4506 Mags - Black vs Yellow Follower - Feed Lip difs.

[Tony Rumore]

I only have two 4506 mags. One has a black follower and the other yellow. Looking at the feed lips of each magazine, they are completely different. The black unit has parallel lips and the yellow one has quite a bit of taper to them, getting much wider towards the front. Is this how all of the mags are with these two followers or do some yellows have parallel lips and some blacks have tapered lips?

 

[ACEd]

What are you putting them in - Early 4506, 4506-1, Late 4506, or ????

The first generation 4506 mags had orange follower (circa 1988-89). 4506-1 had yellow follower and were frequently marked 4506-1 only (circa 1989-92). The last iteration of the 4506 mags had the black follower same follower as the 4516-2 7rd mags (circa 1993-up).

https://smith-wessonforum.com/smith...-magazines.html?highlight=4516+mag+variations

As you noted there were also changes in the feed lips - in fact there were multiple changes in the top geometry in addition to changes in the internal pistol geometry to address early reported feed problems.

Supposedly the final iteration with black followers are backwards interchangeable, but the earlier mags "should only be used in their respective pistols" as marked.

Others report they all work OK in all pistol variants, but for me I would stick with the "correct" mags or the black follower mags except for range use.

 

[Tony Rumore]

What are you putting them in - Early 4506, 4506-1, Late 4506, or ????

I'm putting them in my 1990 4506-1 that I converted to fire 10mm, using the existing 45 ACP slide. It runs fine on both mags, but the one with the parallel feed lips holds the 10mm rounds better. I would like to get another mag with parallel feed lips, but I don't know if I just buy any old black follower mag, if it will have the parallel lips.

Tony Rumore
Tromix

 

[4T5GUY]

I would like to get another mag with parallel feed lips, but I don't know if I just buy any old black follower mag, if it will have the parallel lips.

To be honest I really never noticed or paid attention to this. All the original, (I've changed out yellow on some,) black follower 8 rnd magazine's I've got have parallel feed lips. This includes PC and 945 ones.

Jim

 

[stansdds]

My 645 orange follower magazines all have tapered feed lips, my black follower 4506 magazines have parallel feed lips plus a long indention along the sides of the feed lips. I know the yellow follower magazines had a small indention on either side of the magazine near the location of the case head of the top round in the magazine.

 

[mikerjf]

7-rounders… my orange is tapered, blacks are all straight.

 

[KPSqured]

I have a 4506 that came with mags with steel followers.

 

[stansdds]

I have a 4506 that came with mags with steel followers.

Your steel follower magazine was the first version of the 645 magazines.

 

[ACEd]

I have a 4506 that came with mags with steel followers.

Your yellow follower mag with the D shaped indent probably came with early 4506-1 circa 1990-92. The mag with the black follower and the slight horizontal indent line at top is the last generation 4506 mag circa 1993-up.

 

[Fastbolt]

They told us in the 3rd gen metal pistol armorer classes that the black follower would work in any 3rd gen .45 pistol that originally came with a plastic follower and buttplate (not in the early .45 mags with metal followers and buttplates).

Yes, there were some revisions along the way in the mag bodies. The P-lips ('pressed' indentations) of the last production .45 7/8rds mags were the final evolution, aside from the unique one made for the CS45's, as far as I ever was told by the factory and in armorer updates. FWIW, I heard a -3 version of at least one of the 3rd gen .45's was made at the request of LAPD, but I never handled one.

One of our guys bought a 4506 magazine online to use as an extra duty mag (carrying an issued 4566TSW). I only noticed it when his empty mag revealed the yellow follower after a range qual. He didn't experience any feeding issues during quals, but when I saw him using the older one I gave him an extra new/current .45 mag to use instead.

 

[KurtC]

We had problems with the yellow follower mags during qualifications. When we did magazine save reloads, those wide feed lips would let the next round come loose.

The later magazine feed lips with crimped sides and black followers corrected the problem.

 

[wyo-man]

My gun show purchased 457 came with two mags with yellow followers.
Both mags have "This magazine must have a yellow follower" with one having a -D- after that line.

Should I upgrade to black followers or just use them as is?
I just bought the 457 and have not been out to the range with it yet.

wyo-man

 

[stansdds]

My gun show purchased 457 came with two mags with yellow followers.
Both mags have "This magazine must have a yellow follower" with one having a -D- after that line.

Should I upgrade to black followers or just use them as is?
I just bought the 457 and have not been out to the range with it yet.

wyo-man

Unless you experience any magazine related reliability issues, I'd say continue to use them with their original followers.

 

[ACEd]

My gun show purchased 457 came with two mags with yellow followers.
Both mags have "This magazine must have a yellow follower" with one having a -D- after that line.

Should I upgrade to black followers or just use them as is?
I just bought the 457 and have not been out to the range with it yet.

wyo-man

I dont think the followers matter as much as the change in top lip geometry.

The follower differences seem to be orange vs yellow - the black followers seem to be backwards compatible but may not provide any advantage - I would leave them as they came.

But be aware the 457 (1996-2006) never came with any of the earlier 4516 orange (1988-1989) or yellow (1989-1992) follower mags. The 4516 et al black follower 7rd mags came with the 45cal pistols after 1993 including the 457.

 

[crows]

We had problems with the yellow follower mags during qualifications. When we did magazine save reloads, those wide feed lips would let the next round come loose.

The later magazine feed lips with crimped sides and black followers corrected the problem.

We had a guy who insisted that it was impossible to do a reload without that happening. The only way I could make it happen was to do a "volleyball serve" magazine seat. Turned out he was a Glock fan and couldn't stand the weight of the 4506. Granted, it is a big, heavy gun, and far from being a favorite of mine, but for duty belt carry it isn't bad.