Making .357 Sig work in a 1911 magazine

[Joe.Lamb]

Hey folks. I need some help.

I've got one of the oddball Colt Series 80s that was made in .40 S&W. The barrel had a world of slop in it when I bought it used, and so of course I bought a new barrel from Bar-Sto. The mistake I made was ordering a barrel in .357 Sig.

I had hoped that the factory-supplied .40 magazines would work, but the feed lips were too short to hold the necked-down .357 Sig cartridge, and so the rounds beneath the one going into battery would work their way forward and hop out of the magazine during the firing cycle.

I got a pair of Wilson Combat .40 magazines hoping that I could get .357 Sig to work. The feed lips were longer and would support the round, so that problem was solved. However, the problem with the Wilson Combat magazines is the angle that the .357 Sig rounds are held in the magazine. The cartridge held against the feed lips is at a much more "nose-up" angle than the cartridge resting beneath it. This causes the rim of the top cartridge to interlock with the extractor groove of the cartridge beneath it. When the slide moves forward to strip the top cartridge out of the magazine, the cartridge rim stays "locked" with the extractor groove of the round beneath it, resulting in the round nosediving into the feed ramp at about a ninety-degree angle, a FTF failure and a non-reusable cartridge with the bullet pressed into the case. The cartridge held against the follower is similarly at a nose-down angle in comparison to the rounds above it.

So the cartridge at the bottom is nose-down, the cartridge at the top is nose-up, and the cartridges in the middle are all oriented about halfway between these two angles.

What I'm going to try is building up a thin layer of JB Weld on the magazine follower and then using a rotary tool to sculpt a new, and hopefully correct, follower angle that will hold the cartridges at a uniform angle up through the magazine to the round held against the feed lips. Stands to reason that this should work.

It seems like a simple process, but I've spent tinkered with guns enough to know that it saves a lot of time and frustration to ask more experienced shooters for their opinion. Do you folks think this might work? Is it futile (i.e. is the problem more likely with the angle of the feed lips?). Is there anything that I need to watch out for if I decide to go with the JB Weld operation? Is there anything else I should do other than tinker with the mag follower? I would appreciate any advice that you folks could give.

Thanks,

Joe Lamb

BTW — I'm not interested in just sending the Wilson Combat magazines back for a sissy refund. Here in Arkansas, we tend to make our things work.

[DyNo!]

Can you get a 2011 frame and 40 cal magazines?

I'd love to have a 357 Sig but there's no freaking way I'd trim pistol brass to reload for it. :/

[Joe4d]

the feed lips are gonna control the angle of the top round, I dont think adding material to the follower will help. maybe cut your losses and find a deal on a 40 barrel.

[superdude]

Hey folks. I need some help.

I've got one of the oddball Colt Series 80s that was made in .40 S&W. The barrel had a world of slop in it when I bought it used, and so of course I bought a new barrel from Bar-Sto. The mistake I made was ordering a barrel in .357 Sig.

I had hoped that the factory-supplied .40 magazines would work, but the feed lips were too short to hold the necked-down .357 Sig cartridge, and so the rounds beneath the one going into battery would work their way forward and hop out of the magazine during the firing cycle.

I got a pair of Wilson Combat .40 magazines hoping that I could get .357 Sig to work. The feed lips were longer and would support the round, so that problem was solved. However, the problem with the Wilson Combat magazines is the angle that the .357 Sig rounds are held in the magazine. The cartridge held against the feed lips is at a much more "nose-up" angle than the cartridge resting beneath it. This causes the rim of the top cartridge to interlock with the extractor groove of the cartridge beneath it. When the slide moves forward to strip the top cartridge out of the magazine, the cartridge rim stays "locked" with the extractor groove of the round beneath it, resulting in the round nosediving into the feed ramp at about a ninety-degree angle, a FTF failure and a non-reusable cartridge with the bullet pressed into the case. The cartridge held against the follower is similarly at a nose-down angle in comparison to the rounds above it.

So the cartridge at the bottom is nose-down, the cartridge at the top is nose-up, and the cartridges in the middle are all oriented about halfway between these two angles.

What I'm going to try is building up a thin layer of JB Weld on the magazine follower and then using a rotary tool to sculpt a new, and hopefully correct, follower angle that will hold the cartridges at a uniform angle up through the magazine to the round held against the feed lips. Stands to reason that this should work. no it won't.

It seems like a simple process, but I've spent tinkered with guns enough to know that it saves a lot of time and frustration to ask more experienced shooters for their opinion. Do you folks think this might work? no Is it futile yes (i.e. is the problem more likely with the angle of the feed lips? no ). Is there anything that I need to watch out for if I decide to go with the JB Weld operation? Is there anything else I should do other than tinker with the mag follower? I would appreciate any advice that you folks could give. don't waste your precious time.

Thanks,

Joe Lamb

BTW — I'm not interested in just sending the Wilson Combat magazines back for a sissy refund. it's not the magazine. all brands suffer from the same problem. Here in Arkansas, we tend to make our things work.

the feed lips are gonna control the angle of the top round,actually they have little impact, and only on a couple of rounds at most. I dont think adding material to the follower will help. maybe cut your losses and find a deal on a 40 barrel.

sorry to sound so negative. nosedive is an inherent problem with single stack magazines. there are many, many posts on this subject. do a search.

do this: load the magazine with a non-bottleneck cartridge (because it's more obvious). watch for the appearance of a gap between the top round and the one under it as you load more rounds. at some point it will appear. this nosedive gap is what allows the cartridge to nosedive. this happens with all calibers. follower design can affect when and how big the gap is but only up to a point. in the 45 ACP, for example, once you get to 7-8 rounds the gap is the same for all follower designs.

we assume the feed lips guide the angle of the feeding round. it ain't so. if they did, nosedive would never occur.