Taurus sells low-quality magazines - and they know it.

[ViperGTS19801]

About a year and a half ago, I purchased a brand new PT1911 for a very reasonable price. I love this gun. It's smooth, reliable, has never mis-fed or failed to fire, and it's well built - except for one thing.

The magazines are shit. And they know it.

A few months ago I started having problems reloading the weapon - magazines would catch somehow on the inside of the magwell and simply refused to seat correctly. With some fiddling I could eventually get it to slide smoothly, but this was unacceptable for a defensive carry weapon.

I called Taurus and they told me that while the weapon itself has a lifetime guarantee, the magazine only has a one-year warranty, after which their official suggestion is for you to "go buy new mags."

I spent some time inspecting the magazines, and I found the problem. The metal making up the walls of the mags is very thin and weak, and when loaded, the top is prone to cracking and expansion. See below.





What this expansion does is it causes the top of the magazine to impact the cutout inside the 1911's magwell, catching and stopping it from feeding correctly. Here's a pic of the damage, as well as a closeup for detail.



All that having been said, I bought a couple of Wilson Combat mags, which simply FEEL higher quality, and boast to have the thickest walls of any other magazine on the market. Haven't had a single feed failure yet.

[ckellyme3]

Yeah I was going to suggest the wilson mags but I read the bottom of your post. They are great and they come with a lifetime warrenty for normal use. I have never heard of them failing and they are awesome to clean. Good luck with your new mags.

[em2b96p]

ill keep this in mind.

[hzox221]

Taurus's are low quality guns to begin with, why would their magazines be any different?

[RHGregory3]

The mags are agreed, absolute junk. Wilson combat 47D or Chip Shooting Stars are the way to go..

With Taurus, it's all about design.

If Taurus designed the pistol, stay far away.

If Taurus stole the design, IE PT1911, PT92, etc - then you have a better shot of getting reliable performance.

That being said I have had better experiences with Taurus wheel guns, as opposed to their semi autos.

[sigarms229]

Taurus's are low quality guns to begin with, why would their magazines be any different?

LOL, I agree.

I called Taurus and they told me that while the weapon itself has a lifetime guarantee, the magazine only has a one-year warranty,

Notice how they don't mention that when touting their LIFETIME WARRANTY over and over. I got into an argument a while back on this forum that Taurus has horrible customer service, and this shows that again. Instead of sending you a new magazine that costs them about $5, they chose to alienate a customer.

When I worked in a gun shop many years ago, I had to deal with Taurus customer service on multiple occasions on behalf of our customers. Getting someone that spoke decent english was a challenge, then when they finally took a gun back under warranty, it would often take MONTHS till it came back and often not repaired.

The 1911 line is just about the only thing worthwhile (use to recommend their revolvers but I stopped doing that a few years ago) but now in addition to the 1911's easily scratched finish, you have junk mags......

Way to go Taurus....you have lived up to your reputation.

[hzox221]

Check your ejector, it looks like the mag is hitting it.

[harold63]

The magazines are shit. And they know it.

Some of them are, yes, but some are very good. I learned to speed reload with a PT 1911 and have not experienced the problem you're having. The section of the frame you have enlarged can be dehorned, some, as it would definitely qualify as a horn/burr. I bought two ALR's and the frame in that area rubbed the mags on both of them in the shop before I bought them. Welcome to mass produced 1911's. Welcome to Lowe's file section and the "Dremel".

[harold63]

Check your ejector, it looks like the mag is hitting it.

Possible, but not likely. I don't trust the PT ejector to be able to withstand a bump from the mag over and over. It is definitely expanding at the feed lip area as the OP suggests and hitting the inside of the frame on the sides. Those mags got some magwell and inside frame wear on them. They have been used, a lot, by looking at them.

The PT magwell is terrible. It will chew the top of magazine up. I've ground on every one of them I own to make them more user friendly. Here again, we welcome the Dremel and file. A WC magwell installs on a PT fairly easily and it much easier on the top of the mag. FWIW

[bripro]

Im surprised you waited until you had problems before realizing their 1911 mags are crap. Its obvious the first time you pick them up imo. Im glad you got some quality replacements.