Mec-Gar Magazines: Your Gun's Unsung Hero

Mec-Gar makes their new Optimum magazines for twenty-seven handguns. Using advanced materials and re-designed components covered in new anti-friction coating, Optimum magazines for the Beretta 92 series pistols and the military’s M9 hold 18 rounds of 9mm with a flush fit, and 20 with the optimal base plate. This is the upgrade you need to take your Beretta into the new century.

MEC-GAR is a privately held family-run business founded fifty years ago to do one thing, make high quality handgun magazines. Edoardo Racheli combined family pride with modern proprietary manufacturing techniques to build Mec-Gar.

It is well known in firearms circles that most handgun companies don’t make their own magazines. Chances are, if a metal magazine came with your pistol, Mec-Gar made it.

The Optimum magazine with Plus two base pad is in the gun, the flush fit 18 round mags are pictured next to the pistol.

The major gun makers who use Mec-Gar magazines include: Beretta, FN Browning, Colt, CZ, Kimber, Llama, Remington, Ruger, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson, Springfield Armory, STI, Tanfoglio, Taurus and Walther. Why do these companies use Mec-Gar magazines? Because they build a high quality magazine at a good price.

Mec-Gar magazines start with a sophisticated design process looking at both reliability and ease of manufacturing. They use certified carbon steel and heat-treat the housing. The followers and floor plates are rugged, made for decades of field service. The magazine springs are built from the some of the strongest wire available, type “D” music wire. TIG welding provides additional strength and a seamless finish. Each magazine is finished with a black, anti-friction coating to provide smooth manipulations and high corrosion resistance.

My first encounter with Mec-Gar magazines was in the M-9 pistol. For a brief shining moment, Mec-Gar had the contract to provide magazines to the U.S, Army. These mags were sought out and stashed away because they worked. I carried the Beretta in combat and used it in competition. While never my favorite pistol, if you care for it, it is accurate and reliable. A big part of that care was finding good magazines and keeping them. An EOD buddy of mine ordered Mec-Gar magazines from home and never had a problem with his gun for his whole war in Iraq.

Before there was an M-9, the Beretta 92 pistol evolved from earlier Beretta designs using an open slide design, alloy frame, and locking block barrel. The Beretta 92 did not use a feed ramp between the magazine and the chamber – the rounds feed directly from the double-stacked magazine.

The Beretta 92 won a competition in the late 1980s to replace the M1911A1 as the primary sidearm of the U.S. military. The last two competitors left were the Beretta 92 and the SIG P226.

The Beretta 92 officially entered service as the M-9 in 1990. The official reason Beretta won was cost. If you do the math, the first contract Berettas cost $159 each. For all of its faults, I am sure the Beretta is the best $159 gun in the world.

In 2006, the Center for Naval Analyses conducted surveys on 2,608 troops returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. M-9 users reported the lowest satisfaction rate in the survey. Twenty-six percent of M-9 users reported a stoppage, and forty-five percent of M9 users reported their weapon’s magazine failed to feed.

A pearl of wisdom I have been given by SF NCO’s for years is that 80% of all weapons malfunctions are caused by faulty magazines. Special Forces Soldiers are urged to mark their mags and destroy any mag which doesn’t work so that it doesn’t end up in another Soldier’s gun.

One reason for the Beretta’s confidence problems was the U.S. military purchased magazines from Check-Mate Industries. These magazines had a heavy phosphate finish inside the magazine which increased friction and combined with dust to induce malfunctions.

Mec-Gar Magazines: Your Gun's Unsung Hero — From left to right, Mec-Gar 18 round flush fit magazine, Mec-Gar 18 round with the plus two round magazine, Beretta Factory 20 round magazine and the Check Mate Industries 15 round magazine.

If you carry a Beretta as a service pistol from a police agency or the military, it behooves you to get the best magazines available. Mec-Gar magazines hold 18 rounds with a flush fit to Beretta’s 15. I recommend the bumper pad to get 20 rounds.

I have trained with the new Mec-Gar Optimum magazines in my Beretta 92 for the last month firing several thousand rounds of varied ammo. The biggest difference I noticed was the smoothness of the Anti-Friction Coating. Magazines drop free and reload smoothly. Every manipulation was easier and they feed flawlessly.

The extra three rounds of capacity in the flush fit mag are just a nice bonus. The polymer base pads provide an easy landing when dropped. Additionally, the optional base plates take that to 20 and made handling easier.

The Mec-Gar Optimum magazine for the Beretta fits models 92F, 92D, 92G, 92FS, M9 and similar 9mm caliber Beretta®, full size handguns.