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Plastic or metal follower?

4K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  gunslinger45 
#1 ·
In the market for new magazines and have decided on either the Wilson 47D's or CMC Powermags. Since they will be carried in a ProCarry (aluminum frame) I was wondering if the metal follower on the Powermag bites into the feed ramp?

I've read in some postings where the metal follower chews up feed ramps on aluminum based guns. Is the Power mag one of the culpits? The 47D was on the list since it has the plastic follower (FYI I already have a 47D which I have had no problems).

Any help would be gretly appreciated...
 
#2 ·
rather than run the risk of problems I'd get the wilsons. The Kimber followers were licensed copies of the CMC followers so I would be concerned about them causing more damage. Wilson sells a kit that contains a new spring and plastic follower that are drop in replacement parts for all other 1911 mags, the last 3 digits of the part number are C45. I have Kimber and CMC mags with these installed as well as Wilson mags and all 3 types work well.

Tim
 
#4 ·
Go with the plastic followers, you won't regret it. The new kimber follower design that has just been released in the last few months is a modified version of the cmc design, having a tab that extends down the from the front of the follower. It prevents the follower from moving forward and hitting the aluminium frames. I would still go with plastic though. Note that if you find some really well made mag cases but they don't have good springs and followers, and they are cheap, you can always buy the mags and then get replacement springs and followers from Willson combat.

Wes
 
#6 ·
The metal follower on the Powermags is the Shooting Star type of follower that is notorious for moving forward. Between the two I'd go for the Wilsons. But don't count out all metal mags, because there are plenty of metal followers that have tabs preventing them from going forward out of the mag body, eliminating the problem.
 
#7 ·
metalform round nose followers

After watching various discussions regarding this topic on other threads, I decided to replace all my followers with the Metalform round nose followers. I purchased them at Brownells.

Having said that, my next magazines will be metalforms with the round nose follower and metal welded bases. I do have a wilson 47d that works well too. I guess I am just a metal head versus plastic. I have heard that the plastic wears out quickly but have no experience with this myself.

Good luck!
 
#9 ·
I think I'm going to go out a limb here and say I am starting to get annoyed with all of my Wilson mags and their plastic followers. New, out of the box, the Wilsons are great magazines and very, very reliable. I personally believe that it is their feed angle which makes them stand out over other mags. However, as time goes on, the plastic gets chewed up and when you have to replace the springs, you are forced to buy from Wilson and purchase new followers, as opposed to just buying a spring directly from Wolf. If you do, the spring creeps up along the plastic follower and will jam the mag. You can modify the spring to not do this, but it still does not feel right. I don't like the CMCs because the followers move forward and seem to suffer some last round failures, good mags, but still not perfect. Believe it or not, the only mag that I have had zero, and I mean zero problems with have been the cheapo Mecgars. The blued eight rounders with the simple metal flat stepped follower. I can buy the springs from Wolf and the follower never needs replacement. My only slight complaint about them is they come with a wider base plate than the Wilson's bump pad, so you can't use them with a S&A style magwell. So for me, I don't think plastic followers are going to be in the near future. Yes, I know the track record with Wilsons out there. But I get the same reliabilty at a 1/3 of the cost and don't have to worry about replacing my followers as they get nicked up over time. Put a metal follower and plastic follower through a year of IDPA or IPSC and tell me which one holds up better. I'm pretty confident and have seen the outcome.

Gunslinger
 
#10 ·
I really like the Novak magazines. They have a SS follower that cannot move forward. They slide into you gun, and drop from it like they were running on ball bearings. They can be had with or without a drop pad. With the drop pad, they will not work in a gun with a speedchute that has not been fitted to the magwell. They will work on gus with fitted speedchutes such as Wilsons. I have tried them with mixed ammo, JHP, FMJ, and H&G 68 semi wadcutters, and so far they have fed them all reliably.
 
#12 ·
I wouldn't think ammo would have much of an effect on the follower. Maybe if you are using a notoriously dirty burning powder, the residue could work its way in and scratch up the surface of the follower, but I wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference. The wear I have seen on the plastic followers has been from dirt and crap getting into the body from reloads during competition. (dropping the mags on the ground). Of course if your brass is really nicked up, especially around the rim, then I guess that too could scratch up the top of the follower potentially reducing its "smoothness"

Gunslinger
 
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