ktm300 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I had 8 Dawson 9mm 1911 magazines. 5 work pretty well, 3 double feed pretty often. To me a double feed is a live round partially out of the chamber and another live round getting pushed underneath it. I called Dawson's tech support and he says to make sure the feed lips are set to the correct width. His numbers are .335 in front and .325 in the back. He says when you drop one with rounds in it the feed lips get spread apart. Kind of makes sense as the ones that are not working were the ones I used the most. I do some looking and yes the ones that double feed are wider at the feed lips than the ones that don't. I have been trying to figure out a way to consistently get them back in spec without something to form the lips with. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gng4life Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Have you looked at their mag tuning kit? There is a lip forming tool in there and helps make it easy work to form the lips back in shape or size. If you wanted to make your own, I can send the measurements and size of the tool and if you pretty handy, maybe you can make the part yourself if you don't need the whole kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I had the same problem with many of my Dawson 9mm mags. Fixing the feed lips helped on some of them. Their mag tuning kit is made for 2011 mags, not single stack mags. They did sell a kit, that was made for those special 10 rd 2011 mags, which internally are like a single stack mag. But I don't know if they still sell them. I borrowed a friends, and use it for my mags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam B Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 how long are you loading your ammo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 how long are you loading your ammo? From memory 1.15. it gets pretty close to the front of the mag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 I had the same problem with many of my Dawson 9mm mags. Fixing the feed lips helped on some of them. Their mag tuning kit is made for 2011 mags, not single stack mags. They did sell a kit, that was made for those special 10 rd 2011 mags, which internally are like a single stack mag. But I don't know if they still sell them. I borrowed a friends, and use it for my mags. From your post are you saying you couldn't get some of them to work? What did you end up using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 So I called Dawson to talk about the mags. I have an RMA for the ones that don't work. Amazing Customer Service, what a concept! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I sent back 2 mags for warranty replacement. On one, the feed lips were not straight, but somewhat wavy, so it was impossible to get them right. Plus the follower was dragging on the inside of the mag body, about halfway down. So I suspect, when it did happen, there was light spring tension on the top round, causing it to come loose out of the mag. It literally always was the 3rd or 4th round in the mag that it would double feed. I will say that all my mags were bought about 1 year ago, during the buying frenzy that took place beginning of last year. And the quality of all the mags I bought from them, seemed to be less than desirable. The replacement mags I received today, appear so much better in quality. I guess there was a time when Dawson was trying to fulfill the crazy demand for mags, that their quality suffered somewhat. But it looks like they are back to producing top quality mags again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Nice to hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 As a follow up, I shot a match today using the new mags I bought, plus the ones Dawson sent me to replace the faulty ones. Zero malfunctions, double feeds, etc. Seems like they got it fixed with their faulty mags of the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm300 Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 I sent 9 back and kept the 7 with the best feed lip measurements. I shot a match yesterday and had zero malfunctions as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted June 8, 2015 Share Posted June 8, 2015 Amazing how such a major QC failure on their part, and only by hearing from others, do we find out about it. I'm just glad to find out that others had the same issues. And it wasn't my imagination that something was wrong with the gun itself. I reworked and polished almost every possible thing on it; feed ramp, chamber edges, extractor, breachface, etc. The gun is so smooth and reliable feeding, I can literally load a mag full of empty brass, and cycle them through the gun with no problems. But I always got that double feed issue. Glad I(we) finally found the underlying cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Hello: I am not having double feed problems but the last couple of rounds jamming in the tubes. I do load long to 1.170" OAL for 9mm and think that may be the problem. Anyone remove the spacer and try them without the spacer? Was thinking of changing out the follower to one for a 40. My other mags are working great at this overall length so I want to stick with that length. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPENB Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 That is a nice feature with these mags, that the spacer isn't tack welded in place. Try it and let us know if it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Hello: I think I will try it tomorrow or Friday. I may end up loading a little shorter to 1.150" OAL but I am really liking the groups I am getting with the longer length and 121's. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TANFARM Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 I purchsed Dawson's mag tuning kit....here's my review. I have 10 9mm STI mags with Dawson guts and factory base pads. Slowly replacing them with Dawson metal pads. The kit has everything you need to maintain your mags......watch Daves video at least 2 times before proceeding. It all make perfect sense!!!!.....of my 10 mags...2 were within spec. My understanding is the lip measurements mentioned in a prior post are NOT correct for a 9mm mag. I'm loading my 9's at COL of 1.15". Anyway the actual forming of the lips takes some practice..but if you close them a little to much the pliers are great for final adjustments. I cleaned and polished the mags, replaced and "trained" the springs as suggested. Unfortunately I ran out of new followers ...but I will replace them all next week. Some of the magazines were a bit€£ to remove from the forming tool..I used a little silicone spray to help lube it. It was an interesting side note about Daves theory about "training " your new springs. After completion all the mags , except one, preformed perfectly. One stubborn mag will not hold slide in lock when empty. I hope this is an old follower problem. Sorry for rambling on.....but I found using his kit an interesting and rewarding experience. The video is excellent and a must see before attempting the actual tuning...........money well spent. Thanks to all that contribute to this site !!!!!!.....Happy Holidays....and be safe!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kozy Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 I purchsed Dawson's mag tuning kit....here's my review. I have 10 9mm STI mags with Dawson guts and factory base pads. Slowly replacing them with Dawson metal pads. The kit has everything you need to maintain your mags......watch Daves video at least 2 times before proceeding. It all make perfect sense!!!!.....of my 10 mags...2 were within spec. My understanding is the lip measurements mentioned in a prior post are NOT correct for a 9mm mag. I'm loading my 9's at COL of 1.15". Anyway the actual forming of the lips takes some practice..but if you close them a little to much the pliers are great for final adjustments. I cleaned and polished the mags, replaced and "trained" the springs as suggested. Unfortunately I ran out of new followers ...but I will replace them all next week. Some of the magazines were a bit€£ to remove from the forming tool..I used a little silicone spray to help lube it. It was an interesting side note about Daves theory about "training " your new springs. After completion all the mags , except one, preformed perfectly. One stubborn mag will not hold slide in lock when empty. I hope this is an old follower problem. Sorry for rambling on.....but I found using his kit an interesting and rewarding experience. The video is excellent and a must see before attempting the actual tuning...........money well spent. Thanks to all that contribute to this site !!!!!!.....Happy Holidays....and be safe!!!!!!! you purchased Dawson's kit for 2011, correct? I didnt think they offered a kit for single stack????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TANFARM Posted December 9, 2015 Share Posted December 9, 2015 My apologies!!.......in my golden years I can't distinguish between 1911 and 2011.......All my success stories were with a 140 9mm 2011 magazine.......forget everything I said...........Except Happy Hoildays...Christmas is this month isn't it ????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kozy Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 My apologies!!.......in my golden years I can't distinguish between 1911 and 2011.......All my success stories were with a 140 9mm 2011 magazine.......forget everything I said...........Except Happy Hoildays...Christmas is this month isn't it ????? LOL, Merry Xmas to you as well. May have to email Dave Dawson and see if he has anything in the works for SS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFromAus Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 I recently got the 2011 tune kit by Dawson I have the 10round factory STI mags worked a treat, here is the dimension of the feed lip tool that slides inside the mag. Maybe measure your 1911 and see if they will slide in. The main bar is .500 wide and machined down to .480 for 1.950 where the lips are formed it has a nylon block on it to keep it in the mad and it is 1.285. So if your mags are 1.285 X .500 then it should fit. Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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