# Ultra/Officers Length Magazines



## jdeere9750

I'm wanting some new mags for my Kimber UCII. I had to get the oddball .40 S&W, so I'm limited a little on what I can get. Wilson was by far my first choice, but they don't make one as of right now. So, I need suggestions on who to go to for RELIABLE magazines. Any thoughts?


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## VAMarine

Tripp Research makes compact mags in .40, you might have to wait a while as if I recall they are built to order in .40 (you said it yourself, it's odd ball), but they are good quality. I had some of those mags for my Kimbers in .40 and the mags were good to go. Tripp Research has changed around their website, you will probably have to call / email them:

Toll Free: 1.877.837.9445 
Phone: 432.837.9445 
Fax: 432.837.9446
E-mail: info @ trippresearch.com

I ordered mine over three years ago and I had to call in the order.


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## jdeere9750

VAMarine said:


> Tripp Research makes compact mags in .40, you might have to wait a while as if I recall they are built to order in .40 (you said it yourself, it's odd ball), but they are good quality. I had some of those mags for my Kimbers in .40 and the mags were good to go. Tripp Research has changed around their website, you will probably have to call / email them:
> 
> Toll Free: 1.877.837.9445
> Phone: 432.837.9445
> Fax: 432.837.9446
> E-mail: info @ trippresearch.com
> 
> I ordered mine over three years ago and I had to call in the order.


Thanks for the info. I'll probably give them a shout after the holidays pass. If I made you guess, how long would you say the wait would be? (days, weeks, months) Would you recommend anyone other than them, if they don't work out for some crazy reason?

I hope that I don't regret getting the .40. I already had a .40, and I thought it might make life easier on me - 4 guns, 4 different calibers kinda sucks. I know that your not a big fan of either Kimbers or 3" barrels, but what do you think of the 1911 in a .40?


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## VAMarine

jdeere9750 said:


> Thanks for the info. I'll probably give them a shout after the holidays pass. If I made you guess, how long would you say the wait would be? (days, weeks, months) Would you recommend anyone other than them, if they don't work out for some crazy reason?
> 
> I hope that I don't regret getting the .40. I already had a .40, and I thought it might make life easier on me - 4 guns, 4 different calibers kinda sucks. I know that your not a big fan of either Kimbers or 3" barrels, but what do you think of the 1911 in a .40?


Well, you can try MetalForm and MecGar, but when I had both my Kimbers in .40, one a CDP Pro II the other a Stainless Ultra Carry (pre-series II) the Tripp mags worked the best, the wait was in the weeks time frame, I want to say two, maybe three tops. I had the Metalforms and Mecs, they were harder to find and we're of cappier build quality than the tripps. I think I still have some photos of the differences. If I can find them I'll post them here shortly, they may be on this computer or on my back up drive.

I also had a Para P16-40, totally differnent animal than the single stacks, 16+1 of .40 was kind of neat but I really don't see the benefit of a .40 1911 in a single stack configuration. Any other caliber like 9mm, .38 Super, 10mm I can see the attraction. The thing that's supposed to be soooooooo goood about the .40 is that you get 9mm capacity with "_.45ACP Power"_ But in a single stack you're waiving that benefit and incurring more muzzle flip AND have an oddball gun to get accessories for. I guess I can see it if you have other guns in .40 and want to have a common ammo supply, but that's about it. Oh, and the ammo is a bit cheaper...


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## VAMarine

OK, here's some pics of the Tripp Cobra Mag next to Kimber factory mags which were probably in fact made by Mec-Gar, I managed to find them in my wife's Photobucket account. :mrgreen:









*Welded floor plate vs. removable base pad with indents for numbering *
















_*Standard length tube vs. extended tube allowing for one extra round without compromising the integrity of the follower*









*Here you can see the overall difference in quality of tube construction, note the absence of spot welds as there is no "spacer" in the Tripp magazine.*









* Split Steel Follower vs. Tripp Hybrid Steel Reinforced Polymer follower*









* Another shot showing the basic difference in overall quality of materials.*

_Those are both full size mags.

Now regarding the testing I did for my CDP Pro II and Ultra Carry and magazines for each.

I bought 4-6 of the following for the CDP and a about 2 ea for the Ultra.

Tripp Cobra Mags
Kimber Factory Mags
MEC-Gar 
MetalForm

Each mag was numbered and I ran a ton of Winchester White Box 165gr FMJ, Federal 155gr HST, some Federal EFMJ and Corbon Pow'rball through the gun.

Any failure was noted along with ammo type and mag number.

When all was said and done, I had the least amount of failures with the Tripp mags, I don't have the notes any more, that was three states ago but I remember the overall trends in performance. I say the Tripps had the least amount of failures because the gun was a lemon, even after they were fixed up by EGW they ran best with the EGW mags but as all "faith" was lost in that gun and the other Kimber (both went through similar testing periods with mags and ammo) and both were sold off.


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## jdeere9750

Thanks VA. Very thorough, as usual. I sent an email to Tripp yesterday. If they don't reply fairly quickly, I'll give them a call like you suggested.

One more question. You showed one picture showing the standard tube versus the extended tube, allowing for one extra round. That was in the short length mag, right? So, in the Ultra Carry, I would have 8+1, right? If so, is that something special I would have to order, or are they all like that?


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## VAMarine

jdeere9750 said:


> Thanks VA. Very thorough, as usual. I sent an email to Tripp yesterday. If they don't reply fairly quickly, I'll give them a call like you suggested.
> 
> One more question. You showed one picture showing the standard tube versus the extended tube, allowing for one extra round. That was in the short length mag, right? So, in the Ultra Carry, I would have 8+1, right? If so, is that something special I would have to order, or are they all like that?


They have multiple options for mags, if you want the 8 round compact mag this is the part number you would want is 8R-40-RO for *8 R*ounds of .*40* with a *R*emovable base pad for an *O*fficer frame.


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## jdeere9750

VAMarine said:


> They have multiple options for mags, if you want the 8 round compact mag this is the part number you would want is 8R-40-RO for *8 R*ounds of .*40* with a *R*emovable base pad for an *O*fficer frame.


If you've got the option of having 8 rounds, why the heck would you ever want 7 rounds?


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## VAMarine

jdeere9750 said:


> If you've got the option of having 8 rounds, why the heck would you ever want 7 rounds?


Some people don't like having a mag that does not fit flush.

The Cobra mag with the removable base pad and extra round (without chopping the follower skirt) will stick out some.










I think I still have some Cobra mags in .45 for our Kimber Ultra, I'll take come comparison pictures if I can scrape up a flush fitting magazine.


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## jdeere9750

Ok. I guess I thought they somehow "magically" fit an extra round in a magazine that still fit flush.  I think I'll still order the 8 round, though.

Thanks again, VA. Sorry to ask so many stinking questions. You've been real helpful educating someone that *obviously* has a lot to learn. I look forward to it, though. :smt023


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## VAMarine

OK,

I'm going to make this more complicated than it has to be, but it's helpful info.

OK so regarding 1911s and magazines we have to point out that originally the full size 1911 held 7 rounds of .45ACP and the Compact or Officers 1911 held 6 rounds of .45ACP. A while back, some genius figured that the skirt of the follower didn't really _need _to be as long as it was and that you could chop it down to add one more round to the magazine and have 8rds in a full size and 7 rounds in a compact.

For those that don't know what a follower or a skirt is, here's a photo.









_Left: Wilson 47D 8round, Center: Tripp Cobra Mag, Right: Older Springfield Armory 7rd magazine._

The follower is that thingumabob that you have to push down in a magazine to put the cartridge in it. The skirt is the part of the follower that goes around the magazine spring and will make contact with the bottom of the mag to prevent over compressing the spring and prevents the follower from tilting.

One issue of cramming 8 rounds in a tube that was designed to hold 7 rounds is that when a fully loaded mag is inserted in a gun while the slide is forward, that mag is fully compressed and the 8th round doesn't have much wiggle room and that results in the mag being harder to seat in the gun. This is the reason I'm switching from the Wilson 47Ds to the ETMs, longer tube allows for easier seating.

The longer tube of the Tripp Research Cobra mag is thought to be an improvement as it is meant to be an 8 round mag from the get go and will compress allowing for proper tension when seating the mag and still have a full skirt on the follower, not to mention that the steel reinforced polymer follower is pretty damn cool.









_Mag tubes-Top: Flush fitting Springfield 7rd mag--Center: Wilson 47D -- Bottom Tripp Cobra Mag 8rd

_Above shows the difference in tube length, it should be noted that the Wilson is a little longer than the flush fitting mag as it has to be to allow for the removable base pad.

So here's where all this starts mattering to this thread.
jdeere9750 asked why would anyone want a mag that holds less and I mentioned that they want a flush fitting mag, here's why.









_Top: Kimber CDP Ultra with Tripp Cobra Mag 7rd -- Bottom: 5" Springfield with Wilson 8rd 47D Low Profile Base Pad.

_In the picture above you can see that having that 7round mag now makes the grip area of a compact 1911 about the same same size as a full frame 1911 holding 8 rounds.









_Top: Kimber CDP Ultra with Tripp Cobra Mag 7rd -- Bottom: 5" Springfield with flush fitting factory mag.

_Above it's kind of hard to tell which is "bigger" in terms of grip area, but it's pretty darn close.

Here's some more shots of the the Tripp mag inserted in the Springfield



















And some shots of the flush fitting mag



















For those interested as it really doesn't apply to this thread, here is the Wilson with the Low Profile base pad.










I've never noticed any additional printing from having a longer mag, but some people worry about it which is why they favor a flush fitting mag for carry and prefer the longer mags for reloads.


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## VAMarine

jdeere9750 said:


> Ok. I guess I thought they somehow "magically" fit an extra round in a magazine that still fit flush.  I think I'll still order the 8 round, though.
> 
> Thanks again, VA. Sorry to ask so many stinking questions. You've been real helpful educating someone that *obviously* has a lot to learn. I look forward to it, though. :smt023


You're quite welcome, was typing the above post as you replied, that will address the magical extra round etc. :smt1099


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## jdeere9750

VAMarine said:


> You're quite welcome, was typing the above post as you replied, that will address the magical extra round etc. :smt1099


Good things come to those who wait! I knew what a follower was, but I almost asked about a skirt. Now I know!! :smt023


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## jdeere9750

Just thought I'd update based on an email that I recieved from Tripp:



> We do batches of them based on order volume. Takes about a 5-7 business days from order to receipt of package. The cost of a custom magazine is $36.95.
> Hope that helps!
> 
> Aaron T.
> Tripp Research Inc.


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## VAMarine

Well, Kimber wants almost as much for a 7 round mag of crappier build quality. I know which one I'd be going with.


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## jdeere9750

VAMarine said:


> Well, Kimber wants almost as much for a 7 round mag of crappier build quality. I know which one I'd be going with.


My mind's made up... :smt023


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## jdeere9750

I wanted to beat this horse just a little more, if that's okay.

I think most can agree that Kimber's mags are about useless once replaced with a better one. Could a person replace the follower to make them of use, or are they just paperweights at that point? If yes, would the spring probably need to be replaced as well?


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## jdeere9750

jdeere9750 said:


> I wanted to beat this horse just a little more, if that's okay.
> 
> I think most can agree that Kimber's mags are about useless once replaced with a better one. Could a person replace the follower to make them of use, or are they just paperweights at that point? If yes, would the spring probably need to be replaced as well?


:smt165


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