CZ- Canik and maybe Tanfoglio Magazine issue

[Practical Shooter]

I made a little video about what I consider a serious magazine issue.
Please provide your experience with ether a magazine or a back plate issue.
Thanks guys

[aguila9]

It is not serious until it's tested with live rounds and it fails to work. Don't get me wrong it's annoying when the mags don't fall out as designed, but can be used. Please let us know how the newer one operate under live fire. Mec-gar can be somewhat erratic in the specs when it comes to aftermarket vs OE.M

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[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Other than the factory mags that come with my CZ's all my extra mags are mecgar and all function flawlessly. I'm not concerned.

[OldGringo]

I've never experienced any trouble with feed or drop-free issues with my 17rd blue-follwer low friction after-market MecGar mags. They seem to be much better built than my SP-01 mags anyway.

 In fact, I now use them exclusively in my CZ 75 BD, my SP-01 Tactical, and even in my Tanfoglio Witness P-S. I own 9 of them in total, although I have yet to try out their +2 base plates.

Is this the only after market MecGar you possess? Have you tried another one of the MecGar after-market mags?

It's either an out of spec mag or your pistol doesn't have the tolerances for the coating in the Canik mag well/release.

If the matte finish is causing a problem you might try the following:

Take a lint-free cloth or paper towel. Spray a corner of it lightly with some Ballistol and rub the magazine body down. Than take the dry part of the cloth and wipe off all the Ballistol you can see. The coating will still be matte; however, the mag will appear and indeed feel dry to the touch but will have a slicker feel to it (almost as if it's been polished with car wax).

[Practical Shooter]

Is this the only after market MecGar you possess? Have you tried another one of the MecGar after-market mags?

It's either an out of spec mag or your pistol doesn't have the tolerances for the coating in the Canik mag well/release.

If the matte finish is causing a problem you might try the following:

Take a lint-free cloth or paper towel. Spray a corner of it lightly with some Ballistol and rub the magazine body down. Than take the dry part of the cloth and wipe off all the Ballistol you can see. The coating will still be matte; however, the mag will appear and indeed feel dry to the touch but will have a slicker feel to it (almost as if it's been polished with car wax).

I have 3 of those magazines and all 3 have the same issue.

So I followed your suggestion. Cleaned one magazine, removed the aftermarket grips, cleaned the back plate, even exchanged the magazine spring with one OEM magazine. It got a little bit better.
Kept on playing with and rubbing my rag on everything. Then one magazine started working free, tried a second, same thing, then the third, and it dropped free as well. Now, I am very happy but very puzzled. What did happened?
In my conclusion, it was not the magazines, it was the handgun. Even so I cleaned the gun after the video I made and it still had the ejection's problem. I might never know, but thanks for all your suggestions.
There is no point on keeping that video going, so it's gone.

[M1A4ME]

There is, occasionally, a small difference in the size of the magazine tubes on the MecGar CZ magazines.  Not the 16 round ones, but the higher capacity magazines (they may start out the same and just have the extended bases installed on them but I've never had an issue with a purchased 16 round magazines - can't say that for the 18/19 round magazines).

It may be such a small difference that in a pistol with the magazine well sized correctly you'd never see a problem.

My issue - I used a MecGar high cap. magazine to size/modify the mag well on my Pre B CZ 85 (all internal filing/metal removal).  I filed/tested, filed/tested (and repeated) till I had easy insertion/drop of the magazine.

Then I bought more of them, several more.  I gave some to my youngest son for his CZ 75 SA.  As I worked through them (removing them from the package and putting them into service in the Pre B CZ 85 and several CZ 75 Compacts) I suddenly ran into one that just would not insert fully into the Pre B CZ85.  That made me grab the rest of them and try them as well.  One of the new ones would also not fully insert into the Pre B CZ 85 mag. well.

That was two out of maybe ten.  Seems like I had 10 or 12 of them, total, counting the ones I'd given to my youngest son.

I asked him to take those two that wouldn't insert into the Pre B CZ 85 and try them in his CZ 75 SA.  He told me they worked just fine in his pistol.  He then traded me back two of the mags. he'd been using and they worked fine in my Pre B.

So, every now and then, you may run across a magazine (or two) from MecGar that are just a little larger in size.  May not ever show up in a pistol with a properly sized mag. well, but we all should realize that a combination of manufacturing tolerances (+ QC specs/standards) can result in fit/function issues every now and then with big/long (but still within specifications) meets small/short (but still within specifications) parts for fit/function.

Nothing is perfect.  CZ's come close, some more so than others.

[olfarhors]

I guess that I have been lucky, I have 4 CZ, 3 EAA (Tanfoglio) and have never had an issue with either the OEM or the  Mec-Gar mags.
I have them in 9 MM , 38 super, 10 MM and 45 acp calibers.
that is a pretty good representation of the various mags I would think?
actually  most are mecs even the OEM ones.

[OldGringo]

I guess that I have been lucky, I have 4 CZ, 3 EAA (Tanfoglio) and have never had an issue with either the OEM or the  Mec-Gar mags.
I have them in 9 MM , 38 super, 10 MM and 45 acp calibers.
that is a pretty good representation of the various mags I would think?
actually  most are mecs even the OEM ones.

It would seem that the issue was the "low friction" finish on the outside of the mag body. By lowering the friction coefficient ever so slightly by lube/polishing they began to drop free. Sometimes just removing and reinstalling the grip panels does the trick. Just shows how tight the tolerances can be in firearms.

I've always wondered why MecGar calls their finish "low friction" since there is no way that the outside of the mag body is less slick then on their blued mags. If I Ballistol and wipe those dry they'll practically slip right out of my hands.

It might be the "anti-friction" does not refer to the outside but actually to what it does in the inside of the mag body to prevent dust etc. from causing feeding issues.

I remember that there was a problem with the U.S.-made government issue M-9 Beretta mags which were parkerized against the advice of the U.S. manufacturer (Checkpoint?) and those mags had feeding/reliability issues in Desert Shield/Desert Storm with dust and sand. Subsequent M-9 mags were issued (maybe MecGar?) with a matte satin anti-friction coating to remedy this problem.

Out of curiosity, when you fully load one of your +2 mags, do they rattle or do they hold the rounds tightly? I'm just curious since I'm looking to purchase some of the base plates and was wondering if they'll rattle like maracas like my OEM SP-01 mags.

[Practical Shooter]

Out of curiosity, when you fully load one of your +2 mags, do they rattle or do they hold the rounds tightly? I'm just curious since I'm looking to purchase some of the base plates and was wondering if they'll rattle like maracas like my OEM SP-01 mags.

All the 19 rounds mags I have, from Canik (Mecgar) or Mecgar aftermarket, have absolutely no rattling. All the rounds are chambered tightly inside their housing. Those Mecgar magazines belong with the best mags ever made. Even the base plate doesn't get too damaged from being drop regularly onto gravel.

[OldGringo]

All the 19 rounds mags I have, from Canik (Mecgar) or Mecgar aftermarket, have absolutely no rattling. All the rounds are chambered tightly inside their housing. Those Mecgar magazines belong with the best mags ever made. Even the base plate doesn't get too damaged from being drop regularly onto gravel.

Good. I guess I'm going to have to get some +2 butt plates.

After inspecting my OEM SP-01 mags there is no doubt that the after market MecGars are superior in finish, springs, and followers. I guess CZ must have had MecGar make the OEM SP-01 mags with as a high capacity as possible but also as cheaply as possible while retaining reliability. Despite their deficiencies, at least my OEM SP-01 mags have been reliable.