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Para 1911 basepads?


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HELP, I just did a sorta dumb thing, I put a magwell on my carry gun (intending to practice with it more by taking it to uspsa matches) and now my mags won't seat correctly.  

 

The gun is a Para Ordinance CCO (commander slide on officers frame), and all of the factory mags have a plastic basepad that comes up high enough that the mag will no longer seat.  I tried grinding one down to fit.... and that did not go so well, and now I have a mag body without a basepad at all.  The problem is I can't just buy different mags because for some reason aftermarket mags (like Wilsons or McCormick) never did latch in correctly (which is why I bought a dozen factory PARA mags).  The problem is the basepad "lips" flare outward rather than inward.  CMC and Wilson pasepads attach differently

 

The only solution I have been able to come up with is the fact that Mec-Gar BUL armory 1911 mags seem to take a similar basepad that is metal and already tapers a bit:

https://www.db-shootingsupplies.com.au/bc-1911-mec-gar-bul-armory-aluminium-magazine-base~139805

The problem is the only US supplier of these things that I can find is CED/DAA, and I don't want to pay almost as much in shipping as for the part itself without even knowing if it will actually work.  

https://www.cedhk.com/1911-bul-mecgar-base-pads-aluminum

 

So, I now have a dilema, Give up, remove the magwell, and just put the broken mag on the bench for parts, pay way too much $$ for one basepad to experiment, or ask on here to see if anyone else has a better solution that I don't know about..

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Possibly.  I have 3 takeoff mag-catches from other guns (added buttons) and none of them will fit into the frame, so I suspect my para is a bit out of spec.  I was trying not to go any *further* down the rabbit hole of home gunsmithing on my carry gun.  Besides, I would still need basepads for my other mags even if I get the Wilson mag to seat...

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Only the Para Branded mags that I have latch in correctly.  My Wilson and CMC mags do not.  This is not my actual gun, but it's similar to this (except this has NORMAL mags...):
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1031376142

 

 

 

What I installed was a generic S&A style magwell.  It took some fitting, but I expected that, and the end result seems identical to the other S&A magwells I have used.  I *thought* I could get away with just trimming enough off the top edge of the magpads to get them to seat.   This was what I tried to do to make them fit... 
https://i.imgur.com/cJH3SOg.jpg

 

Here are pix:
https://imgur.com/a/uVUofhU

 

Edited by barrysuperhawk
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you tried a snadard colt style mag with no pad ? In my SS that has a S & A mag funnel on it, my magazine pads screw on the flat metal base, or glue on..  They only increase the length, they dont stick out the sides.  Those mags with external slide ons like that will never work with a S&A mag funnel.
I also have several Canadian PAra's,, although regular length frames and no mag funnels, but dont recall having any issues using non Para mags... Although I think my other mags are ACT mags,, which seem to look identical to the ones that came with the gun. 
That S&A adds length to the grip, you need longer mags basically.. OR you need old school style colt mags you will have to push up beyond flush... which kinda defeats the point of the funnel.

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Look at the step on the front and compare to your other basepads on the mags that won't lock in.  This is what stops 1911 mags over-inserting and if the new pads are longer there, they won't lock in.

 

Clipboard01step.jpg

 

If that's ok, then strip the basepads off completely and see if the tubes will lock in or not.

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I have one of those CMC mags linked, but just like the Wilson it will not seat correctly.  When I first got the gun, I tried to switch to either of those, but the only ones that latched in were Para factory, so since it was a carry gun, I just bought a bunch of factory mags (that all worked, even with the plastic bumper pictured), before the magwell. 

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