. It is far more common to see shallow, narrow feed ramps which will feed ok with ball, but may be a bit hit or miss with different hollow points. This feed ramp geometry should handle all types of ammunition quite well. The barrel is throated well, with good geometry and surface finish at the mouth of the chamber. he feed ramp does exhibit some minor but noticeable machining marks. I will be interested to see how these fare once they get dirty or are fed hollow points.

 It may be a bit hard to tell from this photo, but the plunger spring actually has a bit of a dogleg in it. This feature, specified on the GI print, is nice for keeping the plunger and spring from being ejected from the gun when you remove the thumb safety. This is also a feature not often seen in production guns.

The remainder of the internals is the same as seen on previous generations of S&W 1911s, and are unremarkable. They are MIM, and feature clean surface finish and consistent geometry. This is to be expected at this price point, and certainly not a showstopper by any measure.

One of the big production changes for the E Series was a fitted trigger. Here you can see that the trigger was fitted on the top of the pad. It fits well in the frame with no excessive play.

The plunger tube is properly staked into the frame.

An interesting by product of redesigning the frame for modern machining practices is the opportunity to get rid of a few stress risers and unnecessary sharp corners inside the frame. Note the areas at the back of the frame are all machined with round borders instead of sharp 90 degree corners.

The fish scale style grasping grooves, a carry over from Performance Center 1911s and now seen on the M&P's, is distinctive looking and makes for an effective grasping surface.

The factory E grips weren't working for me, nor were the hex head grip screws. A trip to the 10-8 inventory yielded a set of Dirty Olive G10 grips and some GI pattern grip screws.

Overall, I must say that I am quite impressed with the execution of the E Series. For under $900 street price, it would seem to be a pretty screaming deal. The gun has the most thorough dehorn job I have seen on a factory gun, and the only sharp edge I could find on the gun was at the back of the slide stop. While the benchtop exam went very well, the proof will be in test firing. Follow it here and on Facebook.

1911 Fiber Optic Sight Installation

Sight installations are a common question, so here is a break down of how to install our new 1911 Fiber Optic Front Sight.  It is the only 1911 fiber optic on the market (that I am aware of) which has a cross pin hole, a critical feature for prolonging the life cycle of the sight in hard use.  The sight is machined from prehardened Rc28-32 4140 barstock, much harder than most of the commonly available sights.  The .060" fiber rod is recessed front and back to protect the flared ends, cradled in a full diameter fiber tunnel, and shielded in the middle of the blade.  The popular fiber optic front sight, previously conceived only for competition use, has been redesigned to be tough enough for duty and carry use.

The dovetail is 65 degrees x .330" x .075" (ie. the Novak 1911 standard). Use a 65 degree dovetail file to adjust the dovetail for fit. Brownells sells these files.

Tap the sight into the dovetail with a Delrin drift punch, center on the slide by measuring from flat of slide on either side.

Start roll pin in hole, then tap in with solid punch. Do not use a roll pin punch, as it will flare the pin. Work carefully so that you do not crush the pin. Use of the roll pin is optional, but this is a critical feature to help the sight stay in place during hard use. No other 1911 fiber optic sight on the market offers this feature.

Make sure the roll pin is flush with the bottom of the fiber's tunnel.

 Grind off the extra pin material that protrudes into the underside of the slide.

 Ensure that the pin is flush and does not interfere with the bushing fit.

Mushroom one end of the fiber by holding it near a heat source such as a candle, lighter, or stove element. Do not burn the fiber.

Install the fiber with the flared end facing the sighting surface. It may take a few tries to get the size dot you want. The front tunnel for the fiber is recessed to protect the end of the fiber you use for sighting. There is no way that the flared head will get sheared off in use.

With the flared head pulled all the way into the blade, trim the far end of the fiber, leaving some extra material. Diagonal cutting wire cutters are good for this.  Use a heat source to flare the end, ensuring that the fiber does not have any fore and aft play.  Any movement in the fiber will be amplified during firing, and shorten the service cycle of the install.

The completed install. Note how well the fiber is protected on all sides, yet allows plenty of light in for a bright dot.

To make your fiber last longer, avoid getting harsh solvents on it.  I use Slip 725 cleaner/degreaser and Carbon Killer Bore Cleaner, and have no issues with these attacking the fiber rod.  The fiber rods in my personal pistols last almost indefinitely.