Metal magazines for Nelson Conversion

Sorry if this has been asked and answered but a search did not find anything.

Has anyone tried metal magazines with their Nelson and if so, do you prefer them over the 'plastic' magazines that come with the Nelson?  Also, do they still allow the slide to be locked back after the last round?  Thank you.

nelson mags are best, unless you want to put in a high mag catch and use colt ace mags.

Thanks for the info Chris.  Do you know if the lock open after last round fired feature still works with metal mags?  p.s. I am already using a high mag catch with my .45 upper.

Good question on lockback.

Now that I think about it they locked back on my GSG before I started using the Nelson mags

Look on the bright side--can't very well bend the feed lips.

Nelson manufactured the mags for his conversion to marry up perfectly.  Are you having problems with the Nelson mags on your Nelson conversion?

A friend of mine has the metal mags from the sig sauer conversion that he uses on his Marvel conversion.  They work very well for him.  They are a good quality magazine, made in Germany and appear to be identical to the GSG magazines.  So, I bought 4 of them for my Nelson conversion.  Unfortunately they do not work consistently in my Nelson conversion.  They sit lower in the gun and the Nelson does not always strip a round from the magazine.  The Nelson  would lock open sometimes after the last round but not always.  I tinkered with them for a while trying to get them to work but now they are collecting dust. 
I ended up buying 4 more of the plastic magazines from Nelson and they always work.

djw1cav wrote:A friend of mine has the metal mags from the sig sauer conversion that he uses on his Marvel conversion.  They work very well for him.  They are a good quality magazine, made in Germany and appear to be identical to the GSG magazines.  So, I bought 4 of them for my Nelson conversion.  Unfortunately they do not work consistently in my Nelson conversion.  They sit lower in the gun and the Nelson does not always strip a round from the magazine.  The Nelson  would lock open sometimes after the last round but not always.  I tinkered with them for a while trying to get them to work but now they are collecting dust. 
I ended up buying 4 more of the plastic magazines from Nelson and they always work.

My gun does not always strip the first round from my Nelson mags.  Kind of lets me know if I am jerking a shot or not when the gun goes click.  It doesn't do it a lot but if I was on the line in RF it would not be good.  Having shot IDPA and also carry daily I always check if a mag is locked in.  Don

djw1cav and Magload, thanks for the information.  Of the four Nelson mags I own, I have one that is inconsistent.  I guess I will be contacting Larry about a replacement.

p.s. I kinda also miss being able to place the mag on the magnetic bar I have in my gun box, but that is something I can get over.

(p.p.s. I also sent a PM to KC answering his question.)

Nelson Mags are the best ones in terms of accuracy and lock back. Make sure they are clean, and I hit the followers and top of the mag with an India stone and 1500 or 2000 grit sand paper in order to hone the rough edges. I have 6 of them and one consistently (once every 100 rounds) fails to feed. 

Keeping the chamber clear also helps too. Some ammo is worse than others I have had the problem you describe with Wolf Ammo, and Aquila target but not SK and Aguila Super Extra which is odd that that is my observation. .

The sig/gsg mags are non magnetic

joy2shoot wrote:djw1cav and Magload, thanks for the information.  Of the four Nelson mags I own, I have one that is inconsistent.  I guess I will be contacting Larry about a replacement.

p.s. I kinda also miss being able to place the mag on the magnetic bar I have in my gun box, but that is something I can get over.

(p.p.s. I also sent a PM to KC answering his question.)

I miss the magnetic attachment to the mag bar also.  Interestingly the metal mags I have are not magnetic.  I am not sure what material they are but I know they are not aluminum because they feel about as heavy as steel.
djw1cav

djw1cav wrote:

joy2shoot wrote:djw1cav and Magload, thanks for the information.  Of the four Nelson mags I own, I have one that is inconsistent.  I guess I will be contacting Larry about a replacement.

p.s. I kinda also miss being able to place the mag on the magnetic bar I have in my gun box, but that is something I can get over.

(p.p.s. I also sent a PM to KC answering his question.)

I miss the magnetic attachment to the mag bar also.  Interestingly the metal mags I have are not magnetic.  I am not sure what material they are but I know they are not aluminum because they feel about as heavy as steel.
djw1cav

One grade of stainless is magnetic the other isn't.  I miss not putting them on the bar also and thinking of a pouch that would go on the bar and hold them.  Don

I have been using two GSG's in my Marvel conversion since the first day.
Also a new one in the package for a back up.
They run flawlessly.
The two are worn a bit and look to be a Zinc alloy which makes them much heavier than aluminum.
I have a magnet for all my other magazines.
Use an old U.S. military 2 magazine .45 pouch riveted to my gun box for the two GSG mag's.

Clarence

C.Perkins wrote:I have been using two GSG's in my Marvel conversion since the first day.
Also a new one in the package for a back up.
They run flawlessly.
The two are worn a bit and look to be a Zinc alloy which makes them much heavier than aluminum.
I have a magnet for all my other magazines.
Use an old U.S. military 2 magazine .45 pouch riveted to my gun box for the two GSG mag's.

Clarence

Thanks Clarence great idea I even think I have one of those from my GTMO Ground Defense days.  Then to my drawer of mag holders I didn't like is almost as full as holsters that didn't work out.  Great we don't need one of those for BE.  I did almost pull out my Shield 45 to finish the CF match Sunday when the LB wouldn't feed.  Don

rich.tullo wrote:Nelson Mags are the best ones in terms of accuracy and lock back. 

Rich I'm curious what you are basing "terms of accuracy" on?
Jon

I use the Sig Saur mags, and they work flawlessly for me. They are heavy, I thought they were blued steel, but just took a magnet to them, and as Chris says, they aren't magnetic. Must be stainless. 

Seems the .45 lowers can all be a little different, and cause problems.

nope not stainless (they'd be lots more expensive) I think zinc alloy like Mr Perkins opins.

There was some comment I think I read on the Nelson site about some frames not working well guess I will go check on that.  I hope that is not the my problem as the Remington R1 frame is my best choice as it has the KC trigger assy and Ed Brown trigger and target grips.  I don't want to put that stuff on and in my SA RO as I want to leave it stock.  It won't go on my LB as it has a frame mount on it.  Hmm buy another gun or build a frame.  Hope not but then one can't have to many 1911s.  Don

could be a simple thing like your grip screws are touching the mag? Maybe try a new mag catch?  Maybe your gun is short cycling? What main spring weight you have? what nelson recoil spring you have in? i recommend the 8

Chris, if your question is for me, then it is not the grip screws because I checked that.  I actually use two mag catches.  A high one for the .45 upper and a new, standard one for the Nelson.  The Nelson has an 8 lb spring in it.  Three of my four mags work ok.  The fourth one is inconsistent.

I tried a RIA 1911, and could not get it to work with the Nelson. Changed recoil and main springs with Larry's help. Even put in a Cammer  http://www.cammertechnologies.com/  which has helped some other Nelson users, didn't help me. Put it back on my old Springfield Mil-spec, and all is well.

Just saying that you might have to try a different lower.

joy2shoot wrote:Chris, if your question is for me, then it is not the grip screws because I checked that.  I actually use two mag catches.  A high one for the .45 upper and a new, standard one for the Nelson.  The Nelson has an 8 lb spring in it.  Three of my four mags work ok.  The fourth one is inconsistent.

you only need 1 mag =] All i've been using this season.

Chris, I have tried various combinations at matches ( 2 mags, 4, 6) and the combination that works smoothest for me is 4.