I bought a Smith&Wesson 1911 a few months back. I like it and shoot approximately 100 rounds through it every week. Yesterday, after having a few stove pipes in a row, I noticed that both magazines delivered with the pistol (very nice blued finish by the way) had cracked at the lips, at the back of the magazine. Has anyone ever heard of this happening in the USA? If this a common occurence I will try to get the S&W importer in France to replace them for me. Could it be a heat treating problem with the steel used?

i've never had or heard of the problem, but i'm sure smith will be interested and replace them for you. that company has become quite responsive since the last buyout

I haven't heard of that problem It sounds like a heat treating problem.

Wink, I've seen it happen on less than high quality mags. The metal is brittle & after stripping a few hundred rounds you'll see a crack, the bottoms can come off as well. The Wilson47D is IMO the best. If you can get them in France, they are the way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
I bought a Smith&Wesson 1911 a few months back. I like it and shoot approximately 100 rounds through it every week. Yesterday, after having a few stove pipes in a row, I noticed that both magazines delivered with the pistol (very nice blued finish by the way) had cracked at the lips, at the back of the magazine. Has anyone ever heard of this happening in the USA? If this a common occurence I will try to get the S&W importer in France to replace them for me. Could it be a heat treating problem with the steel used?

if you haven't already request a midwayusa master catalog

I sent an e-mail to S&W the same day I made the original post, no reply to date. I have several other magazines (Shooting Star, Wilson, Pachmayr) so I'm not stuck. But in France magazines are very expensive. I'm hoping S&W will replace them.

Wink, Did S&W ever answer your email?

Nope, but I will take the magazines to the gunshop where I bought the gun (and the magazines with it) tomorrow. The owner is a good businessman and I think he will either get new ones from S&W or give me some other replacement magazines.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.
I have S&Ws and have never had a problem.
I always hear S&W servive is one of the best.
Maybe you should try again.
Can you use their 800 number?

I dropped off the two magazines this morning. The S&W importer wants to see them first before doing anything. That's reasonable. I should know in a week what the outcome is. Still no word from S&W.

I never mentioned that while the S&W logo is stamped onto the magazines, they are made in Italy. The mark says ACT, not MecGar.

I have the same ACT mags.
I hope they take care of you.

I now believe that the problem is not the magazines but the pistol. I have looked closely at the spent brass and have cycled slowly the slide several times to see what is happening. It looks to me like the brass, as it is coming back after firing, is being somehow forced down, sometimes into the lips of the magazine thereby widening them if not jamming the pistol. The spent brass shows a straight line indent on the head, indicating that it is slamming against the frame, just behind the magazine. This may be due to a poorly adjusted extractor. Anybody showing that straight line indent on the spent brass, assuming you have an S&W 1911?

Just got back from my business trip and spoke to the dealer who sold me the pistol. S&W importer replaced the OEM ACT mags with two Wilson mags. I'm not complaining. Still, I will take the pistol in as well.

It took forever it seems (I couldn't believe my last post on this was in July!) but I took delivery of a brand new SW1911 today. It's a long story: I returned the pistol to the dealer in September (he was closed in August, it's France!), then the importer had his warehouse burglarized in October (my replacement pistol was in the stolen lot) and they had to reorder. But the dealer, the importer and Smith&Wesson stood by the product. No charges to me. Now I've got to shoot it and verify that it's a good one. Another member of my gun club has one with zero problems so I'm optimistic.

Hey Wink, which model did you get? I have been thinking about a 1911PD, Commander bbl. w/ scandium frame.

I got the basic 1911 model. All steel, Novak style three dot sights. While at the dealer's I fondled the Commander length/Scandium frame pistol as well and wouldn't hesitate to buy one. So far I am fastest out of holster with a Colt Commander (mind you this doesn't make me very fast but it is with that pistol I come out the scabbard best with). This is one instance where the complicated authorization process to buy a handgun in France probably saves me a lot of money. I also fondled the CZ SP01 in 9mm. I want one of those too.