member requests help for son’s squad

IBD, not to be disrespectful but are your son's troops cleaning their mags when they service their weapons? Talking to some other buddies they said that in most cases folks loaded up the 9mm mag and then left the rounds there for a long period of time.  Over time the spring and interior of the mag gets very dirty (they are, as you know, in a damn dust bowl) and the spring catches on the grit buildup – thus the mag does not work properly.  There is no substitute for routine maintenance on the magazine – complete disassembly, cleaning and light oiling.

No offence taken from the note above I realize it is well intended..... BUT these guys are INFANTRY and they (most) have been there twice and they KNOW THE VALUE OF A CLEAN WEAPON!  Dirt/lack of maintenance is not the problem I can tell you with confidence.  For the record my son is a sheriff's deputy in his other life and there are a lot of other cops in the unit.  They know the value of a clean weapon. 

The timing is close for when they deploy but it will be nearer to the last of April/first part of May.  I can supply the address for the 2/127 Red Arrow company BUT I need someone to tell me how to use the PM system mentioned.  I would like for the address not to go over the net too.  RD can you post to explain how that works????

thanks

IBD

M9 Mag Research:  Today I called Brownells (a gunsmith supply house) in Iowa and talked with a tech rep there.  His suggestion was either of two Mec-Gar brand (they don't have a Beretta factory mag listed).  He said their records show 325 sold in recent times and there have been no returns.  Not real scientific test but it is an indicator of sorts of satisfaction from buyers.  In an earlier post I copied in data from Mec-Gar web site that showed they have been a supplier to Beretta factory for their mags. 

Mec-Gar Standard stk #625-000-017 is a 15rd mag @ $29.70ea our price $19.31ea and these are in stock now.

Mec-Gar Optima stk #625-000-032 is a 15rd mag @ $36.00ea our price $23.40ea and these are in stock now.  I need to check the Optima out on the web yet to find out why the price difference.

Prices are plus S&H and tax.  They can be dropped shipped to an APO which we don't have yet & won't until they are deployed or the current address at Fort Bliss Texas that we do have.

www.brownells.com is the web site if anyone wants to check this out. 

Any other ideas out there or places that has M9 mags????

IBD

Standard is a fifteen rounder while the Optimum is either a 18 or 20 round mag.

http://www.midwayusa.com/ebrowse.exe/brandlisting?brandid=13 71

BigAL

from RD's post : OK guys, It looks like we've found the magazines. I've read the Mec-Gar reviews on a couple of sites and they are all extremely positive. Now what capacity do we want? I'd suggest that we get whatever capacity they train with. No distraction of, "OK, which mag am I using" in the middle of a situation. Use what you train with!

While Rd's argument is based on good logic I would still vote for the Optima even with it's 18rd capacity.  The military mags are 15rds. 

They can still train loading the 15rds in all the mags as they are doing now.  But the Optima has several advantages over the standared mag as listed in the discription area (check a couple posts back) of the special non tilt follower etc that make it a better choice. 

There will be no worry of choice for the soldiers since this would be the primary magazine (ie first in the gun because it IS realiable) when the are "over there" which is why we are doing this in the first place. 

 For 14 Optima mags @ $23.40*ea = $327.60 plus s&h and tax @ $18.02.  I don't know what shipping would be say $15 as a guess.  Total cost could come to $360.62. 

* to get the $23.40 price from Brownells I would have to order the product through my business but anyone could order from Midway for only a couple $ more per mag.

Divide that by 13 = $27.74 apiece. 

Maybe we could recruit a few more as RD suggests.  If we could get 20 people it would come down to $18.04 apiece.

It's late maybe someone better check my math!

That's my .02 cents worth!

IBD

RD - i can chip in 25$, but won't be able to mail it until next friday.

i think i still have your address. if not, i'll send a PM.

as far as the choice of mag, i definitely leave that to the folks who know what they're looking for.

let's see if we can get this taken care of within the two weeks, guys!

RD....Put me down for $25  (PM me how to get you the check) and if we come up light maybe I could scare up a little more. 

ALL.......The estimate I had for 14 of the Mec-Gar Optima mags from Brownells came to $360.62 as noted earlier in another post at the dealer pricing, this price includes tax & Guess-T-Mated shipping costs. I asked and Brownells will drop ship directly to the soldiers at Ft Bliss Texas if we want them too. 

NOTE: If we could encourage a total of 15 contributors @ $25 it would easily cover the cost plus tax and s&h.  (15 X $25= $375) then of course 20 would bring it down to around $18.

FYI.....Midway's best price would add another $92 +/- to the total cost for the same product.

IBD

I got these pix from IBD just now showing his boy and his squad. these are the men you will be helping with your donations, and i can guaranteee that they appreciate it.

captions and other commentary are from Irish Bird Dog -

at armory when they left WI in Feb, this is him & his soldiers. labeled and at Ft Bliss TX then SSG Jason Janecek in 32nd Military Polices Co, WI national guard 2003-2004 in downtown Baghdad on patrol duty Photo from Feb 2004 Soldier of Fortune magazine, they went to rescue a patrol who were ambushed in downtown Baghdad and the 'chopper is a Medivac and he & his squad are containing a LZ for it to pick up wounded GI's But it could not land, area to small. He was a gunner in '03-'04 as MP, note 1985 Humvee and NO shield around gun and it was a M240B......no .50's or .30's allowed cuz they were in the city of Baghdad....go figure.... Even tho he was the convoy commander (2/127 Red Arrow this time)he took his turn in a gun turret so he could experience what his gunners went thru on a mission....wind rain sun etc exposure...note the uparmored humvee this tour 2005-2006 and the MA Duece .50 cal this time. Just wanted you to see a brief pictorial history of his previous two tours. This time he is a SFC and the whole brigade is going over together not just one battalion as last time. The first tour with MP's they were in combat for 450+ straight days in Baghdad.  The second tour for him they were there for 12 months in country and the battalion drove 5.7 Million miles providing escort to convoys all over Irag. He earned a bronze star and the battlion earned a Unit Citation.