Thoughts on Single Stack Magwell's etc...

[vernbo]

Here's one I bought on ebay last year.

It’s a weld-on don't know what brand , does anyone know the manufacture?

[Flexmoney]

Vern, do you have a picture of the inside of that suck-hole ? Good looking application...smooth.

[vernbo]

I do now

[Merlin Orr]

Thought they might be Heinie's.. but not... Close but no cigar.

Heinie magwells

Edited December 11, 2007 by Merlin Orr

[Flexmoney]

Thanks for the shot of the business end. Must be some good steel, as it isn't dinged up at all.

[Steve J]

Anyone with an oversized magwell with a closed front needs to make sure they still have gripping surface on the magazine base pad (if it will fit in the box which is doubtfull). I've seen at least three shooters with the SVI sized magwell with a closed front give up and quit when they had a FTE with a hard double feed. As hard as that is to clear, if you have to push the magazine out through the top? Well, enough said.

[Tom Freeman]

It’s a weld-on don't know what brand , does anyone know the manufacture?

Extreme Engineering made/makes it. I have a old frame with one, but I like my Heinie weld/bolt ons more.

[G-ManBart]

Anyone with an oversized magwell with a closed front needs to make sure they still have gripping surface on the magazine base pad (if it will fit in the box which is doubtfull). I've seen at least three shooters with the SVI sized magwell with a closed front give up and quit when they had a FTE with a hard double feed. As hard as that is to clear, if you have to push the magazine out through the top? Well, enough said.

I wonder if that's why TGO opened up the front of his Techwell magwell?....makes sense anyway.

[1911vm]

Any links to Techwell magwell I cannot find it. Thanks

[Catfish]

I picked mine up from the USSA guys at nationals. If you can't find one through Techwear's website, you might try to talk to the gunsmith's at the USSA.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Catfish

[Rocket35]

Any links to Techwell magwell I cannot find it. Thanks

http://www.techwearusa.com/techwell_system.asp

[zhunter]

OK, after some extensive testing....

I am sticking with the SV Magwell. I don't think it is faster to reload, but IS better for the grip on the draw and after a reload!!!

As for Magazines, I LOVE the new Tripp Magazines with the Hybrid follower. I had concerns about seating them 100% with the SV magwell, but they have been 100% reliable and the reloads are 100% too!!!

So, I am closing the book on this testing.

SV magwell and Tripp Mags!!!

[Pdoyle]

Zhunter,

That sounds like a recipe I can chew on. That is what I run too.

pat

[want2race]

In planning my SS build I can't decide on Caspian race frame or just an add on mag well.

I aim for the back and let the mag slide in, therefore the back of the mag well is more important than the front. I just need to get a close up of the race frame from the mag's eye view.

I've had good luck with heavily blended SA's but there's always a better mouse trap.

[zhunter]

Read this thread, I did the testing for you!!!

[Steve J]

In planning my SS build I can't decide on Caspian race frame or just an add on mag well.

I aim for the back and let the mag slide in, therefore the back of the mag well is more important than the front. I just need to get a close up of the race frame from the mag's eye view.

I've had good luck with heavily blended SA's but there's always a better mouse trap.

From Appendix D5, page 77:

Special conditions:

— Only 1911 production type pistols. Must be available to the general public

and have their basis in the original 1911 service pistol as designed by John

M. Browning. Pistols made from components that duplicate the factory

originals are acceptable. Frames must be metal.

The Caspian Race Ready frame does not meet the criterion "components that duplicate factory originals."

Edited January 8, 2008 by Steve J

[Merlin Orr]

In planning my SS build I can't decide on Caspian race frame or just an add on mag well.

I aim for the back and let the mag slide in, therefore the back of the mag well is more important than the front. I just need to get a close up of the race frame from the mag's eye view.

I've had good luck with heavily blended SA's but there's always a better mouse trap.

From Appendix D5, page 77:

Special conditions:

— Only 1911 production type pistols. Must be available to the general public

and have their basis in the original 1911 service pistol as designed by John

M. Browning. Pistols made from components that duplicate the factory

originals are acceptable. Frames must be metal.

The Caspian Race Ready frame does not meet the criterion "components that duplicate factory originals."

Steve... I THINK they are OK....

[steel1212]

Here is the reason I didn't get a SVI or Techwell...Oh and want2race did this one as well. Pics suck but work is GRRRRREAT!

[jasmap]

In planning my SS build I can't decide on Caspian race frame or just an add on mag well.

I aim for the back and let the mag slide in, therefore the back of the mag well is more important than the front. I just need to get a close up of the race frame from the mag's eye view.

I've had good luck with heavily blended SA's but there's always a better mouse trap.

From Appendix D5, page 77:

Special conditions:

— Only 1911 production type pistols. Must be available to the general public

and have their basis in the original 1911 service pistol as designed by John

M. Browning. Pistols made from components that duplicate the factory

originals are acceptable. Frames must be metal.

The Caspian Race Ready frame does not meet the criterion "components that duplicate factory originals."

I'll have to agree with Merlin. I'm pretty dang sure the Caspian Race Ready frame is legal.

[Alaskapopo]

History has a way of repeating certain things.

I am glad this time is the 1911 thing.

When we started this thing called IPSC. We had these pistols we called "Colt .45's". Later on when "aftermarketeers" came about we started calling them 1911's. It still sounds strange to me. I remember a friend who had a "Colt .45 in 9mm", and another one who had it in this weird caliber: ".38 Auto". Magazine capacity was 7+1. Yes, we had to reload, and do it as fast as we could too.

Initially we beveled the mag well opening, and that helped the lips hanging/grabbing on them. Some guys started doing something real nasty: they started physically "wedging" the opening, deforming the mag opening into more of a funnel. It was ugly and you needed to whittle the grips to fit, but it worked. I came up with the drastic idea of using a TIG welder to deposit molten metal in the front strap and around the mag well, and after it cooled of I would hand grind and shape that extra metal into front strap finger grooves and a perfectly "funneled", wider mag entry well. Now we were in shooter's heaven. Later on Smith & Alexander brought in their mainspring housings with a mag well attached. The inside of the S&A's did not have the funnel in front and the mouth was not as wide as my welded design, but it was a good compromised readily available over the counter, that you could install and were good to go, even if they were heavier. Caspian later on also came with a nice frame with a built in mag well, which is still available this day.

There were no wide bodies to get us "distracted". It was just good ole' 1911's, and in .45 ACP. We found ways to make them work and like "ZHunter" we practiced, practiced, practiced, and them more practice those mag changes. Learned a few tricks and facts along the way. As "ZHunter" illustrated, it is a long "skinny" ride up that grip. Inserting a mag angled from either side or the rear does not work, and deforms the lips, untill you learn to train your muscle/memory to align/angle from the front, against the mainspring housing and straighten it as you shove it right up. Sometimes we cut a little bit off the bottom of the grip, leaving a small gap (about the same as the front notch of the front strap), and that would help seating the mags fully on the run. The insertion routine was not that different than the one used for the wide body gun nowadays, but it is not tolerant at all with slight side insertion. It was/is a practice of approaching the grip's opening in a straight line at a slight angle, aiming the back stripe of your mag at the lower inside point of you mainspring housing, making sure the bullet nose cleared the front strap, then from there a quick shove as the hand's palmtook the small slight upwards turn. Practice it several thousand times, looking at it, with your eyes closed, overhead, behind your back, etc. untill the darn thing goes in like a guided missile. Take the freaking mag well off, and practice without it untill you can confidently score every time, then put it back on, when you don't really need it anymore. Hey, they do look cute.

As for mags, I would seriously take a look at those Tripp, or the Novak/Act-Mags. Personally I am starting to love the ease of disassembly/cleaning/reassembly of those Novak/Act-Mags.

I have found that a mag well on my Wilson CQB has helped my reloads a bit. As for Act mags be careful. I used to use them. I used them for months (6 mags) used as IDPA mags only. Anyway they all developed feed ramp cracks. I am really impressed with Wilson's new ETM mag.

[Aristotle]

tagging.

[Bear23]

I like the S&A best. I see no use for a large magwell on a single stack gun, plus they look ugly. Practice, practice, practice. Looking the mag into the gun is the only guarantee its going to get where it belongs.

[zhunter]

Bear, If you read all of my posts in this thread, you will see that I don't use the SV for reloading, but rather for the grip indexing both on the draw and the reload.

ZH

[want2race]

For grip indexing, I couldn't agree more. That's the best part about the ICE on my Ltd gun.

I would think that Caspian being a manufacturer would nullify that arguement. They are available to the public. One could also argue that the SA magwell is not within Brownings original design.

Thank you for that though, now I will have to get an "official SS class" ruling.

[zhunter]

OK, this seems to be an evolving equipment commentary on my part in the quest to get everything perfect, so....

Here is the latest:

WSSS weighed guns at the Chrono stage Yep!!! And the rule is 43 oz.

Mine was a "little close" so I made a few changes.

I went to see Derek at Millennium yesterday as I wanted to loose some weight.

Remember, I am not up on the names of all of this stuff, so bear with me

My grips are G10 material, and were deemed to be heavy

My SV magwell and mainspring housing are NOT aluminum, so they were deemed to be heavy

The Caspian frame IS a bit heavy. Derek had previously cut out under the grip of another customers gun, only to eliminate 0.4 oz, so I needed another option.

The first thing we did was grab an aluminum Techwell magwell, Competition Model. Looks VERY similar to the SV, but, after installation, NO way it was gonna fit in the box, besides, the basepad of the magazine was UP inside the magwell. NOT an option.

note: the Techwell sits on the bottom of the frame, whereas half of the SV magwell fits up onto the frame.

So next we got the smaller Techwell version, same if not nearly the same size opening, and much shallower to fit the box.

Next was the mainspring, housing, I put on a Stainless Mainspring housing.

Overall weight loss was 2.7 oz

YES, my gun now makes weight with all the internal parts assembled. I get a lot more confidence with the guide rod installed.

OK, that is the latest