Springfield Model 1911 Pre-WW1 Lanyard Loop Magazine

This is a hard-to-find example of an early clip magazine for an early Springfield Armory Model 1911 Automatic Pistol in .45 ACP. Came from an estate of a WW2 vet who's now in his mid-90s. It has the desirable but seldom seen lanyard loop on the bottom indicating it was manufactured before July 1916. Basically, this design was for the cavalryman fighting on horseback in which an expended mag could be dropped out of the pistol and by a lanyard so it could be retrieved later. Unique to only Springfield manufacture, the lower edges of the mag fold over and slightly overlap the base plate. See photo. Overall Good Condition with a faint two-tone temper line still visible near the bottom portion of the mag.

Before they worked out all the bugs, these early magazines were prone to developing cracks behind the feed ramp. One method used to relieve the stress in this area was to saw a cut down the center and cut a small oval hole. These were called "key hole mags" and most of them were the early lanyard loop varieties m'fd by Colt or Springfield. It's my understanding that improved versions were manufactured while many of the earlier ones were modified in armories or in the field. This magazine has something a little different...the area behind the feed ramp has some type of early arsenal repair with bronze. Were they trying to fill in the keyhole or was it one of the early ones that developed a crack which was cut out? I don't know. It's been there forever, looks solid, no cracks, and echoes the story of early 1911 mag problems quite well. I found another one with an identical repair in an auction from 2013. See link:

springfield-armory-1911-automatic-pistol-magazine-two-tone-lanyard-loop-colt-ww1-cavalry

A scarce and desirable variant of a magazine that fed the early Government 1911 .45 Auto.

Item# 1773

SOLD