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There is NO REQUIREMENT that magazines have welded base plates. Don't know where you got that from but AFAIK it has never been a requirement.

Where did you get the idea that the mags had to have a welded baseplate? kR

If they let me have a magazine with a slide off basepad, I'll make it out of bamboo if they want.

Aluminum I can see. It was widely use in WWI for combat related items. Plastic, not until WWII.

They don't have to be plastic. My dawsons are aluminum. If you didn't know what you were looking for, you wouldn't even notice them if they had a sheet of leather over them. There were no beavertails, Bomars, skeletonized hammers, dovetail sights, and a whole list of other things in 1913. It's just this one issue WBAS seems to have a hangup with.

I am lobbying to have them changed. TGs read this forum. Major calibers just have to be larger than .400. Minor calibers have to be larger than .355. You are correct about the commonly chosen cartridges. .40 S&W Single Stack mags usually hold 9 rounds, they are simply restricted to 8 in the mag after the start signal if they shoot major, but they can still shoot minor if they want and load 9. I've never seen someone shoot a 38 super but there's no rule prohibiting it. And there's no rule loading 185 grain bullets to 126 pf and running a .45 in minor if you want. Unlike us, they check your guns and chrono your ammo, so they don't care. I'm surprised the mix of minor/major has changed so much. When I shot the SS Nats in 2013, the ratio was far more toward the major side. Some people bring both and pick based on the stages; I've done the analysis and it's about 3% for me which isn't worth the mag capacity issue and slide lock reloads for the rest of the stage since the game is almost always 8 round arrays. The one stage at the WSSS where my (fixed) rear sight decided to come loose cost me way more than that, probably over 10 positions in the match results. I came back the next day and shot as clean as I could and a lot of As to try to make up for that! Modern magazines generally don't use a welded baseplate as you call them, most are open on the bottom so that they can be cleaned. Basepads can be used with either, the ones used with the welded style magazines are usually screwed on compared to the ones with open mags where they slide on and are retained by the spring and a plate with a tab. One of the most annoying parts of not being able to use modern magazines is that they are a total pain to clean out on the range, whereas I have brushes in my range bag to clean magazines. In the other divisions, I use mags that can be disassembled without tools and cleaned very quickly between stages. This is a major advantage, especially on ranges that have sand in the bays. CAS shooters probably never think about dust and dirt in feeding devices, but for WBAS, it can cost a shooter a whole stage if it jams your gun up good enough. My USPSA mags are Tripp Research with Dawson aluminum slide on basepads. If they'd change the rules, I could glue the same piece of leather on the bottom for the look and not have to deal with the flush fitting magazines. My hands are tiny compared to some bigger guys, I imagine they're pinching their hands on every reload without a thick basepad all to satisfy some rule with no reason for existing. My beef isn't so much with the material, but the thickness, and the requirement to use GI style welded baseplate mags. Nobody in their right mind is using those in any other kind of competition, they were superseded 30+ years ago by modern magazines. I maintain two sets of ancient mags for my WBAS gun. Right before our annual match here I shot USPSA SS Major with my WB gun, and while I didn't miss my fiber optic sight much (my all black one is the same dimensions), or even my magwell, the magazines are incredibly annoying.

"Single Stack" is the name of the division, but it is 100% 1911 Single Stacks, no other gun is allowed. As I agreed with, however, according to USPSA Single Stack rules. Major calibers are 40 S&W, 10mm, .45acp. 8 round mags Minor calibers are .38 super, 9mm. 10 round mags. Of those who shot USPSA Single Stack Championship, 2/18/26, how many use something other than a .45acp? According to USPSA 106 used the Major PF while 129 used the Minor pf. Maybe I'm confusing Base pad with Base plate. Most mags have a welded base plate, to which is fastened a base pad. Some are leather, legal in SASS, others are plastic, aluminum, rubber, etc, which are not legal in SASS. You pays your money, you play by the rules. Don't like the rules? Lobby to have the changed.

USPSA multi-gun is essentially dead. The serious shooters are using other rules, not a good comparison. For whatever reason, people who enjoy that sport prefer not to use hit factor scoring. I don't know a single person who is shooting USPSA multi gun anymore and I haven't heard anyone talking about it in years, maybe a decade or more. Personally, I abandoned all forms of multi gun shooting outside of SASS a long time ago. I decided that stuffing shotgun shells into a magazine tube was not something I want to be timed doing. By "basepad" I mean something that actually makes a difference, not a 1/4" piece of leather. It helps, but it's not even remotely comparable to a modern magazine with an actual basepad. And just FYI, almost all of the major pf shooters there were shooting a .45 ACP. A few here and there might be shooting 40 S&W but it is not popular, I only saw one person doing it. The "Classic .45 ACP" distinction is not a USPSA category and I don't know why that box was even on the application. "Single Stack" is the name of the division, but it is 100% 1911 Single Stacks, no other gun is allowed.

For all you big bore guys, there is a really nice 38-40 on gunbroker right now....Would make a nice main match Classic Wild Bunch Rifle. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1180623542 I'd me in if I didn't have one. WK

Single Stack, being the operative word. USPSA allows .38 cal for all Divisions except Major (.40cal) Well, according to, both, USPSA and Practiscore, 235 shooters finished, 11 others DQ'd. As it, also, lists Classic .45acp, I'm assuming that refers to those who shot .45acp vs .38, 9mm, etc Based on Practiscore information: You finished 113rd, Minor PF (125pf) Wild Bunch is more like USPSA multi gun. At the last USPSA Multi Gun Championship, there were 122, registered, shooters, down from 188 the year before. Again, most Wild Bunch shooters use base pads. Leather base pads. Some shooters do shoot with no base pad, I know a couple. According to them, their magazines seat better without a base pad. They're top shooters so I'm not going to tell them they're wrong. It works for them.

There were 330 shooters that signed up for the match. "Classic .45 ACP" is not a category, I don't know why they put that there. Nobody was shooting anything other than a 1911 at that match (the production match was held the day before, 27 stages in 3 days!) And no, it wasn't a wild bunch match, there has never been a wild bunch match held anywhere that had this number of shooters. Precisely zero were using welded basepad magazines without basepads because they're a pain.

Thank you to the following sponsors for supporting SASS Presents the Saginaw Showdown 2026 Michigan State Wild Bunch State Championship June 13th and 14th. Winchester Bourbon Mernickle Holsters Steady Eddy Leather Michigan Rattler Leather Flat Water Johnny Boggus Deal Hunters Gold Paparazzi Pahl photography LG Butters Sterling and Engraving Drifters Steel Eagle Grips 1848 Custom boards Red Beard Bullets Frank Stallone Lock Stock and Barrel Auctions Bond Arms 1866 Distillery Saginaw Field and Stream Conservation Club Ajax Bullets

WIsh all of you guys could of made it. I would put the raffle prize table up against any wild bunch shoot in the nation. It is EPIC. see ya at the regional.

He might be referring to the Western States Single Stack Championship at Rio Salado, February 18, 2026. There were 224 shooters finish the match, of which, 73 were in "Classic .45acp". The others were some other version of single stack pistol Western States Single Stack Championship 2026 | PractiScore

Just out of curiosity where was the "1911" match??? Was it a Wild Bunch Match or some other discipline that used 1911's. Marshal Stone

Y'all have really shown me why so many parents have gone to home schooling. I really hope you're not in any instructor position, because you suck at it.

Now,now boys! 😁

I am not mad because you don't agree with me, I simply keep pointing out the FDACTS of the situation!!! You keep demanding that SASS change THEIR game to accommodate YOU!!!! You constantly say you don't understand what the rules are about. Time and time again two RO Instructor tell you to take the classes and even point out the PROPER way to get rules modified. You, however, continue with you adolescent whining and tirades against the established rules. It is not just this post, it is every post you are involved with, both here and on the SASS Wire. You are a chronic malcontent!!!!!!

I don't see where I demanded anything. I bought another couple sets of mags and forgot about the issue until a like minded person started this thread to start the conversation. You're the one who decided to come to a thread you don't like and express your distaste. You're just mad because I dared disagree with you. If I could take the SASS people there, I would certainly go and check it out. I have equipment for a lot of games. I don't see how Wild Bunch would be materially altered by letting at least the modern shooters who are allowed to use ambies, adjustable sights, front serrations, beavertails, and pretty much everything else I use on my USPSA gun besides a magwell would be so bummed out about being able to use a magazine with a basepad. I already knocked my front sight off and replaced it and removed my magwell. Maybe not having to buy another set of magazines on top of that wouldn't have been asking for too much?

Looking forward to it!

Well, you could alway go over to Historic 3 Gun, they allow any material for base pads, and leave the Wild Bunch shooters alone.

There is not a damn thing you could teach anyone! All you do is demand that an established organization change THEIR game to meet your requirements.

My Dawson 1911 basepads that I use regularly in USPSA are aluminum, so if that's the concern, that could easily be alleviated. Tripp Cobramags can be ordered with aluminum basepads already installed. If the issue is plastic, the solution to that is simple and already available, and already in use by people in every other shooting sport where 1911s are popular.

I don't have anything to do with the WB rules, as I was Retired/fired from the job a few years ago, but I will add a little thing that hasn't brought up. SASS as an orginaztion does NOT allow any plastic parts on any firearms where you can see them. (exception handgun grips)So plastic base pads fall outside any SASS organized competetion rules.