Who wouldn’t want more bullets?
I’ve been using the Taran Tactical Innovations extra capacity basepads on my Glock for most of my practice for the past few months. My goal wasn’t to avoid reload practice, though. I was wringing them out to see if I could trust them for everyday concealed carry in my Glock 19.
So far I’ve had two issues:
- Putting a +4 basepad on a G19 magazine and keeping it loaded led to failures to lock back pretty quickly. That problem has been resolved completely by using Wolff +10% magazine springs.
- One of my mags (G19 mag, TTI +4 basepad, Wolff +10% spring) when loaded to maximum capacity and slammed into the gun with the slide closed led to a complete mag failure. The follower got jammed in the basepad at the bottom of the magazine and the magazine would not feed rounds into the gun. This required complete disassembly of the magazine to fix. My current workaround is to load only 18 rounds in the magazine instead of all 19. My hope is that once this particular magazine has been kept loaded for a few days it will be as dependable as the others (the ones that had been loaded 24hr a day).
For 9mm, TTI makes two different extra capacity basepads. The smaller adds 4 rounds while the larger adds 6. For G19 mags, TTI suggests the +4 instead of the +6. G17 mags work fine with both. The 6 also comes with a custom G17 magazine spring to improve reliability.
So why use them?
First, unlike many competing products, the TTI basepads use a lockable metal pin (seen in the photo below) which makes them arguably more secure than the stock part.
Second, they’re extremely space efficient. You can see various stock and TTI options below, shown from lowest capacity to highest, left to right.
My daily carry is a stock G19 mag in the gun (15+1) and either a G19 mag w/TTI+4 or G17 mag w/TTI+4. The G17+4 is just long enough to make concealed carry a little less discreet. The 23rd combo, at least for me with my gear and my clothes, is just too long. However, it makes a great third magazine that I keep in a small gear bag (along with things like a spare flashlight and the CLEER Medical EDC Pocket Kit) that I can toss over a shoulder.
I may even begin using one of the G19+4 mags in the gun. It extends so little that it conceals better than the full size Glock 17 that I carried for a long time (and holds more ammo). That’s 20 rounds in the gun, a total of 39 on the belt, and 62 including the mag in the bag. Bite me, zombies! OK, that might be the wrong choice of words…
The +4 pads are about $30 while the +6 is $42 and they are available in a wide choice of colors (except orange, dammit). I’ll probably end up adding them to most of my G19 and all of my G17 mags over time.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
And don’t forget:
I can’t get more than 3 rounds into the +4s, but they’ve been working well for me otherwise since getting them in November.
What gear bag do you use?
Thanks for this post, Todd. I have been thinking about a Taran extra capacity base pad for a while for my G19 but was kind of on the fence about them. I think I will grab a couple +4 pads and give them a try.
I have been using TTI for a while. Have at minimum plus 2’s on most all my mags. Have them on the 17, 19, 31, and 43. I love their stuff.
The cost is what gets me. To upgrade my stable of carry mags would cost over $100 all told. It hurts. It hurts so bad. 🙁
I like the footprint of them, but the spottiness revealed in your testing honestly unnerves me.
Michael — Ordinarily it’s a Maxpedition Versipack Fatboy.
Nathan — I hear you, believe me. I’ve got 9 already and will probably end up with another 10 or so as time goes on.
jellydonut — I wasn’t thrilled with the one that failed completely, but my guess is that TTI’s response would be “we never said to use that spring.” Some people seem to get along fine with the stock spring. For what it’s worth, I’ve found the ones that have been allowed to sit (and set) for a few days totally loaded work fine. But it’s true, I’m not aware of any significant long term or “mil-spec” like testing for them. I’m satisfied based on my experience but I’m sure others would like to see more before committing.
Any reason you had to make TTI bold every time you wrote it?
Joshz: Does it bother you for some reason?
Might have something to do with how it reads in the paragraph and helping folks delineate between a spelling mistake.
Thanks for the review ToddG – I’ve been looking at testing them out for the 17 and hadn’t even considered the carry gun. Here goes!
That is a most impressive pin.
😎
I purchased 8 +3/+4 several months ago for my G17 and have been using them extensively. My range has concrete floors and when I drop the mags during a tactical reload (either empty or fully loaded) they have a tendency to separate from the mag – sending spring, follower and rounds everywhere! Sent two back to TTI and they said my mags were slightly “boogered” and that may have been the reason. To TTI’s credit they sent me two brand new OEM Glock mags with new extended base plates. We’ll see how these new ones do. It is a real pain and an embarrassment to have your mags “explode” on contact with the floor of the range!
Am I the only one who noticed a mag labeled 76? Do you really have 76 Glock mags?!?
lj- What about the one marked “713” (second from right).
We’ve been using a lot of the TTI basepads–work well on Glocks and M&P’s.
Todd- Yeah it does kinda. It smacks of advertising.
Joshz — Sorry if you thought so. To me, it smacked of legibility.
I’ve never received any money from TTI or anyone involved with the company nor did I receive any of the basepads (or TTI connectors I’ve used, for that matter) for free or at a discount. They’ve all been ordered directly off the TTI website.
I mean TTI.
lj & David — The first number on my mags indicates their original capacity (5x is a 15rd G19 mag; 7x is a 17rd G17 mag). The rest just start at one (e.g., 51) and go from there. So 713 is the 13th G17 magazine in my stash.
I paid for all of those, too, Joshz.
ToddG,
I’m really, really, really interested in hearing how all this testing of these mag baseplates works out for you …
I recently picked up a few of the TTI +2 for the G43 that came out … and some Taylor Freelance ones for G17/G19 mags … and I’ll probably pick up some TTI ones for the G19/G17 like you have too.
My concern was always “not as reliable as OEM Glock parts for CCW” … but the siren call of more bullets is always there.
Plus, like you said, looking at the design of these things — assuming they were tightened down correctly — I can’t imagine how they don’t stay on “better” than OEM baseplates?
It would appear with these — you would get some kind of “indicator” that the TTI baseplates are going to fail because the little aluminum bar would drop down (or be loose if you checked it before packing your pistol for that days carry?)
Would love more info on your endurance test of this piece of gear ToddG — you’re obviously the man when it comes to testing 🙂
Best,
Caleb
$42 for a 23 round Glock mag? Might as well buy a 33 round factory Glock mag for $35-$45..