In a previous Wicked Grips article, I thanked them. They introduced me to my old friend, the 1911. Because of this, I’m now buying a 10mm 1911. Wicked Grips has caused me to purchase even more 45 acp. Their 1911 Wicked Grips and 1911 magazine had me bringing my old friend to the range even more.
The Wicked Grips 1911 magazine holds 8 rounds and is made entirely from stainless steel. The first thing I tried was ejecting an empty magazine. The magazine’s stainless steel design makes it quite slick. This helps the magazine drop free positively. It slides like butter out of a mil spec 1911. The magazine goes in just as smooth.
Wicked Grips 1911 Magazine Live Fire
Test one was to see if The Wicked Grips 1911 magazine would fire rounds on a square range. Nothing fancy here. If it could not feed in a very basic situation, there was no purpose in continued tests. However, it fed perfectly fine. I fired aluminum and brass cased 45 ACP. Brands included Winchester White Box, Tula, and Federal.
I switched it up and fired a whole box of very old Winchester Super X 185 grain hollow points. They are close to 10 years old, but they all functioned fine. The magazine had no issues feeding them either. I also fired a box of Federal Critical Duty through the Wicked Grips magazine without issue. I also fired a 50 round box of Winchester White Box 230 grains hollow points. Zero malfunctions from any form of ammo. The Wicked grips magazine fed reliably every shot, every time.
Reloads
I loaded the magazine and dropped it half a dozen times. The purpose was to see if it would fall apart and sending rounds flying everywhere. It didn’t, even on hard ground it was fine. Not a single malfunction.
I did quite a few magazine reload drills with the weapon. Both tactical and speed reloads. On the speed reloads I let it hit the ground. My home based range is mostly sand. I live on the Gulf Coast and my yard is almost entirely white sand. The Wicked Grips magazine absorbed a pile of sand in my testing and was not cleaned until testing was over. Regardless, the magazine dropped free and fed every single round I put through it. I ran the same test with Mec-Gar and GI Mil-spec magazines.
The Mec-Gar magazines are my favorite 1911 magazines, and the GI mags are quite cheap. The difference was immediately apparent. The GI mags had several failures after a few sandy reloads. The Mec-Gar magazine functioned almost perfectly. Their main issue was dropping free after being filled with sand. The Wicked Grips magazines never even stuttered.
Final Notes
One of the things I loved was the large notch that allowed disassembly. It’s very easy to engage and take the magazine apart. The internals are all stainless and easy and quick to clean. Everything is stainless, including the follower.
The magazine just looks awesome. It’s a high-quality piece of gear that looks as good as it performs. It’s also priced way too well. The Wicked Grips magazine can be had for 18 bucks a pop. That’s criminally low priced for the quality you receive. Overall they are well made, reliable, and perfect for defensive and everyday carry.
