2017 printed in U.S.A. train hard train often DoubleStar PhD 1911 a kid s first bearcat training with Ruger s single-action.22 torture test Chip McCormick s 1911 power mags + Springfield Armory hammer-fired XD-E in 9mm new.300 blackout AR pistol from V Seven
16 testing the 1911 magazine s metal. by jeff chudwin photos by kim heath-chudwin Chip McCormick power I have carried a 1911 pistol since my early days in law enforcement. Back then, the magazines were old GI issue or Colt-marked commercial. The feed lips cracked and baseplates broke off, but it was all we had. That changed in the 1980s when competition shooting, from IPSC to bowling pins, grabbed the attention and participation of the shooting community. The market demand was strong for customized 1911s and parts. That was when some of the current big-name manufacturers started out, Chip McCormick being one of them. I met Chip in 1982 at the Second Chance Body Armor Combat and Bowling Pin Shoot. He was a young gun out of Texas and a top shooter. Like most of us, Chip was shooting a.45 Auto 1911 Colt. Our pistols were mostly stock, other than sights, as the 1911 parts business was in its infancy. Magazines were almost exclusively Colt marked, and little changed since the first versions were produced for U.S. Army trials 70 years earlier. Chip had an idea that he could produce shooter-oriented parts and magazines, and, in 1986, produced his first commercial 1911 products, with his Power Mags being introduced in 1999. Over 10 years later, his products are in use worldwide, from citizen competition to law enforcement and military. His magazines are considered top of the line, and with the newest introduction of Railed Power Mags (RPMs), he has pushed the design features to a new level of durability and reliability.
18 I talked to Chip about the design changes and the motivation to make improvements. The magazine is the absolute heart of reliability, and no pistol is any better than the magazine feeding it, Chip said. His comment is spot on. Your life and safety depends on a fully functional pistol, and it starts with the magazine. The magazine is simple in concept, but the manufacture of this critical component part requires expert knowledge and great expense. Even MacGyver couldn t make one out of a Coke can. He explained that the feed lips of a 1911 magazine can be damaged when slamming a reload magazine into the magwell when the slide is locked back. The weight of the rounds in the magazine acts like a hammer as they are driven upward with the top round striking the feed lips from below. This is especially true of the 10-rounders that are 40 percent heavier than the original seven-round mags. To overcome the problem, Chip developed a dualwalled, or double-thick, feed lip. Railed Power is a trademark that refers to this double-thick feed lip design. Instead of the original, tapered GI feed lip concept, the new design allows the cartridge to smoothly slip past the feed lips that act more like a rail. There are no grooves cut into the case head from the sharp edge of the feed lips. There is also a positive release of the round from the magazine as it moves up the feed ramp. These mags do not allow the top round to be levered out when drawing the mag from a pouch. With the original tapered magazine feed lip design, the top round can be pulled forward or even pulled up into a stovepipe condition. With the Railed Power Mag, the top round is securely positioned under the feed lips rails and only release when the slide drives the round forward. The magazine is the fuel tank of the pistol; it must run properly each time the pistol is fired. 1917 2017 100-year-old magazine Railed Power Mag It is the only part of the pistol that is constantly removed for operational use and subject to the worst of environmental factors such as water, mud, sand and dirt. Additionally, it is regularly dropped on hard surfaces and must withstand the impact. Failures can occur if springs become compressed, lose power and fail to have enough energy to keep the top round in position to be fed or fail to engage the slide lock. Followers can stick or be deformed, mag bodies become dented or expand at the feed lips, and floor plates can break off. These are the issues Chip considered as he built his new Railed Powered Mags introduced at the 2016 SHOT Show. The mag body is laser-welded stainless steel. The precision laser weld does not require belt sanding of the weld joint of the tube that causes thinning of the metal and leads to cracking at the rear corner of the feed lips. Round witness holes in the side of the mag tube allow the user to see how many rounds are loaded. Some mags are made with cold rolled steel that cannot be heat treated. The RPMs are heat-treated stainless steel to a hardness of 42 Rockwell C scale, three months + thousands of rounds + rough handling + multiple drops + run over by a 3,000-lb. tractor = zero malfunctions about the same as the barrel of the pistol. The objective of heat treatment is to maximize reliability and service life. The mag spring has been improved using rocket wire over the original music wire, and the length has been increased. Chip s RPM springs fill the mag body, have greater length front to back and side to side to side, affording more power when combined with the extended length of the spring. The eight-round spring has been upgraded from 11 coils to 18, and the 10-rounder from 16 coils to 19. The extended spring length combined with the upgraded mag tube adds double the service life, according to Chip. Spring resistance is obvious the first time you load the magazine. It is resilient yet not difficult to seat in the pistol or painful to load. This increase in spring pressure adds to the reliability of the feed process. Springs are not excessively strong, allowing for easy release from the mag catch and positive feeding for all rounds, especially the last round in the mag. When magazine springs get old and lose their resilience or upward force, the last round can fail to feed. insurance It is too early to know when these springs will require replacement, but Chip advises serious users to change them out every two years as inexpensive life insurance. I did not change my mag springs for years, if at all, until we saw failures of duty mags in the classes we taught. Some mag springs that were fully loaded for years took a set, being reduced in length. This weakened the ability of the spring to power the rounds upward in the mag and led to feeding failures. When the spring was removed and compared to a new spring, it was a good three coils shorter in length. Springs are inexpensive. Do not use the shoot to failure test when your safety is at risk. To maintain strict quality control, every component of the magazine is manufactured by or for Chip in the U.S. on his own dedicated tooling. These mags have an early failure warning feature embedded in the design. The mag is used to the point of replacement when it does not drop freely. The body of the magazine can slightly expand just below the feed rails, 19
From the top: a 1917 two-tone original magazine; an eight-round RPM; a 10-round RPM. gunsandammo.com pistol Chip McCormick power 20 preventing free fall of the magazine. As the feed lips are so strong, it is the mag body that will eventually start to expand, which happens prior to failure to feed. Consider this as an early warning system of mag replacement. The followers are specially designed and upgraded from the original Power Mag in that: 1. As the last round is fired, the bottom leaf of the follower rises to the level of the slide stop cut in the frame. It then moves outward an additional 15 thousandths of an inch to fully and positively engage the slide stop and lock the slide to the rear. This is vital to prevent a situation where the slide goes forward on an empty chamber resulting in a critical loss of time in a gunfight. 2. The follower is narrower side-to-side, so there is significant clearance to allow debris to move past and not jam the magazine. This was proven when I dropped one mag into the mud and retrieved it, reloaded it, and it ran perfectly. 3. The follower is attached to the spring to prevent loss when cleaning in the field, especially in low light. This idea came from fighters deployed in dangerous places. Chip listens to his customers, many of whom have become good friends and send experiences from across the nation and world. It is this input from civilian and military users that causes ideas to become reality. torture testing After receiving a box of eight- and 10-round RPMs, we put them to the test over three months of training and law enforcement classes. After marking the magazines with a letter and number for tracking, we issued three magazines, two eight-rounders and a 10, to different officers in our pistol classes. Colt, Kimber and Springfield Armory 1911 duty pistols were represented. Prior to live fire, all mags were checked for drop-free from the different pistols, and there was no drag or hang-ups. A critical function of the baseplate is to prevent overinsertion of the mag beyond the mag catch. Overinsertion occurrs when the shooter slams the reload mag into the pistol with great force. The baseplate can be levered downward enough to push the mag past the mag catch and completely lock the pistol. This is a big deal as it requires tools to drive the magazine back out. Imagine this failure occurring in a real fight. The RPMs withstood the strongest slamming into the magwell with the slide locked back in an attempt to either bend or break the
Outside of a bandsaw or cutting torch, it will be near impossible to put these magazines out of service. 22 baseplates. They withstood the abuse with no damage. We then had one of our shooters climb up on a bucket hoist and drop a fully loaded 10-rounder 10 times from 10 feet onto a hard driveway surface. The mag was dropped onto the baseplate five times and onto the feed lips five times. The cartridge was beat up, but the magazine was unaffected. We ran a 3,000- pound tractor over the mag several times. As you can see, the top round took a beating, but the feed lips and mag body were undamaged. I then shot the magazine, which functioned flawlessly. Regarding cleaning routines, you should treat your magazines as you treat your pistol. Reliability depends on maintenance. Most shooters do not disassemble their magazines to inspect or clean them. The RPMs are easily disassembled by pushing the baseplate locking stud downward and sliding the baseplate off the pistol. The spring and follower can then be removed. Shooters should regularly inspect magazines, disassemble and clean them at least twice a year and always when dropped into mud, dirt or other contaminants. As with all spring-type devices, always wear safety glasses to protect your eyes. Over three months, we fired in excess of 4,000 rounds through multiple Railed Power Mags. After rough handling and bad conditions, including rain, mud, dust and repeated dropping on hard surfaces, there were zero failures to function. The RPMs passed with flying colors. impression These Railed Power Mags will be my carry loadout. Outside of a bandsaw or cutting torch, it will be near impossible to put them out of service. The McCormick Railed Power Mags take the 1911 magazine to a new performance level. If you carry a pistol for personal defense, your life depends on a functional magazine. I have no stake in this product, only a strong desire to see that those who go into harm s way have the best information. When your life depends on your tools, make sure your tools are worthy. This 10-round Railed Power Mag was dropped onto a hard surface from 10 feet. Five drops were on the baseplate, and five drops were on the feed lips.