Classic vs Premium Magazines

Atlas Gunworks 1911 double-stack magazines now come in at two price points, classic and premium. Our premium magazines were released in 2021, and quickly became the top choice for those in need of a magazine that seamlessly feeds their non-Atlas modular frame DS 1911.

Our goal in designing these magazines was to solve common issues DS 1911 users encountered including:

• Poor or intermittent lock back

• Magazines jamming the gun

• Magazines getting stuck in the magwell

• The magazine not catching or properly fitting in the magwell

• Magazines not staying in spec after use

• Ability to consistently and seamlessly roll through multiple magazines without any of the above issues impacting performance

After 24 months of design and development, we solved these burdens of performance and released our magazines to the public. Since then our magazines have been a huge hit with Springfield Prodigy, Staccato, and other 2011 / DS 1911 pistol owners.

Shared components of the Premium and Classic Magazines

These two lines of magazines share the same tubes, springs, and followers. These core components are what made our original premium line of magazines great. As a result, the same perks are passed down to the new classic magazines at an economical price.

Tubes

The bread and butter of these magazines is the tube design. We did a ton of research and testing in the development of our tubes. Here are the key components we focused on in the design of our mag tubes:

• Using one-piece tubes made from stamped sheets of stainless steel that are robotically folded and welded together. This is the modern method to manufacture high-quality magazines, ensuring excellent build quality and longevity.

• We based our mag tube dimensions on 9mm without being retrofitted to or from other calibers. Designing the tube based on 9mm rounds ensured the tube was not too wide causing ammo to stack parallel, overload the mag spring, and have feeding issues. This is a common issue we have seen with other double-stack magazines. Our design ensures a proper stack configuration and consistent ammo feeding into the handgun.

• Designing the top of the magazine tube to seamlessly transition from double stack to single stack as the rounds are fed into the handgun. Having the right dimensions locked in with our single-piece tube means you get perfect feeding every time without variance or having to tune your magazine. No hammering, squeezing, or headaches are required out of the box.

Followers and springs

We also designed our followers based on what worked well for other magazines but revised them to perform even better. The followers that come standard are called “Duty Followers”. They have a wider base to prevent rocking as they move up the tube and are made with better material than most other magazine setups.

This ensures longevity, lubricity throughout the tube, and the most reliable feed and lockback of any double-stack 2011 magazine on the market. These are paired with our spring, which was designed to provide a consistent push throughout the magazine.

These are the main components our classic and premium magazines share, now let's go over the contrasts between these magazines.

Classic and Premium double-stack magazines differences

Here are the main differences between Atlas classic and premium magazines:

• Classic magazines have a different base pad, which limits capacity by one round. If you would like to convert your classic magazine to a premium magazine, you just need to swap the base pad out with a premium one and they are identical.

• Premium magazines have more variations of colors, sizes, capacities, calibers, and applications. See the chart below to see all the key differences between the two magazines.

• Price. Our classic magazines are $74.99, whereas our premium magazines start at $99.99.

Final Thoughts

With the subtle differences of the classic magazines with the same core functionality as the premium magazines, they are a great value if you are looking for an economical solution to loading your double-stack 1911. With the various options and ability to personalize our premium magazines, they are worth every penny too.

If you would like to see how these magazines fit and look in different 2011 handguns, check out our flush fit 2011-style magazine guide!