Magazines & Such

Firstly, I need to comment on CheaperThanDirt’s blog logo, which is outstanding:

…and I like their articles, too.  Here’s the latest, on Mec-Gar magazines.  This part got my attention:

An advantage of a new type of Mec-Gar magazine is a special coating. As cartridges are loaded into the magazine and roll against each other and also contact the side of the magazine, they create friction. Mec-Gar has developed an anti-friction coating.
Magazines with the AFC product number suffix have this special coating. This coating makes loading and unloading the magazine easier. By comparing the original magazine with a magazine with the AFC coating, it is obvious that the coating works.

Allow me to add my endorsement to this.  When I re-acquired my Browning HP, I only had one magazine which, as Loyal Readers will recall, I addressed tout de suite.  A couple of the new mags are quite difficult to load, while three others load as easily as slipping into a dockyard totty during Fleet Week.  When I examined the mags more closely (after reading the above piece), I noticed that — tra-la! — the easy-loading mags have the “AFC” designation.  Not only are they easier to load, they all accept the 15th cartridge without causing me a finger-hernia.

I haven’t tried the new Mec-Gar mags in the 1911 because Chip McCormick PowerMags, but I may do so in the future, as Replacement Time comes around.  Watch this space.

7 comments

  1. The AFC mags aren’t exactly new… I’ve been buying them for my CZs for at least a decade. Great mags, though, and the CZ 19 rounders are fantastic enough that I have 13 of them.

    1. Yes! Maglula is your friend.
      More so than the little gizmo Glock or Springfield gives you, or that thumb stud thing that looks like it came out of a 1962-era candy vending machine.

    2. This! getting the last 3 rounds into my P95 mags was near impossible without it.

  2. I bought an Armscor 1911 about 15 years ago. It was shipped with three Mec-Gar 8 round magazines and they’ve given me very good service. I later learned that Mec-Gar makes lots of factory mags under contract. My Ruger LCP’s mags say “made in Italy” – I’m sure by Mec-Gar.

    Cheaper Than Dirt got on everybody’s hate list after Sandy Hook for canceling ammunition orders that had been placed and were in the pipeline so that they could jack up their prices on existing stock. Apparently they’ve cleaned up their act but we’ll see what happens the next time there’s a panic.

    I did enjoy stopping at their store in Fort Worth when I was in the area. I don’t know that I’d make a special trip from OKC these days just to visit Cheaper Than Dirt since there are lots more retail opportunities in the local area than there were 10 or 15 years ago. I’m reloading too – which I wasn’t doing back in the old days.

    Back on topic, I wouldn’t be afraid of the Mec-Gar magazines. I used the 8 rounders that came with the Armscor as reloads for a Kimber Ultra Carry II off duty pistol and they fed everything and went bang every time.

  3. I got turned on to Mec Gar 1911 mags by a former co worker who was a big time shooter and 1911 guy. Good to go and affordable. Buy them from Greg Cote. Great prices and service.

  4. Kim,
    The factory / OEM mags for my Canik TP9 are made by Mec-Gar. I’ve put several thousand rounds through it using half a dozen different factory mags. You only need to know one word. Flawless.

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