Okay, so it’s not THAT obscure. Still, when I stumbled across a long-forgotten pair of original Devel 8-round conversion kits in my closet, I decided they’re worthy of a blog post. Besides, I need to boost my gunblogger cred by actually posting about, y’know, GUNS.
If you’ve studied custom handguns in any detail, you’re probably familiar with Charlie Kelsey and his company, Devel. Fueled by the rise of practical shooting and IPSC, the 1970s and ’80s were a time of rapid innovation in combat handguns and Kelsey, along with contemporary gunsmiths like Armand Swenson and Austin Behlert, was a major pioneer in the field. His cut-down S&W 39 and 59 pistols and his “Gammon” and “Socius” 1911 conversions were some of the most stylish and distinctive pistols of the era. Click here to check out Wayne Novak’s personal collection of original Devels. For more background on Kelsey and Devel, The Gun Zone has good articles here, here and here.
Original Devel guns are now sought-after collectors’ pieces with price tags well beyond my budget. So when I saw these conversion kits languishing in one of those “Anything in this box for $2″ gun-show junk bins, I had to snap them up.
Kelsey’s design, documented in US Patent #4446645, uses a special spring-steel follower and lighter magazine spring to shoehorn 8 rounds into a standard 7-round 1911 magazine tube. On the patent application you’ll notice one Walter C. Wolff credited as co-inventor; yes, it’s THAT Mr. Wolff. If the design looks familiar, that’s because it is: Chip McCormick’s Shooting Star magazines use the same design, and in fact McCormick still offers the conversion kits under his own name.
The design, while innovative, isn’t quite perfect. As you can see in the original patent drawing…
… fitting 8 rounds in a space meant for 7 poses some problems. At full load, the follower collapses completely and the magazine spring becomes coil bound. The magazines usually work well enough, but with some sacrifice of longevity and reliability. Also, it’s possible for the follower to slip forward and gouge the feed ramps of aluminum-framed guns.
As far as the manufacturing history of these conversions, I have precious few details. The original patent shows a filing date of Feb. 12, 1982 and a patent date of May 8, 1984. As you can see in the photo above, my followers are stamped “PAT. PEND,” which leads me to believe they were made sometime before May of ’84. I don’t know when the kits were first marketed or when Devel stopped making them. The Chip McCormick website says he’s been making Shooting Star magazines since 1992. Devel was out of business by then but the original patent was still in force, so I believe the design was either sold or licensed to CMC.
I never actually used these conversion kits, and probably never will. 1911 magazine technology has moved forward in the 25 years since Kelsey patented this design. If you want/need 8 rounds in your .45, you’re probably better off with Wilson 47Ds or Virgil Tripp’s CobraMags. And if you can deal with the major handicap of only having 7 rounds in your magazine (oh, the horror!), John Browning’s original design still works just as well as ever.
Still, I’m glad I bought these kits. For the princely sum of $4, I own a tiny piece of a legendary gunsmith’s legacy.
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