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Limited mags, how many rounds?


G-ManBart

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How many rounds are you getting in your Limited gun magazines....not magazines, plus one in the chamber.

Feel free to add what parts you're using as well.

I have a mixture of mags and I expect I'll get 22 in my new tubes after they're tuned, but for right now my max is 21 rounds. RHT tubes, Grams 2.5mm pad, Grams spring and follower. I'll be switching those to Bolen once I get around to it and when I build some SV based mags.

Edited by Flexmoney
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SV tube, Dawson SNL, Bolens internals 21 no problem. All but the last round will go in without a fight. It CAN hold 22, but it feels like its gonna explode.

STI tube, same everything else will take 20 EASY. I have a couple that will take 21 but I don't based on counsel from HSMITH. I have 2 more SV tubes on the brown truck...

All make the Gauge.

Edited by Seth
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I run STI tubes, SNL pads, Grams springs and followers in my 99% of the time mags with a reloadable 20 but can't get 21. In my need more rounds mags I use SVI tubes, SNL pads, and Bolens springs and followers and get a reloadable 21 and can't get 22.

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SV tubes with bolen followers and springs. 21 reloadable. but i keep them at 20 for easier reloading during a stage. At the start i go 21+1.

Not happy with the longevity of the bolen springs.

Bear,

i thought that ISMI made the springs fro him and they last longer than other springs

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21 easy reloading and snug 22 in some of my SV mags, all Bolen parts. The rest of the SV are 21 easy and 22 tight. 22 easy reloading in Rescomp tubes, all Bolen parts, but the mags don't last. A couple easy 21 round STI mags, all Bolen parts, some 20 round with mixed parts and some 19 round with mixed parts. My mags are an assortment of more or less stock to very fancy and everything in between. NONE of my mags require short loading for capacity.

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SV tubes with bolen followers and springs. 21 reloadable. but i keep them at 20 for easier reloading during a stage. At the start i go 21+1.

Not happy with the longevity of the bolen springs.

Bear,

i thought that ISMI made the springs fro him and they last longer than other springs

they don't last as long as the grams. I ran the bolens this past season. by the area II match my springs were about the height of a leprechaun, and slow in feeding. I had to change springs prior to that match. Now my mags were used alot.

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SV tubes with bolen followers and springs. 21 reloadable. but i keep them at 20 for easier reloading during a stage. At the start i go 21+1.

Not happy with the longevity of the bolen springs.

Bear,

i thought that ISMI made the springs fro him and they last longer than other springs

they don't last as long as the grams. I ran the bolens this past season. by the area II match my springs were about the height of a leprechaun, and slow in feeding. I had to change springs prior to that match. Now my mags were used alot.

ill check out mine after a few thous just to be sure thanks :cheers:

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I have found the Bolen springs to give great life, much better than any other spring other than standard ISMI springs in my mags. I have a couple 22 round 40/140 SV mags, that is truly a SEVERE application for a spring, and 40+ loadings later are still working great. In the first three loadings they get shorter by about a coil and a half and seem to stay there forever. I have only used two to the point that they were replaced, one in a big stick that gets used all the time in a severe duty application and one that I use to test load mags. The test load spring was one of the prototypes John sent me and it had way over 150 loadings on it, and I was using in my match mags all along. I had a clunky last round feed with it and replaced it, it never stopped feeding the top 20 rounds. The standard ISMI springs with Dawson followers last forever, I used the same springs for a couple years and they STILL work great. I have not been able to find out where they fail, they just keep on ticking. 19 rounds is all the mags will take but 19 reliable is fine too.

Trace, the SPS mags won't load to full capacity if the ammo is over about 1.165" OAL depending on bullet shape. Could need to be a little shorter, could be a little longer, but the loads need to be much shorter than I prefer and recommend. The 1911 and 2011 are designed around a 1.250" OAL, running the gun closer to the window of what it was designed for is better than not IMO. STI and SV mags have no length restrictions, most will run ammo at 1.26" and load to full capacity with ammo that long.

As far as capacity goes 19 reliable is far and away better than anything that isn't a thousand percent reliable and will cover 90% or more of the shooting we do. Reliability is vastly more important than capacity.

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I have 4 STI 140mm .40 mags, non tuned with Dawson + 1 basepads and dawson followers and can only get 18 reloadable in 2 of them and 19 reloadable in the other 2.

If I use a bolen follower and spring I can get 20 reloadable in one of the 2 that holds 19.

I tried a RHT mag tube with a bolen spring and follower and, while I was able to cram 22 into it, it only clicked in reliably at 20 rounds.

I recently ordered 2 tuned mags from Gram's that are supposed to be 21 reloadable.

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GLOCK mags with Grams basepads and mild follower filing gives me 20 rounds, but that is a bear to reload on the run. That setup is only for the beginning of the stage, along with the Barney round in the chamber. 19 is easy.

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FWIW. I only load the mag to 20 + 1 rounds to start and all other mags on my belt I load 19. All mags are a reloadable 20 rounds but I don't think you need to reload with a 20 round mag 19 is enough for the second mag in a stage.

BK

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FWIW. I only load the mag to 20 + 1 rounds to start

Ah, you load the gun to 20+1 right? If you loaded the mag to 20+1 it would be 21.

No dig on you, but I have no idea why people say "this is a 20+1 mag". No, it's a 20-round mag. The round in the chamber has nothing at all to do with the mag. When talking about the gun, that's fine, but this is why in my first post I said, let's avoid the +1 issue ;)

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I voted 21 rounds because of most of my mags are OEM STI with Dawson SNL pads and Bolen guts. My Rescomp mag will get 22 with all Bolen parts. Downloading these mags by one will make them reloadable. None of my mags are "tuned".

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Every one of my magazines will hold 20 reloadable.

I have 5 STI bodies HSMITH tuned, grams spring/follower with Dawson basepad 1 snl, the other 3 not snl. 2 of those magazines will hold 21 not so reloadable, but 20 very easily reloadable.

I have 3 SPS bodies untuned, grams spring/follower with grams basepad all are very easy to load 20 with plenty of room. I know Howard isn't an SPS fan, but these magazines have been flawless for me since I purchased them back in 2005. They needed no tweaking to fall out of the pistol as my STI/SVI mag tubes did.

All of the magazines I use are VERY reliable. Couldn't be happier.

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