Limited mags, how many rounds?

[bkeeler]

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

I voted 20 rounds in my mags not 21. I can get a tight 21 in them but I wouldn't put it in the gun. I here what your saying!

BK

[Scoterbeast]

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.

Howard, will the Rescomp tubes work with long loads? My normal load is 1.220 and I get a tight 20 in my un tuned SVI mags with Grams guts and SNL bases. I tried couple of the SPS mags last year and didn't know about the length issue. You are 100% right about no working with long loads.

[HSMITH]

Scoter, yes, the Rescomp tubes take long loads fine. They don't hold up but the capacity is unmatched.

[pskys2]

21 Rounds Reloadable SPS body Bolen Spring & Follower (also worked with a Grams Spring & Follower) with Grams 4mm base.

21 Rounds Reloadable STI body Bolen Follower & Grams Spring with Grams 6mm (I think) base. The SPS Mag is a bit longer in the body than the STI.

20 Rounds Reloadable STI body Grams Spring & Follower with Dawson SNL base.

19 Rounds Reloadable STI body Dawson Spring & Follower with Dawson +1 base. Can hold 20 Rounds "TIGHT".

18 Rounds Reloadable STI body STI Spring & Dawson Follower with Dawson +1 base. Some can hold 19 Reloadable & some even 20 Rounds "TIGHT".

All checked out legal on my official EGW Gauge Guide.

The SPS Mags are a much softer metal than STI.

[Pezco]

19 in stock untuned SV mags

19 in stock untuned SV mags with Dawson +1

20 in SV mags with Bollen parts & pads

Two SV mags being tuned by Howard, hoping for 21 + 1 for the in between stages

[tk2]

My stock STI mags with Dawson +1 basepad and Dawson competition follower only holds 19 rounds. That is why I shot limited 10 last year. I didn't want to be at a disadvantage in limited and I didn't want to fork out the money for tuned mags. I bought a SV mag and dawson +1 SNL basepad, and if I can get it to run reliably with at least 20, I will shoot limited this year.

[waxman]

After leaving it loaded all night, I was able to get 21 in my new sv mag with all Bolen parts.Absolutly not reloadable, but they fit. My sps is still hanging in there and it has given 21 since day one, but it is looking pretty rough, and it catches when I rack the slide. As far as my sti mags I can only get 19 in them, but they are as they came out of the bag. I an anxiously waiting on my HSMITH mag, which will hopefully give me the 21 reloadable I have been searching for. I also am waiting on a Sv mag with their aluminum pad which they claim will give a easy 21.

[kevin c]

When I was shooting a Limited Para, I had a reloadable 21 rounds in the mag using factory tubes with Grams guts, incluing the spring, follower and basepad.

Edited April 10, 2009 by kevin c

[ParaGunner]

What about us 45 limited shooters? I got 18 rounds in my mags with DP ext. I'm ready to go against your 40cals.

[Singlestack]

Getting 18 in there and getting 18 to run reliably are 2 different things.

[ParaGunner]

They do run reliably, thank you.

[Singlestack]

They do run reliably, thank you.

Now you have done it!

[Vulture]

I just got a set of Dawson Tuned Mags with SNL +1 basepads and STI followers. I can get 19 in one of them, 18 in 2 others, and one i can only get 17. I'm hoping that they will give me more room after some use.