[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. A good friend ordered a Tripp Research CobraMag to try in his Les Baer .45 pistol. The gun fed fine, but was picky with which magazines it would reliably lock back the slide on the last shot. He'd tried practically all of the name brands with no 100% results.

Today, we got the chance to fire 200 rounds of a small assortment of ammunition through the pistol using the CobraMag. This ammo was:

A handload using a Precision 200-gr. coated, hardcast SWC

Factory 230-gr. Remington Golden Sabers

This is the Baer and Tripp magazine and ammo type used in today's admittedly limited test. It is designated by product number A8MG.(You can tell by looking at the pistol that my buddy uses it very frequently).

At Tripp Research I read: "This 8 round .45 magazine was designed specifically to hold 8 rounds. It is not a 7 round design modified to hold 8 rounds."

Handling the magazine, I was impressed with the smoothness of the follower in the magazine body and the magazine just exuded quality. I was very favorably impressed.

The magazine's concave base is visible as is the steel portion of the follower that contacts the slide release. It won't wear like some plastic followers can.

From the side, you can get a different view of the follower, lips, and markings. This magazine works fine with magwells also.

Another view...

Cutting to the chase, the magazine worked flawlessly. Feeding was noticeably smooth and the slide locked back when the last shot was fired w/o fail. Insertion was trouble free and the magazine dropped freely when the magazine release was pressed. In short, the magazine functioned with 100% reliability.

As time permits, this magazine will be used in other 1911's and with a considerably more varied sortment of ammunition, but it appears to be a fine product for 1911 enthusiasts.

.45 ACP CobraMags are available in 7, 8, 9, and 10 shot capacities. The 7 shot magazine has a welded floor plate. I believe the others have the molded floor plates.

At www.trippresearch.com you can read about the specifics on these magazines if interested.

I think they've got a winner with the CobraMag.

Now, if they'd just get 'em out in .38 Super!

Best.

 

[kcii]

I agree that it certainly looks like a very well thought out, quality product. However, those things are pricy $$$$ !!!!. Has your friend ever tried the Novak/ ACT mags? I have found these to be a quality magazine and are my choice. The Novaks are made by ACT and, if you don't care if your mags say Novak on them, you can by the plain ACT marked mags from Precision Sights for around $16. I have only used the 7rd mags, never having bothered with the 8rd mags of any brand, and they have functioned flawlessly through my Kimber Custom II. They appear to have a much stronger spring than the colt mags I have.

Shawn

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. Prices are down from what they were for the complete magazines. I bought some ACT magazines and they feed fine in most of my pistols. Like yourself, I typically use 7-rnd magazines for most everything. I have had problems in a couple of pistols with the last round in the magazine sliding forward during recoil and the extractor claw having to jump it to chamber the last shot. It's caused a hang up in one gun and I could see what had happened. In several other pistols, they worked fine. They're about the brightest polished blue magazines I've seen.

Best.

 

[Guest]

Hello all. Thanks to Steve and Joshua for the board.
That would be my beat up TRS shown above. I do have a couple of ACT mags and they also work flawlessly, although one is a tad on the large side of spec and when dirty it won't fall free of a couple of guns. There are a couple of reasons I have purchased several of the Cobramags over the other quality mags available.
One is that I like the follower design and I feel that the springs are likely to last longer than those that come in the other mags. In fact I know that with my Wilson mags, I have to change the springs and followers about every 6-9 months. Once that is factored into the price, those Cobramags aren't so expensive. In fact at this point they are still running while a few of my Wilson mags have been rebuilt twice., which make the Tripp mags cheaper. A plus which I didn't consider when purchasing, but that is an advantage regardless is that they are 8 rounders and function as reliably as all my seven rounders.
Another good thing about the Cobramag is the base pad. The thing is ugly and plastic, but as yet I have not been able to break one. I cannot say that for the Wilson and Baer mag base pads. I also have a Mec-Gar with a broken welded plate and have seen others. The main advantage to this pad is that when you have a really nasty double feed or other such problem, you can grasp the base pad and yank the magazine out without having to lock the slide back. In fact in testing this, the first time I attempted it I used the force that I generally needed to grasp the small projections on other mags. I then yanked and sent the Tripp mag sailing across the range. At the time I had a magwell on my gun, but even with the well gone I find the Cobramags to have a time saving advantage when clearing those types of malfunctions. Did I mention that the base pads were ugly?
The mags are user friendly and I spend less time cleaning and rebuilding them. Above all they are reliable. That doesn't mean you can't find happiness from a cheaper magazine, but for me they had enough advantages to make their price a nonfactor. Your results may vary.

 

[Bob Reed]

Hello Mr.Camp,

Thanks for the reveiw, these mags look & sound very good.

I have always & only bought factory replacement mags, for all my different guns, so the price of the CobraMags seems very fair, especially with that follower!

I also prefer 7 round mags, that fit flush, by looking at Mr.Tripp's site it showes "welded base" as a option, if the 7 round CobraMag w/welded base is a flush fit, I might just give'em a try!

I assume the 7 rounders w/welded bases can be taken apart for cleaning, like all the other Factory Mags w/welded bases are done.

Take Care & Thanks Again,
THE SOCKMAN

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. I assume so. I've not bought the 7-rnd complete magazines from Mr. Tripp (a true gentleman), but have used the upgrade kit in several GI type magazines w/o the removeable bases w/no problems.

Best.

 

[Bob Reed]

Hello,

Well, I guess they would, I don't know what I was thinking about...I had even been looking at the up-grade kits before I posted.

Take Care,
THE SOCKMAN

 

[kcii]

When I posted earlier about the Cobra Mags being $$$ I was not aware that the price had dropped. When last I heard, they were something like $45 ea. $30 apiece is much more reasonable. Enough so that I may have to pick one up to try for myself. On the subject of magazines, the Wilsons are the only magazines I have owned that have given me trouble and that includes the aforementioned Novak/ACT mags, Colt factory mags and some mags I got from Midway marked High Standard that were something like $3.95 ea., but have worked flawlessly so far.

Shawn

 

[Guest]

This is a well timed thread. I've just been complaining to myself that I have many magazines for my 1911 but only trust three of them. And two of those were found in my old Nat. Guard unit's arms room! I will have to see how many mags I have sitting around and see about getting a bunch of upgrade kits. A 7rd limit hasn't bothered me yet.

Steelheart

 

[Guest]

Enjoyed Mr Camp's writing as always. Have to say that those mags look a lot like my favorite mags, Wilson Combats. Those are also excellent mags and I wouldn't hesitate to trust my life to them.