In development for quite some time, Wilson Combat today announced the introduction of its new ETM HD/+P magazine for .45 caliber 1911-pattern pistols.
The major improvement to the magazine has been the inclusion of a flatwire spring in place of the traditional springs seen in just about every other pistol magazine known to man, 1911 or otherwise.
The flatwire spring provides up to 25% more tension over a similar sized round spring which should improve the feed reliability of the 8rd magazine. In addition, because the spring doesn’t wear the same way when under compression the spring should have essentially an unlimited service life… The days of replacing your 1911 magazine springs on a regular basis is a thing of the past.
Reports from beta testers have been universally positive.
It’s a safe bet that this new magazine from Wilson is going to change the way even the most traditional 1911 owner looks at 8-round magazines. Now we just have to convince them to start making a 10rd 9mm version!
For more information, check out Wilson’s website.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Just use the spring from this mag no? Too short?
Is it compatible with the compact Kimber
Emanuel — They’re not selling the springs separately at this time.
Les — I have not tried one myself but Wilson claims it’s compatible with all 1911s.
Cool. Thanks for the tech tip!
Hoping more manufacturers figure out that flat wire chrome silicon springs make sense for mag and recoil springs. It’s be nice to have springs last (a lot) longer.
I don’t get spun up about new products easily, but this goes in the shutupandtakemydamnmoney file. And yes, a .38 Super version would be welcome.
It looks as if the magazine tube extends beyond the butt of the pistol. If one runs base pads anyway, no big deal. Flush 8-rounders are too tight on internal space for best reliability and durability. Plus they can be difficult to seat with the slide forward. Virgil Tripp has used the extended tube (hidden by a base pad) for some time now.
I’m sure this new Wilson mag will be a terrific product.
Rosco
Rosco — The Wilson ETM mags, including the new HD/+P, do use slightly longer tubes.
Just wanted to point out that HK mag springs are round not flat, and they have no problems with reliability. Reliability depends more on the overall product design than any one design component.
Jake — the benefit of the flat spring for an 8rd 1911 magazine is that it helps overcome a number of problems that 8rd 1911 magazines have. The HK mags you’re talking about were designed to hold a certain number of rounds in a staggered configuration in a particular sized tube. The 8rd 1911 mags are trying to add almost 15% more ammunition into a single stack tube designed to hold only 7rd.
8rd 1911 mag springs traditionally had to be compressed much more tightly meaning they wore out faster and didn’t always provide enough tension to lift the weight of the rounds.
Put another way, how many extra rounds may fit in a typical HK mag if they redesigned around a flat wire spring?
Thanks Todd for your reply. That is exactly my point, that one design component is less important than the overall design. Change one component without considering the overall and you gain something while losing something else. There’s no free lunch.
Consider the Wilson 47d, which had problems maintaining spring strength over a long period of time. The 8rd 47d has the same length mag housing as 7rd mags, with the addition of a flatter follower profile to create space for the extra round (which was the innovative design component at the time). The spring was not redesigned for the new system and was forced to compress more than it should, leading to early spring fatigue. Imho, the full ramifications of the 47d design were not considered thoroughly enough. The flat spring, along with the extended mag housing, are corrective additions to the design flaws of the 47d.
The HK mag, otoh, was designed from the beginning to have more than enough room for the specified mag capacity, and has been problem free.
If someone switches their HK45 round coil spring for a flat one, to add a couple extra rounds of total mag capacity, he may get lucky and not have any problems. But unless he understands the overall design and exactly how the flat spring alters it, it’s a gamble.
These are pretty good mags. ETM’s have always been a great product and with the square spring, they should be even better.