Bought a couple of 7 round mags and one is marked "For S&W M4516 ONLY. Not for use in M4516-1 or any revisions of M4516." and has red follower. So question is will it work for my 4536?

TRY IT. SHOULD FIT.

Worried more about functionality.

I have come across the 7-round S&W compact 45 mags marked "for use in M4516 only" and "for use in only 4516-1".

I use them in all the revisions of the 4516 I own (4516 ND, 4516-2, 4516-3) and also in my 4513TSW and 457. I've yet to have a problem.

That said, I ONLY USE the last revision mags with the black follower for serious purpose. The others are all fine for the square one way range.

Hope this helps! Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

18DAI it does help thanks. My 4536 came with 2 mags and they have yellow followers. One of the ones I just picked up has a red follower. Would changing them to the black follower be advised?

I'm unable to recall which mag has the capability of being switched to the black follower.........the yellow one?.......maybe the red one.......I can't recall.

Hopefully Fastbolt will see this thread and give you the definitive answer. My oldtimers is acting up and I seem to recall that there was one magazine that didn't work with the replacement black follower. But I could also be wrong on that.

And according to my ex-wife, likely am wrong. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance! Regards 18DAI

Edited to add: BTW, I've been using 2 of the 7-round mags with the yellow followers as my range/practice mags for going on three years with no problems. If those were the only two mags I owned, I'd probably use them in my carry gun. With little worry. Until I was able to procure the final revision, black follower mags. But being I own the last revision mags, I only use them for serious purpose.

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

I'd guess that they're generationed the same as the Big 45XX series - red then yellow then black. But would suggest to the OP to wait for better-than-my guesses to decide.

I believe you are correct gunhobbit. The 4516 ND I have, first variant produced, had mags with red followers.

The yellow follower was next, 4516-1, followed by the black follower, 4516-2 and 4516-3. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

This is the most confusing thing ever. I scan the 'Net and I see where others are talking about orange and blue followers.

For the record, all of my 4516-1 magazines have yellow followers.

Waiting for Fastbolt to set the record straight!

While I'm sure it probably doesn't matter and I know its a bit stupid but I'd kinda like all of them to have the same followers.

Bump for Fastbolt.

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

Guess you won't want to hear about a 4516 mag follower that was light green, then, huh?

FWIW, I've never tried to keep track of the sequence and production numbers of the older 4516/4516-1, etc mags. Especially not once I was told the current black follower fit all 3rd gen .45 mags. Too many other important things to try and remember.

I could probably email someone I know who could dig up the info, if he didn't know it off the top of his head, but why?

Considering the improvements that have been made to the 7-rd 3rd gen .45 magazine bodies, even if I owned an older 4516-X gun, I'd only use newer production 4513TSW/457 7-rd mags in it. They've made changes to the mag lips over the years intended to help feeding.

If it were me, I'd save the older mags of any of the earlier revisions for range fun, and use the current 7-rd mags (with the P-lips and black followers) for carry/duty.

Sure, I know a guy who carries an older 4516-something and has one of the original mags marked for use in his specific model revision, and carries that mag in the gun, and it still works for him ... but that's him, not me.

Too easy to get the latest mag revisions and not have to wonder about it.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Thank you Fastbolt. Since my 4513TSW will not be used primarily for carry I'll stop worrying over the mags.

From what I've heard, the progression of single stack 3rd gen .45 followers was as 18DAI listed, being red, then yellow and then finally black.

The black ones are the eventual culmination of the revisions done over the years to optimize feeding, and have been said ought to work in any of the 3rd gen .45 mags that originally used a plastic follower.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer