ECF, the mags aren't bad, but not good either, I read ( and found out) that even though they are 8 round mags ( by checkmate) if you put 8 in them, they jam. One of them is working fine, the other got stuck in the gun because the feed plate ( I guess that's what it's called) got caught cause it came out to far, then the whole thing fell apart, I'll still use the other checkmate for the range, but I would never trust it to carry it. Sumo, again, thanks for leading me towards those kimpros, they are highly reviewed and I got them at a great price

Jrod, no problem!

Sumo is right, they will make a world of difference. Wilsom Combats are also solid performers from what I understand, but they're pricey. I guess anything worth having is though

Tell you what, The Kimpro mags feel WAY better built than the checkmates, WAY better!

Jared, don't know about your Kimpro mags but you MIGHT want to think about getting some rubber bumper pads for your GOOD mags. Makes it easier on them when you to a reload and just let them fall to the ground plus helps in making a positive reload (they stick out the bottom some and you don't have to worry about getting your hand caught when you do a quick mag change).

These came with a flush fit stainless bottom and 2 different rubber bumpers (one thick, one thin)

Use them! In the long run they will save you some grief.

And a warranty return

Kimpro mags are one of the best kept secrets in the magazine world.

The question many never ask is "if the quality of the magazines which come with my pistol are poor .... what is the pistol like ?"

Granted you can tweak with after market accessories many .45's so they are nothing like they were ... and for EDC carry where most defence situations are between 4 and 8 feet ... you don't need hand lapped frame fitting ... but looking at polishing the feed ramp and changing out the springs and the safety and the trigger and hammer etc ... it all costs more than it would for a good starting point pistol where the quality is there at the start.

Like the heat treatment given to a knife the parts that "wear" on a pistol need a good "HT" ...

If Dan has a Rc testing pin for his work it would be interesting to check the quality of the parts like the trigger sears in the cheaper modern 45's and any old .45 he may have ... my experience from access to a lot of old pistols ( our heritage centre's can only keep old examples ) shows that the triggers on some pre WWII .455 Webley 1911's done by Colt for our Royal Navy were made to far higer standards of temper and fit and finish than the recent models which we have in the armoury of current models ....Colt included ...

There is usually a "quality" issue explaining why some are "cheaper" than others ....

It may not be fair on my part, but when I bought my last .45acp (springfield armory V10 ultracompact) about 1995 or 1996, it seemed to be a lot better quality than the colt 1991a1 I bought just the year before. And in defense of Colt, it IS/was a basic cheaper model "starter pistol" for me. I had a beavertail safety installed, a different thumb safety and hammer also a new trigger and "Trigger job". Had the barrel throat polished along with the feed ramp. All in all I think I had about $1100.00 in it when it was all done and said. Oh and I had meprolite night sights put on it as well. I carried that most of the time when I was working/loafing around and not actually on duty. It does pretty good.

Well that's my point exactly ... having to tweak a pistol with so much extra work and throwing away the original parts seems to me counter productive compared to the benefit of an original purchase ... where the bit's you want are there to begin with ...

Some pistols are cheaper because the "workers" are a cheaper over head ... CZ pistols are a great example ... the quality in those is the same or better than the Sig's we now use ... many of the guys in the services "Queens Medal" compitions at Bisley who are in our Royal Marines and are issued Sig's are finding they cannot stand the round count as long as the tweaked old Browning's some of the Navy guys have within their same "Sevice" ...

The Navy are a lucky "Service" and often win in the Queens Medal comp at Bisley within the joint service representation for the comp because a hell of a lot of their weapons see very little hard use on board ship ... then when it comes to "sourcing" a good weapon they are in a much better position ...

The Marines use theirs to death ... therefore the only way to get a better weapon is to get a new one and the new Sig's are not standing up as well as the old Brownings from the "feed back" from last years Queens Medal shooters ... or put it another way ... the "Navy" who are not S/F's were scoring higher than the Marines who are "S/F's" and have a lot more trigger time under their belt ... save ofcourse for the fact that some "Navy" guys who are good shooters and in the team can be detailed "duties" so they do nothing else but "shoot" ...

The point being that the metal used on the older stuff is "better" seemingly than the newer as everything these days seems built to a "replacement standard" so more income can be earned ... the older stuff was built to an "engineering standard" and does'nt break ...

Not good on "income" ... great on "reputation" ...

For my part I would prefer an "old" .45 or pay for a modern custom .45 ... and limit the guns I had to higher quality rather than "multiples" of modern "replacement standard" weapons ...

Not for nothing are the top "custom makers" using their own slides and frames and not just working on the "internals" of pistols ...