When I got my 1911, the first thing the range guys told be was, ‘Go out and buy a stack of Wilson Combat Mags’. The general idea is the Wilson Combat mags have a significantly improved design over the factory magazines.
Once I started looking around online, I found out there were different flavors made by Wilson Combat. This post compares their “Tactical Elite” to their “Legendary”, with the factory mag thrown in there for comparison.
Why Wilson Combat?
Simple answer, the follower.
The followers on standard 1911 magazines are known to create all kinds for misfeeds and jams. Wilson Combat has replaces the flat metal follower with a plastic follower. Now this is not the answer to all malfunctions. I have had more than a few malfunctions while running Wilson mags, but usually those are due to non-parabellum ammunition or other 1911 quirks.
Difference Between the Tactical Elite and the Legendary
As far as I can tell the major difference between the two magazine is the floorplates. The Legendary magazine has what I would call a tab on the bottom that extends below the handle of the gun. This makes it easy to grab while reloading. Compare this to the factory magazine, which sits flush to the handle.
The Tactical Elite mag has a flared base. If your mag release was sticky or not adequately pushing the mag down I would definitely want something like this to grab. I do have a minor concern that it would sit slush with a mag well, making it more difficult than the Legendary to extract.
These pictures illustrate the difference in extension below the gun:
Willson Combat Legendary Mag
Wilson Combat Tactical Elite Mag in gun
Factory Mag.
Another minor difference is the Wilson Combat Tactical Elite has engraved numbering. If your into that kinda thing.
Finally, if you were to smack a badguy squarely in the floorplate of this mag, you stand a good chance of leaving a “Wilson Combat” stamp.
