Tacticalpanda Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Just bought my first 2011 and have a mag question. Looking at speed shooters they have 140mm .38/9mm mags. I was going to buy a few and replace with graham guts. I keep reading about the 9mm spacer plate. Do I need to buy the spacer plates for these mags? I've also seen STI mags advertised as 9mm only. Do these mags come with the spacer already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davsco Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 yes, spacers needed for 38/9mm STI tubes if shooting 9mm, and yes the complete STI 9mm mags come with the spacers. from what i've heard, the mbx 38/9 mags work with both rounds without any spacers needed, but i haven't tried them with my 9mm guns yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwray Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 The spacers are for when you run factory length 9mm ammo. If you load it long like most 9 major loads you don't need the spacers. I second the notion for MBX. I'm not affiliated with them but I struggled with mag issues until I swapped to them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teros135 Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, mwray said: The spacers are for when you run factory length 9mm ammo. If you load it long like most 9 major loads you don't need the spacers. I second the notion for MBX. I'm not affiliated with them but I struggled with mag issues until I swapped to them You might want to check this one out with your own gun & ammo. My STI mags won't run 9 major reliably without spacers at 1.165 OAL, and I think many others have the same experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glk21C Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 OAL of ammo has nothing to do with needing spacers in the old style sti mags. Those that run with longer OAL and no spacers in the old style sti mags are lucky if it has worked. Spacers will make 9mm rounds more reliable in the old style tubes(2 control ribs on each side). New style sti mags have one, wider control rib per side, much like sps, svi and mbx, which facilates not needing a spacer to run 9mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacticalpanda Posted April 20, 2017 Author Share Posted April 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, Glk21C said: OAL of ammo has nothing to do with needing spacers in the old style sti mags. Those that run with longer OAL and no spacers in the old style sti mags are lucky if it has worked. Spacers will make 9mm rounds more reliable in the old style tubes(2 control ribs on each side). New style sti mags have one, wider control rib per side, much like sps, svi and mbx, which facilates not needing a spacer to run 9mm. So I'm looking at these http://www.speedshooter.com/product_detail.cfm?id=STI2011MAG-&n=STI-New-Generation-2011-Magazines And then the grams 9mm follower and spring http://www.speedshooter.com/product_detail.cfm?id=FKS-13-&n=Grams-Follower-Kit--STI-SV/SPS-170mm I should be set? No spacer? I've looked ar mbx and might pick one it two up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwray Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 OAL of ammo has nothing to do with needing spacers in the old style sti mags. Those that run with longer OAL and no spacers in the old style sti mags are lucky if it has worked. Spacers will make 9mm rounds more reliable in the old style tubes(2 control ribs on each side). New style sti mags have one, wider control rib per side, much like sps, svi and mbx, which facilates not needing a spacer to run 9mm.When I see the words STI and reliability in the same paragraph I know it's got to be a misprint. Everything I've had with STI wrote on it is pretty much junk. Good ideas just lack of quality. And what in the hell do you mean OAL has nothing to do with it? Last I check installing the spacer shortened the distance of the mag tube from front to back. Which in turn she deal directly with OAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glk21C Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 1 hour ago, mwray said: And what in the hell do you mean OAL has nothing to do with it? Last I check installing the spacer shortened the distance of the mag tube from front to back. Which in turn she deal directly with OAL ok, I'll add clarity to that. Using a longer OAL in a factory old-style STI mag with no spacers is not the fix for not needing spacers. Those that run with longer OAL and no spacers in the old style sti mags are lucky if it has worked. Correct, the use of spacers necessitates using a more normal OAL for 9mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 I run sti mags in my open gun,3 - 140 with grams 9 mm spring and follower,with the stainless steel spacer from shootersconection..They have been 100% for the past year,with ammo at 1.165.. all I used in my limited guns were Sti mags,all held 20 rounds in 40 S/w.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcc7x7 Posted April 20, 2017 Share Posted April 20, 2017 Not a STI fan boy since I've not done well with their warranty dept the last two times. With that said: I've never had a problem with their mags as long as the springs were good. Like the idea of the new mag body shape (i.e. SVI style) but mine all work in my 9mm major gun and the 40's in the Limited guns. So probably won't be buying any new ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted April 21, 2017 Share Posted April 21, 2017 10 hours ago, Tacticalpanda said: So I'm looking at these http://www.speedshooter.com/product_detail.cfm?id=STI2011MAG-&n=STI-New-Generation-2011-Magazines And then the grams 9mm follower and spring http://www.speedshooter.com/product_detail.cfm?id=FKS-13-&n=Grams-Follower-Kit--STI-SV/SPS-170mm I should be set? No spacer? I've looked ar mbx and might pick one it two up. Yes theoretically if you buy the new style sti mags you won't need a spacer. However these are brand new and not really 'field tested' for reliability yet. The grams kit to use would be the fks-11 with the 140 tubes. The kit you linked is for 170mm tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacticalpanda Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 7 hours ago, BeerBaron said: Yes theoretically if you buy the new style sti mags you won't need a spacer. However these are brand new and not really 'field tested' for reliability yet. The grams kit to use would be the fks-11 with the 140 tubes. The kit you linked is for 170mm tubes. Thanks. Yea meant to link the 140mm but those 4 and 7 are kind of tricky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Ryder Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 I run a 9mm Edge with STI mags and steel spacers. My bullets have an AOL of 1.132 and my gun runs [emoji817] %!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmo412 Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 the OAL doesn't make a difference since the point of the spacers is to get the edge of the case mouth in front of the front rib. you need that width on both ribs to keep the mag from becoming a salt shaker. not saying some people aren't lucky but that's the idea behind the spacers in 9mm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now