So, creosote, you have another (I assume) maker, "G" code, of 8 rd Colt mags. That is a McCormick Shooting Star mag
follower, the collapsing kind to squeeze in the 8th round.
And I stand corrected. Some early Metalform mags were also hybrid lips. See the pix.
Here are some shots of two Laka mags and two Metalform mags from a few years after Lakas became
unavailable.
Removable bases. IFAIK, the only ones ever made at that point for 1911 with removable bases. The excellent
3 D follower requires the base to be removable to assemble and disassemble it.
The lock back feature is extremely positive. And note that the Lakas (rear two) have more precisely fitted followers, that to not
tend to overrotate at the top. Both work extremely reliably. The Metalform mags have a slightly greater radius of the
side sheet metal at the front top. Of no real consequence, AFAIK.
And here are the feed lips. Note that the Lakas are parallel lips but the later (middle 80s) Metalform (very early Metalform)
have hybrid lips. I wonder if they were making Colt mags a this point or whether they got some genuine Colt mags and
copied them?
Lakas on the right. Nothe that one has a cracked feed lip. I regretted losing that mag. I will see if, now that
I have access to a very high grade of heliarc welder, I can weld it. I have successfully welded similar cracks on
other mags. 7 amps max setting.
One other change that Metalform made. The Laka mag body weld was on the right rear corner. And that is where
the feed lip cracked on that one. The later Metalform marked mags have the body weld at the centerline on the
back. You can just barely tell on the right corner of the second mag from the right, bottom picture that there
is a touch of weld bead in the rt corner, making it different from the left corner.
Perhaps you can see how I came to assume that Metalform was the supplier for the Laka mags. IMO, the bases
were made on the same tooling,unless someone went to an amazing amount of trouble to duplicate it exactly. And
the same thing for the followers, they appear to be precisely the same.
These mags have fed many thousands of rounds. Used to have rubber base pads to protect them when ejected
several times a match onto a concrete floor.
Bill