Sp-01 Mecgar 16 or 17s in production any advantage?

[Timido]

Sp-01 9mm I shoot steel challenge and am going to try my luck in production uspsa. Should I get 16 or 17 round Mecgar magazines. Is there any advantage on one to the other? I plan on getting Springer bases if that matters

[Smitty79]

The Mec-Gar 17 round AFCs are more reliable than the stock 18 round SP-01 mags. For me, this has been true, even with Wolff +10% springs.

The 2 base pads I've seen people use are Springer and Shockbottle. The Springers are cheaper. There are Springers for virtually all types of mags, that work in an SP-01, that leave the magazines the same size. On the Shockbottle side, they are easier to get on and off and they are smoother. If I make a mistake with a reload, I can cut myself on the Springers. I use the Springers because I had a variety of magazines. I dry fire with my SP-01 18 rounders and shoot with the Mec-Gar 17 AFCs.

Best place I've found for buying magazines is here. https://www.gregcotellc.com/cart/index.php

[rowdyb]

i use the nickel plated mecgar mags that are marked 9/40. The 17 rounders, with various springs, and Springer Precision base pads, Clean them if they ever hit the ground with rounds in them, change the springs consistently and they will of course run perfectly.

[S&W686]

I use Mec-Gar 17 round magazines with Springer Precision Base Pads. This has worked very well for me.

[tha1000]

I had a mecgar 17 rounder catastrophically disassemble on me a couple weeks back. Anybody got a source for a replacement spring and locking plate for it? No idea where the guts went. Half my squad looked for it for at least 30 minutes while waiting on the squad ahead of us to finish.

[mrpredictable]

I use the 16's and 17's. My 18's are all retired. The 17's seem to have a nicer finish so if I were to do it all over again I would probably just get the 17's.

[himurax13]

I prefer the 16's with the rubber base pads for some reason or another. They have been 100% reliable for me.

The 17's are nice because they can also feed .40 S&W, with the appropriate barrel, and you can add the +2 Mecgar adapter if you like. The plated versions have 9mm witness holes on one side and .40 on the other. I have had issues with these mags not going to slidelock with or without the +2 pads though.

Edited March 9, 2016 by himurax13

[slavex]

I run the nickleplated 9mm/40 17 round mags with +2 and a magblock inside to comply with Canadian law for 10 rounds. When international I use another magblock inside to limit to 15 per IPSC rules. This prevents the rounds from bouncing down on a hard slide lock reload (which of course one would prefer to not need to do). I've had, regardless of springs, feed issues when loading any mag to less than capacity and slamming it home on slide lock. using the blocks means the rounds won't go anywhere.