I know that everybody says not to buy pro mag or triple k mags because they are junk, however the factory 4506 S&W ones seem to be priced out of sight if you can even find them.
So I guess my question would be if you had to choose between pro mag or triple k which would you pick?

Thanks

I had a Triple K magazine on my duty 5906 shed its floor plate as I carried the sidearm in its holster. Where or when it fell off I have no idea; my duty that day was working inside the state capitol building - hardly rough duty. I threw it and another away and will never buy another.

Had I needed my pistol, I would have been able to fire only the chambered round. I took that fairly personally.

I do the gun show circuit here in NE Ohio. One of my magazine suppliers is always showing/offering standard OEM S&W 4506 magazines to me. I don't have/shoot 45 so I don't pick them up. He sells them to me for $20 and I resell them around the country for $25, no profit just covering postage and envelope. Seems like 4506 mags have become in demand.
With the gun show circuit on hold for now, the next show would be Medina in mid August and Berea at end of August. If those shows are a go, I'll pick up some 4506 mags. Don't know what his pricing will be.

I haven't bought a ProMag in years, so maybe their quality has improved, but the last one I bought (for a Mini-14) didn't fit well, and always gave failures to feed. OTOH, a couple of years ago, I bought a Triple K mag (with a lot of trepidation) for a Sauer 38H for a friend, and it fit and functions fine. I only bought it because the 38H factory mags are scarce, even scarcer than 4506 ones I bet. Between my experience and biku324's, I'd say six of one, half dozen of the other.

One is bad and the other is worse, take your pick in which is which.

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My sgntr is mor thn 30 chrctrs

If it's all you can find use them but range only ....... save your factory for carry .....

Oldman10mm....... has some good and great mags. I've bought a dozen or so over the years at the NE Ohio Bunch meetings. Buy with confidence.

Wouldn't mind a couple more for my 4566

Bought five ProMags for my 15-22. Held 25 rounds. Retrofitted the follower, tab and they held 33 rounds. Functioned and fired 100 % perfectly for me and everyone who used them. Gave the rifle and magazines to my brother. He and his son have had a lot of fun with them. AFAIK, he has had no problems with them. HTH. Sincerely. bruce.

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<><

Not knowing much about 45s', is the 4566 mag same as 4506 mag ?

I have purchased two Triple K magazines in my life, and that was three too many!

About forty years ago, I purchased one of their 1911 magazines. As I inserted the seventh round, the floorplate broke it's spot welds and fell off, dumping the spring, follower, and ammo.

Within the past two years I bought one of their Mauser HSc magazines. The magazine was a tight fit (width wise) and required removing a grip panel in order to pry the magazine out of the frame.

With Mauser magazine, I reached out to their customer service, and they never replied. If Triple K were the last magazine manufacturer on earth, I'd single load it!

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Judge control not gun control!

Yes, Sir.

John

A sharp stick or a rock if I was planing on using the mags in a defense pistol.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Honestly, neither one. Best bet is to be patient and habitually scour the auction sites and the classifieds here to try and catch a better deal on some factory mags, or bite the bullet and pay the going premium. The difference in performance is worth it for factory.

If you absolutely must buy one of these lesser brands, I would probably go with Promag and swap out the internals for S&W factory parts. I've heard some folks have had success with this, don't know if I'd trust my life to it though.

From my own point of view wait and get a factory mag or a Mec-Gar if Mec-Gar makes them. you will be happier in the long run

I’ve looked at Numrich to see if I could buy the individual parts to put one together, but no luck everything is sold out.
I check MecGar and apparently they don’t make mags for 4506.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Referring back to my post #3, when I acquire some I'll pm you.

Thanks...PM sent.

It all boils down to is "how much do you value your life?" If your life depends up a correctly functioning magazine, spend the money and buy a S&W magazine for your gun. If you have to buy a S&W magazine which will function correctly and spend $60 for it or spend $20 for a sub-standard mage, is your life worth $40?

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Bill

The simple fact is that only S&W magazines should be trusted in the 645/4506. MecGar, for whatever reason, does not seem interested in producing magazines for the Model 39/39-2 or the 645/4506. Used factory magazines are fetching $50-$60 these days, but if the pistol is for serious use, should a higher priced, fully functional magazine even be a discussion?

I look at the magazine as an investment. It provides reliable function and other than the very first version of the Model 645 magazine, the only thing that ever seems to wear or fail is the magazine spring.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Oh I definitely agree, the only mags I’ve purchased for my 3rd gens have been factory, I’m not in any big rush so that is what I will continue to look for.

I guess if I HAD to pick one, I'd go with the ProMag. I had Triple K for my 1911's and they ended up in the recycling bin. Absolute garbage. The ProMags I had for my Mini14 was not a good fit, had their share of jams. As factory 20rd Ruger mags became more available the ProMags got recycled into soup cans. I stick with OEM mags for my semi pistols and MSR's (exception, Chip McCormick mags for the 1911's). JMHO YMMV

My only experience with either is through my brother, who bought one of Promag's extended round magazines for a Taurus TCP-738. The magazine was absolutely useless out of the packaging, utterly incapable of loading a single round into the chamber without hanging up on the feedramp.
However, he was able to find a video on YouTube which illustrated a method of making the magazine reliable by modifying the feed lips with a pair of pliers which worked for him, but he never carried said magazine and used it strictly for range use because he didn't feel that it was reliable.

So if you absolutely must choose between the two, then go with Promag because at least they aren't known to fall apart and can generally be made to work reliably.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

I bought 1 of the 10rd Pro-mag 4506 mags to try & it worked fine. I haven’t shot it a lot, & wouldn’t rely on it for serious work, but it worked fine for the range. That would be my choice between the 2.

Unless you like jam clearing drills, put the money toward the 4506 factory magazines while they are still out there. They are about $50 here. It's all relative - you could be looking for 10mm factory mags. You will never really have confidence in the aftermarket knock offs.

I have owned a few Triple K magazines .
Two for a Star Model PS in 45 acp . Two for a Walther PPK 32 acp , Two for a Walther P-38 9mm Luger .
All were range and target pistols ...none were self defense stake my life on them .
All worked and worked rather well . A few sharp edges were smoothed, inside and out and all were kept lubricated .
Maybe not MecGar quality , fit and finish but serviceable .
The metal bodies are not of super thick metal and the followers are not the latest design . I never had one fail , for the price I paid I got my money's worth and if the only option is a Triple K or NO magazine I'm buying the Triple K . Look them over and smooth any sharp/rough edges, make sure all crimps are fully crimped , lube , reassemble and go shooting .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

A couple of years ago, I purchased a 4506. It came with 2 S&W mags and a 10 round Pro Mag. All three worked fine but I did not depend on the Pro Mag. I ended up selling the 4506. A few months later I bought a 4566. It came with one mag. I looked for a long time for more mags.

Then I found a 4506 locally that came with some extra springs and 12 magazines. All were Smith except one Pro Mag 10 rounder. I cleaned all of the mags and fired all of them all in both guns. No problems with any mags. I sold the 4506 - too big for me.

In my experience Pro Mags work fine. But I would not bet my life on them.

If I ever sell the 4566 I will advertise the extra mags here.

I inherited my 39-2 with 3 magazines included. My 639 came with only one mag, but I was a able to buy an additional factory SS mag a short time later at a price that was only mildly larcenous. If I need to carry a lot of extra ammo for one of the guns, that makes 5 available. If I think I'm going to need more than that, I'll stay home and wait for friends to show up with their guns and lots of mags full of ammo!

Froggie

39/x39 can use 39xx full sized mags, so I understand MecGar not finding it worthwhile.

It's a different kettle of fish, but I bought 2 Triple-K magazines for my .22 Beretta 71 and they work as well as the factory mag that came with the gun.

The only TripleK mags I have bought were a couple for my Stoeger 22 "Luger" and a couple for my Erma 22 "Luger".
The Stoeger mags work fine.
One of the Erma mags is really tight to insert and remove but the other one works just fine.
I don't know that I've ever owned any Promags, so I really can't comment on them, other than what I've read here and elsewhere - which is that they are of very poor quality.

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