1911 40SW Minor

[cheby]

I am trying to get my DW 1911 running with 40sw minor loads. So far it doesn’t when the Tripp mags fully  loaded to 10+1. It just too tight. The gun runs without any issues with 40 major (my Limited ammo) with the same mags.  I tried different recoil springs. It helped a little but didn’t make it 100% reliable. Perhaps I have to load my minor ammo a little hotter ( 145?) Many people who experimented with this issue told me that it’s not worth it and I just should get a 9mm 1911 if I want to shoot SS minor. SS is a not my main ( or even second) division so I don’t want to invest heavily. If It doesn’t work I will just shoot SS major.

What is the consensus? 

Edited September 15, 2022 by cheby

[Joe4d]

I never got Tripp mags to run in my 40 SS,,, I shot it major in HI, 10 round land, and minor on mainland usually IDPA...
I did 2 things,,, loaded to 1.150 and used Chip McCormick 10mm 10 round mags..
And realized I was better off with 9 plus 1 for IDPA at the time any ways. 
Question is there a mag length limit in USPSA SS ?  I have  extended 10 round 40's, not as long as the 10 round 45's but a bit longer,, probably wont work with the box rule though. Didnt use to matter with single stack mags. 

[Postal Bob]

.40 Tripp mags are very tight when loaded to 10. It's just the way they are.  Loaded to 8, or 9 for the first mag, they run great. 

I have a minor load for for .40 at 135 PF, and the gun runs great with it, just not with the mags loaded to 10. So I just use the minor load for IDPA shooting(ESP), and load all mags to 9.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Postal Bob

[motosapiens]

i would advise manning up and shooting 40 major. I'm sure there are actually people who can get 10 rd mags to run reliably in 40, but all the ones who claim that seem to finally admit that they only have 1 or 2 malfunctions per match.

 

My sti 40 has never malfunctioned with 8 rounds in a mag,  but it occasionally chokes the first round if I put 9 in. so put 8 in and act like a grown man.

[cheby]

24 minutes ago, motosapiens said:

i would advise manning up and shooting 40 major. I'm sure there are actually people who can get 10 rd mags to run reliably in 40, but all the ones who claim that seem to finally admit that they only have 1 or 2 malfunctions per match.

 

My sti 40 has never malfunctioned with 8 rounds in a mag,  but it occasionally chokes the first round if I put 9 in. so put 8 in and act like a grown man.

I have no issue with shooting SS major. There are some matches, however, where having 10rds is beneficial. So I just wanted to have an opinion. No big deal if I don’t.

[cheby]

48 minutes ago, Postal Bob said:

I have a minor load for for .40 at 135 PF, and the gun runs great with it, just not with the mags loaded to 10. 

That’s my experience as well. If the gun doesn’t run with mags loaded to 10, there is no use for it in USPSA though. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by cheby

[zzt]

I have trouble with 10-round anything in a 1911.  For 9mm I finally got them to work by leaving them fully loaded for weeks.  That finally set the springs enough the first round doesn't nose drop.  They all run 100% now.

 

In 45 I could never get my older Wilson 10-round mags to work and be reloadable until I switched the follower for a concave ETM follower.  Problem solved.  I can't get the new style Wilsons to work at all.

 

Load to 140~144PF.  I found that to shoot reliably with the same springing as my 172PF load.  Leave your mags fully loaded for a couple weeks and see if that helps.  As far as getting a 9mm to shoot SS minor, baloney.  40sw at 144PF is softer than 9mm.

[cheby]

18 minutes ago, zzt said:

40sw at 144PF is softer than 9mm.

I agree with that 

[jt1207]

3 hours ago, motosapiens said:

i would advise manning up and shooting 40 major. I'm sure there are actually people who can get 10 rd mags to run reliably in 40, but all the ones who claim that seem to finally admit that they only have 1 or 2 malfunctions per match.

 

My sti 40 has never malfunctioned with 8 rounds in a mag,  but it occasionally chokes the first round if I put 9 in. so put 8 in and act like a grown man.

Great post

[cheby]

3 hours ago, jt1207 said:

Great post

To my surprise, it looks like I need to clarify what we are talking about here.

1. The goal is not to avoid shooting major PF ammo. Limited is my main division. That is why I got a SS in 40SW - so I could shoot the same ammo

2. Similarly, the goal is not to get it running with 40SW minor. It runs just fine if I load less than 10rd in the mags. The issue is how to get it running with 10rd mags while fitting the USPSA box and loaded to capacity.

3. The goal is to be able to switch between major and minor depending on the match design and take advantage between 10rd minor vs 8rd major.

Sorry I assumed this was obvious. 

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by cheby

[motosapiens]

29 minutes ago, cheby said:

 

3. The goal is to be able to switch between major and minor depending on the match design and take advantage between 10rd minor vs 8rd major.

Sorry I assumed this was obvious. 

 

that actually was obvious, but i have yet to see someone successfully run 10 rd 40 minor in short mags. i know a guy who shoots L10 in 40, using longer mags, but he still has more than zero malfunctions. im sure there is some voodoo to make it work tho, so i’m following this topic with interest.

[RangerTrace]

I've only had one single stack .40 and it was an Infinity.  Never could get it to load the first round of a full mag reliably unless I used +power springs on the WC 10mm mags.  47NX IIRC, which brought me to 9 or 8 rounds.  It's been too long.  I sold that PITA pistol.

[Joe4d]

Doesnt look like the mags I used are on the market any longer.. They ran 10 +1 with factory American eagle 165's  about 170 pf, as what I could get in HI ,, Dont recall ever having an issue, Shot it in IPSC standard couple times a month for about 2 years..  Uncertain if they will make box. They were longer but not by alot,, IIRC maybe about as long as a regular 1911 mag with a healthy base pad.    All I have noticed is Tripps,,, which didnt work at all.
I will say when I shot the gun at minor , my 40 minor loads were always exactly the same powder, length, die settings everything. All I did was change from a 180 for major, to a 155 of the same brand and shape.  So was probably 145 ish PF. 
If your gun is running at major,, might be something as simple as just letting it lap in some and the mags springs taking a bit of set. 
Also do you have a spare Mag release ? If you have a spare to play with, take a hair off the top so your mag sits just a hair lower...
In the grand scheme,,, it wasnt all that long ago people were chucking 8 round 45 mags over the berm, seem pretty standard these days

[zzt]

15 hours ago, motosapiens said:

but i have yet to see someone successfully run 10 rd 40 minor in short mags

 

Don't know if this is still the case.  At one time you could call Virgil Tripp and order 1911 10-round 40sw mags that fit the box and ran 100%.  I know for two reasons.  First, I asked him about that when I was considering it.  Second, I knew a shooter who used them with 100% reliability.  I can tell you that if you order them from the web site without talking to Virgil, they won't run 10 rounds.

 

 

[motosapiens]

35 minutes ago, zzt said:

 

Don't know if this is still the case.  At one time you could call Virgil Tripp and order 1911 10-round 40sw mags that fit the box and ran 100%.  I know for two reasons.  First, I asked him about that when I was considering it.  Second, I knew a shooter who used them with 100% reliability.  I can tell you that if you order them from the web site without talking to Virgil, they won't run 10 rounds.

 

 

I totally believe that they will run 100%, and I totally believe that virgil believes they will run 100%, but so far every person I've ever talked to who ran 10-round 40 in short mags has admitted that they don't actually run 100%. It's like some people think 99% means 100% or something......

Edited September 16, 2022 by motosapiens

[Racinready300ex]

My 40 ran 100% with 10 round mags. But...it took a while to get it working. 8 was easy. 9 got a little tricky but 10 was a bitch. I ended up saying screw it I'm doing something crazy and welded up the feed ramp and reshaped it myself so it would feed. 

 

 

[waterboy]

I use the Tripp 10 rounders with 40 minor and haven't had any issues yet. My minor load is a 200gr zero bullet right around 145pf. Shoots softer than any 9mm 1911 I've ever shot. I am using a 14lb recoil spring.

[CHARLES D]

My STI Trojan will run 10 rd mags with no problem. I talked to Aaron at Tripp and he set me up. If my memory is correct you need to ask for Tripp Corey Mags. I don’t believe they show them on their web site. 

[MikeRussell]

I've never had a mag issue using the Tripp 10rnd mags...

10R-10mm-SM - Tripp Research, Inc. (trippresearchinc.com)

 

I use a Sig 1911Max in .40, load to 1.180in, and just swap recoil springs when I go from Major to Minor (and vice versa). I shoot the gun in USPSA SS and IDPA ESP.

[cheby]

1 hour ago, MikeRussell said:

I've never had a mag issue using the Tripp 10rnd mags...

10R-10mm-SM - Tripp Research, Inc. (trippresearchinc.com)

 

I use a Sig 1911Max in .40, load to 1.180in, and just swap recoil springs when I go from Major to Minor (and vice versa). I shoot the gun in USPSA SS and IDPA ESP.

Those mags are the ones I got.

What recoil springs do you have for major and minor?

[MikeRussell]

9 hours ago, cheby said:

Those mags are the ones I got.

What recoil springs do you have for major and minor?

 

IIRC, it's an 11-12# for minor and a 16# for major. I've got it written down somewhere in my reloading room. I typically leave it set up for minor (ESP), because 95% of the time I'm shooting Limited. 

[JayDee]

I have two DW 1911s in 40 and they both run Tripp 10mm mags just fine. I ordered the 10 round 10mm Hybrids that have the front edge of the base pad ground to fit in the box. Major Ammo is 180 blue RNFP 1.15”. Minor ammo is 155 Berry same OAL and charge. 
 

I used to have the issue the OP mentions with <100% reliability when loaded to 10 in my 9mm running Wilson ETM mags with Dawson base pads. They would run great with 9 but not always with 10 which were crazy tight. I clipped a single coil from the mag spring and the issue went away. 
 

also, the OP doesn’t state if the minor load is the exact same bullet and OAL. If it is not, then bullet profile, OAL could be at fault. 

[cheby]

45 minutes ago, JayDee said:

I have two DW 1911s in 40 and they both run Tripp 10mm mags just fine. I ordered the 10 round 10mm Hybrids that have the front edge of the base pad ground to fit in the box. Major Ammo is 180 blue RNFP 1.15”. Minor ammo is 155 Berry same OAL and charge. 
 

I used to have the issue the OP mentions with <100% reliability when loaded to 10 in my 9mm running Wilson ETM mags with Dawson base pads. They would run great with 9 but not always with 10 which were crazy tight. I clipped a single coil from the mag spring and the issue went away. 
 

also, the OP doesn’t state if the minor load is the exact same bullet and OAL. If it is not, then bullet profile, OAL could be at fault. 

My minor ammo is 165 blue bullets. 1.180 OAL. Major is 180gr blue bullets. The charge is not the same. My major ammo is around 175pf. Minor- 130pf. If you load 155 gr bullets with the same powder charge as major, I am pretty sure your PF is around 145pf. Perhaps higher. At this point I am pretty sure that the way to run minor with 10rd mags is to load it to at least 145PF. I have not tried that yet. Clipping a coil from the mag springs could be also something worth trying but I am reluctant to do that.

Edited September 24, 2022 by cheby

[JayDee]

Maybe increase the charge under your 165s to see if that is the issue and/or eliminate that the 165s feed any different than 180s. Different recoil spring? My minor load tracks the sights best with 10#. PF 131. 

[cheby]

9 minutes ago, JayDee said:

My minor load tracks the sights best with 10#. PF 131. 

So do your guns run with minor ammo loaded to 131 PF?