mag well for SS division

[Corey]

Ok, so i have a question or two, but i think it would be appropiate in about 4 different areas here, so Im going with what I consider the most important...

I am planning to shoot Single Stack next spring with my Colt 5" (it may not be the perfect comp gun, but its what i own already and I want to learn to shoot it better). Anyway, as it is a carry gun, i dont want to make too many crazy modifications to it. Im planning on a different grip safety and removing the ambi but thats not the question.

Im looking into the Wilson slip on mag well that goes under the grips.

Question 1: legal???

Question 2: putting the mag well on for practice/comps then taking it off for everyday carry. good idea or bad?

Question 3: better alternatives to my idea?

Much appreciation!

C-

[Ed Deegan]

Ok, so i have a question or two, but i think it would be appropiate in about 4 different areas here, so Im going with what I consider the most important...

I am planning to shoot Single Stack next spring with my Colt 5" (it may not be the perfect comp gun, but its what i own already and I want to learn to shoot it better). Anyway, as it is a carry gun, i dont want to make too many crazy modifications to it. Im planning on a different grip safety and removing the ambi but thats not the question.

Im looking into the Wilson slip on mag well that goes under the grips.

Question 1: legal???

Question 2: putting the mag well on for practice/comps then taking it off for everyday carry. good idea or bad?

Question 3: better alternatives to my idea?

Much appreciation!

C-

Welcome to the forums, and your 5" gun is perfect. It has to fit the box and a 6" doesnt. Make sure you have a bushing barrel.

To answer your questions

1. Yes, it should unless a weird sight on your gun or ?

2. Up to you, that is a personal decision, however a magwell will not make your reloads faster, it will however clean up small mistakes you make during your reloads.

3. I would leave the ambi on, but that is my personal opinion.

[Corey]

Welcome to the forums, and your 5" gun is perfect. It has to fit the box and a 6" doesnt. Make sure you have a bushing barrel.

To answer your questions

1. Yes, it should unless a weird sight on your gun or ?

2. Up to you, that is a personal decision, however a magwell will not make your reloads faster, it will however clean up small mistakes you make during your reloads.

3. I would leave the ambi on, but that is my personal opinion.

thanks for the reply. no wierd sights so i should be fine there as well as having the bushing barrel covered too. in the very limited time ive done reload drills, they have been very slow and sloppy (but hey im new, right? lol). Im planning on ramping up the dryfire practice and reload drills over the winter so we'll see how much i improve.

any other opinions on the magwell idea??

Edited December 11, 2009 by Corey

[Matt Cheely]

I prefer the S&A. It's the cleanest look but is slightly less forgiving on the reloads. To me, it qualifies if you're going to actually carry the gun too.

[Two Delta]

I think that you could install a magwell and use it for carry also. Same goes for ambi safety, I like having it on a comp gun for stages that go from the draw straight to weak hand. I keep the safety on till I have a grip with my weak hand and shoot thumb over safety same as strong hand.

[Corey]

Matt,

Any chance you have a good picture of the bottom of a single stack 1911 with and w/o the S&A magwell. Ive looked into that as well but dont know how big it makes the butt of the gun. I just dont want my shirts or whatever catching on my magwell when im carrying.

Also, can you elaborate what you mean by "less forgiving"?

thanks!

[Matt Cheely]

can you elaborate what you mean by "less forgiving"?

Easier to miss the magwell and send mags into low earth orbit. The larger the opening, the more forgiving it is going to be for sloppy reloads.

No magwell:

S&A magwell:

[kgunz11]

Corey, the Wilson slip on magwell you are asking about will look almost exactly like the one Matt has in the pics above. No need to take it off the gun for carry, you'll probably never know it's on there.

[kgunz11]

BTW Matt, you really need to start squaring those trigger guards!

[Corey]

2 points for you for the quick pictures. I get what you mean by the magwell not being forgiving. it would however be better then no magwell at all i think...

It doesnt look near as big as i thought. sigh, im going to have to re-think this all over again, lol.

[Matt Cheely]

The Wilson works, I just don't like how the line of it looks on the backstrap. The S&A flows better.

Wilson magwell:

Edited December 11, 2009 by Matt Cheely

[Matt Cheely]

And I wouldn't shy away from the S&A at all. It's what's on my competition gun...

There's the square for you Bobby.

[Corey]

the pictures helped a TON. gonna do a lil more research on things, maybe see if i can find someone local with the magwells in to get a firsthand look. I can prolly get a good price on either of them now, so $ isnt an issue, just trying to decide which way to take my gun.

Thanks again!

[Chills1994]

I think I have a Smith and Alexander well on the one 1911.

I will probably be outfitting one 1911 with the Dawson "ice" mag well for the 1911 because it supposedly works better with Crimson Trace laser grips.

Another 1911 will probably be getting the TechWell medium sized one. Which I hear comes with its own aluminum checkered grips.

I am in ILL-annoyed... the land of NO CCW'ing, so I can't really expound on the concealability of one mag well over another mag well.

[Matt Cheely]

Bob sent me a Techwell to use this year. I cut .200 off the depth of it and then it was ok. In the end, I missed just as many reloads with it as I did with the S&A, and the S&A makes the gun easier to grip for me.

[Chills1994]

Hmmn... well... one buddy has his 1911 outfitted with the Dawson and the Crimson trace laser grips. When I see him again, I will have to ask him if I can try shooting it again just to see how it fits/feels in my hands.

The CTC grips are for bowling pin matches, by the way. Yeah, they get to use C-mores and/or lasers for their every Sunday bowling pin match.

Thanks for the heads up on the 200 thousandths shave too.

ETA: Oh, yeah, I would be able to tell you how many reloads I miss with the S and A mag well...if... I actually practied.

Edited December 11, 2009 by Chills1994

[steel1212]

And I wouldn't shy away from the S&A at all. It's what's on my competition gun...

There's the square for you Bobby.

For a carry/comp gun I think the SA is the way to go hands down. The lines are cleaner, beveled right the opening is rather large. Sure the Dawson I use on my comp guns is wider but to me its not as appealing to the eye as the SA and no way I would use it on a carry gun.

Like others have said the magwell just helps the missed reloads not help you go faster, that is learned in Dry fire.

[kgunz11]

And I wouldn't shy away from the S&A at all. It's what's on my competition gun...

There's the square for you Bobby.

[steel1212]

And I wouldn't shy away from the S&A at all. It's what's on my competition gun...

There's the square for you Bobby.

Yup my sentiments exactly!!

[G-ManBart]

The Techwell carry (small) size might be just the ticket. The nice thing is that since it's a dovetail fit into the grips (Alumagrips) you can swap from the small to the Medium in as long as it takes to loosen the grip screws slide one off, the other on, and re-tighten the grip screws. The large Techwell is only suitable for folks who are going to use extra long basepads and even then it's iffy....I cut down mine about the same amount as Matt did. At least I can say I did it over a year ago so I was "faster" on something than he is for once

Lots of good pics and videos to illustrate what I was talking about here:

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