Llama 1911 Magazine Fitting

With the number of old and new semi-automatic handguns manufactured and/or on the market, along with increased sales continuing to climb, you’ll without a doubt get pistols in with aftermarket magazines that just don’t fit right or work properly. This is especially true of pistols that were made many years ago and no longer have factory magazines available to purchase when desired or needed. In many cases, aftermarket magazines will simply drop right in and work right out of the package.

But that is not true in all instances. And sometimes our customers just want that old pistol working again so they can take it out for a spin or for self-protection. I recently had a Llama 1911 1XA semi-automatic pistol in 45 ACP come in for just that. Seems the customer had one original magazine and it no longer worked reliably or efficiently. This often occurs when the owner fills the magazine and then the pistol sits for a number of years.

Doing this without rotating magazines every so often weakens the magazine spring to the point that it will take a hard set. So, after doing some online research, my customer found aftermarket magazines made specifically for his make and model pistol. A no brainer, right? He ordered in three new magazines and headed out to the local range with them to give the gun a whirl. However, when he tried to seat the filled magazines, none of them would latch into place.

He removed the ammo and tried each one again and had the same results. The magazines would not lock into place—at all. Brand new magazines don’t work? Really? It happens. This issue really angered him and he almost threw all three magazines in the trash barrel. But, he thought better of it and brought the pistol, the original magazine, and the new aftermarket magazines to me to see if something could be done.

The magazines were not a cheap aftermarket, either; they were all steel, with a steel follower and solid aluminum floorplate. Once I had the pistol and offending magazines, I began by researching as to whether or not he had purchased the correct ones for his make and model pistol, as this can sometimes be the case. But he had ordered the correct units in. The packaging even listed the make and model they were made to fit.

I began by trying to insert one of the magazines into the magazine well and it did the same exact thing for me. It would not fully seat and lock into place when inserted. I noted that there was a small gap between the floorplate and the base of the receiver when pushing the magazine all the way in until it stopped. So knowing this, it appeared that some fitting was going to be required. I then inspected the other two magazines and found the exact same issue.

Although the following instructions cover fitting aftermarket magazines for this par- Three were purchased and all three required fitting. ticular make and model pistol, the same process can apply to other pistols with like issues. You just want to begin slowly and understand exactly what is not fitting or working properly as you begin. In other words, take some time to see what prevents the magazine(s) from locking into place. To start, I removed the slide assembly and then tried to seat them again.

They still would not lock into place. I removed the grip panels so I could see how much room I had between the floorplate and frame, and to ascertain if the floorplate aligned properly with the base of the receiver. In all three cases, the floorplate

was at an angle to the base of the receiver with the front of the floorplate "foot" closer to the frame than the rear. Next, I disassembled a magazine and inserted the gutted body with the floor plate removed into the magazine well. The magazine still would not latch into place. Looking inside of the frame I could see that the magazine, when pressed into place fully, would not go up far enough for the magazine release to lock into the magazine release notch in the magazine body.

I began by filing the notch in the magazine body, removing material from the notch until the magazine could finally be seated and locked into place. I then disassembled the other two magazines and performed the same task on them. Once all three would seat fully, I reinstalled the floorplate only (not the spring or follower) and then tried to seat the magazines again. With the floorplate the magazines would not lock into place.

Noting this, and the fact that the floorplate had ample material on it that could be relieved, I opted to use the belt sander to remove that material from the top of the floorplate. I recommend that you use a square block of wood and that you screw the floorplate upside down onto that piece of wood to secure it before heading to the sander, or you may be looking for a ricocheted floorplate in your shop!

With it secured to the wooden block, begin removing material from the floorplate top, keeping in mind the angle that you need to remove from it so that the floorplate will be in alignment (parallel) or the same angle as the bottom of the receiver when replaced onto the magazine body and inserted into the magazine well. Remove some material and then replace the floorplate back onto the body and test fit it. Keep doing this until you can seat and lock the magazine into place in the frame.

Then do the same to the remaining magazine floor plates so that they all seat into place. Take care not to remove too much material from the floorplate as the grooves that secure it to the base of the magazine needs to be beefy enough to hold it in place. At this point, it is best to reassemble the magazines fully and try them again. If they all lock into place correctly, reinstall the slide assembly and try them again.

In this case, all three magazines would no longer lock into place with the slide and barrel assembly reinstalled. And, when pulling the slide fully rearward, locking it open, the slide wouldn’t release with the slide stop/ catch release.

Knowing that each The customer had verified with the magazine company that the magazines were the correct units to fit his pistol. fully assembled magazine would lock into place without the slide assembly installed, I went back to the notch in the magazine body and filed that area some more and disassembling the magazine fully. This is a methodical process that is necessary to avoid removing too much material off of any one spot on the magazine.

File the notch, re-test, and keep doing that until the fully assembled magazine can be inserted and locked into the fully assembled pistol. At that point, you have a fitted magazine. And, you will more than likely find that the slide will lock open like it should and that the slide catch functions properly, allowing release of the slide. If not, keep working each magazine until they work properly.

Since these magazines had steel bodies, I cold blued the notch where I had filed it (after cleaning it up with emery cloth) and then I polished the aluminum floor plates where they had been ground with the belt sander, coating them with Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black to restore them to their original black color. Now that the magazines fit in the pistol, test feed the magazine loaded fully with dummy ammo to make sure it feeds properly.

Work the slide on a full magazine, one at a time, and if you can slowly open and close the slide (not pull and release it rapidly) and all rounds feed, chamber, extract, and eject smoothly, you are pretty much there. If it hangs up at all, manipulate the feed lips until you get a nice, smooth feeding slide when moving the slide backward and forward. In most cases, being able to slowly work the slide and feed each round smoothly at the bench means it will feed just fine at the range.

You’ll want to be sure, though, so a range trip is definitely

The top side of the floorplate was reduced and reshaped with a belt sander to allow the magazine to seat into the magazine well better. The finished product produced an even gap between the top of the floorplate and the base of the frame. The notch on the new magazines was too low and therefore would not allow the magazine to be fully seated upon insertion. This area was relieved first. in order to ensure that you have a functioning pistol again. In many cases, aftermarket magazines work right out of the packaging.

Owning an older, out of production pistol can come with some challenges, such as a lack of factory parts and factory-made magazines. But there are some high quality aftermarket magazines out there to be had when you have run out of options of ever getting "Old Betsy" working again. As a rule, I recommend that customers purchase three or more brand new factory magazines when they purchase their new semi-automatic firearms and to keep at least one stored empty in case it is needed in the future.

This is important down the road if you decide to sell it or hand it down to a family member so that they get alive, working firearm; especially if factory magazines are long gone at that time. The guns aren’t much good if they can’t be fired semi-automatic.

I hesitated to list the name of the company that made these offending magazines, but I felt it was important to identify them so that you will know, and more importantly, that maybe they will read this and make some modifications to the offending magazines used in this article. Triple K Manufacturing Company (TripleK.com, was the producer of these magazines and they are probably the best aftermarket magazine manufacturers in the United States.

I have used many of their magazines for many years now, and in most cases, they worked right out of the package. In fact, this is the first time ever that The pistol worked really well with no jamming when fired. More importantly, the magazines lock into position now. I saw three brand new magazines coming from them that required so much fit work to make them operationally effective.

There are other companies out there that sell aftermarket magazines as well, but I don’t believe they offer nearly the assortment and quality that Triple Kdoes. They stand behind their products. After re-working these magazines, I notified them of the issues experienced so they wouldn’t be blind-sided. Although the fitting of these specific magazines were for a specific make and model pistol, the same procedures could and should be used when confronted with any aftermarket magazines that don’t fit quite right.

The goal is to go slow, only remove as much material as needed, one step at a time, before moving on to the next step. This will help prevent ruining anew magazine. As aftermarket magazines go, I typically recommend spending the extra buck on magazines made of steel (the body, follower, floor plates, etc.) if available. Sometimes less expensive aftermarket magazines are not what the doctor ordered.

The good news here was that we were able to get this old pistol up and working again and the customer was very happy to learn that he didn’t have to throw the magazines away after all. AG