For the single stack .40 owners...

[J. W.]

If you own one of the single stack .40 3rd Gen's such as the 4013, you've probably noticed that parts, especially magazines are getting hard to find. Knowing that the guns were built on the 45 frame I decided to do a little experimenting.

After checking my spare parts I found some followers from Chip McCormick Shooting Star 1911 mags and noticed that they nearly fit the 4013 mag bodies. It took only a little fitting with a Dremel to get them to fit. I then had to bend the lowers porting of the follower down just a little to keep it from prematurely engaging the slide stop. I was able to run a very limited test last night during low light quals and found my experiment was a success. I'll report back when I get time to run more rounds through the gun.

It seems that modified Shooting Star followers may be a viable replacement for the long discontinued single stack .40 followers.

 

[armorer951]

Thanks for the work and info. The magazines and followers....along with the other spare parts, are getting harder to find.

 

[birdman1978]

Dave's gun shop in Lafayette had 4 or 5 4013 single stack mags when I went in looking for the 4013tsw I picked up a couple months ago.

 

[TTSH]

I had no idea that 4013/4053 magazines & followers were in such short supply. I passed up one such magazine at yesterday's show. Dang!

I have two in top shape for my 4053 so I'm probably okay for now... but this helps explain why a "used & abused" Model 4013 I found locally has an asking price of $499. It comes with four magazines.

 

[J. W.]

Wow, I wish I had the good fortune that you guys do!

A few mags is fine for gun you take out of the safe and shoot a few times a year. What prompted me to experiment was that I would love to use my 4013 for off duty carry. When you start training with a gun and running it harder, things start to break. Particularly mags that are getting dropped on dirt, gravel and concrete.

I wish I would have stocked up a couple of years ago when Numrich still had mags, followers, baseplates, etc. I guess it's time to start staking the small local gun shops and the popular internet auction sites.

My original post was more an exercise of "can it be done" than necessity at this point. However, there is no doubt that we're dealing with a finite supply of 3rd Gen parts, especially for the older guns discontinued in the mid 90's.

 

[03Fatboy]

Are those chip followers for a .45 magazine? I assume so, but thought I'd ask.

 

[J. W.]

Yes sir, they are. I should have clarified in the OP.

 

[oldman10mm]

Since one of my current projects is converting 4013,4014,4053,4054 from 40S&W to 10mm,the gun shows lately here in my area have no shortage of S&W mags for those models.