For over fifty years, family pride, hard work and dedication, along with forefront thinking, modern equipment and proprietary manufacturing techniques have been incorporated into the formula of Mec-Gar’s success. Established in 1965, our manufacturing operations are housed in two modern facilities with more than 100,000 square feet. Located in Gardone Val Trompia and Gussago in the Italian province of Brescia, these locations are easily accessible from airports and highways. Unlike many other manufacturers, our state-of-the-art facilities and tool shops are dedicated to the manufacturing of firearm magazines.
We differentiate ourselves from competitors by offering all services in-house. From initial design consultation through final manufacturing, we meet the needs of firearm manufacturers, all while maintaining the highest quality magazines in the industry.
We are proudly dedicated to making high-quality firearm magazines that get the job done. We work closely with firearm manufacturers to optimize the design, development and reliable operation of the firearms that utilize our magazines.
To date, we have engineered and tooled over 250 different models and has supplied over 100 million OEM magazines to customers worldwide!
Considering the stringent testing guidelines and exacting requirements of military and law enforcement customers around the world, our magazines meet or exceeded their compliance and tolerance guidelines. We live by a policy mandating quality by being committed to the manufacturing of consistently superior quality magazines compared to our competitors.
We incorporate the highest level of quality control measures during the manufacturing process. Critical dimensions are regularly checked to maintain tolerance specifications. Destructive tests are performed to properly measure welding, surface hardness and carburizing depth.
We constantly make improvements which are progressively incorporated on all conventional or new magazine designs. It is the dedication to technical details covering design, fit and function that ensure we stay a step ahead of our competitors.
Our distinct advantage is that we are a “one stop shopping center” for technical design assistance, prototypes, tool design, development, manufacturing and assembly. We offer innovative, reliable and efficient designs.
With a professional in-house state of the art tool and die facility with experienced designers and toolmakers we can offer product engineering support along with diversified prototype development.
Integrated CAD-CAM technology is employed at Mec-Gar in order to fabricate high precision compound and progressive dies, tools and gauges designed to meet the most stringent tolerance specifications.
Using the best materials is of paramount importance that is why we take into account tensile strength, elongation rate and chemical composition of all raw materials. Before materials are accepted into production they are carefully tested and checked. Our magazines are made from certified ASAI 1010 Carbon Steel or from superior aircraft-grade 17-7 PH stainless steel.
We maintain a fully equipped metal stamping department including automatic presses, automatic seam-welding machines, and cutting edge robotic technology to assist in the stamping and welding process resulting in improved quality, tolerances, and output.
Magazines in our facilities are precision formed to meet the strictest specification and tolerances. Our magazines feature perfectly interchangeable components which are the result of the finest precision stamping, bending and drawing operations.
Precision TIG welding insures for a “no-snag” and durable seamless finish on very thin thicknesses (from .023” to 0.47” / 0.60mm to 1.2mm). The welded side of the magazine tube is precisely polished up to .002”.
Secondary in-house capabilities include state-of-the-art multi-modular heat treatment installations working in a controlled atmosphere, a vapor degreasing system, a superior mass metal finishing department, multiple automatic lapping machines along with high-tech surface finish equipment.
Our in-house heat treatment system monitors the entire process from the hardening step to the stress relief. All variables are kept under control so our parts comply to the tightest specifications. Surface hardness can vary from 550 to 750 Vickers (HV1Kg) while carburizing depth measured at 550 Vickers staying between .002” (0.05mm) and .005” (0.12mm).
High tech coatings such as black oxide, high or medium phosphorus electroless nickel, special manganese-phosphating, and anti-friction coatings provide Mec-Gar magazines with excellent corrosion resistance. Steel, glass, or matte finishes are also available.
Magazine springs are fabricated from high tensile strength spring wire to our stringent design requirements using reinforced coils with stiffening folds to increase thrust.
Followers are made from injected plastic, micro-die-cast metal alloy, or stamped from hardened steel. Followers are designed to ensure reliability when loading ammunition and then feeding it into the firearm. Our followers travel smoothly within the magazine tube and are designed to correctly activate the slide-stop lever.
We also incorporate high strength custom blended fiber-fill nylon or heat treated steel baseplates designed to withstand the most severe “drop and slap” tests.
Thousands of components are needed when manufacturing hundreds of different models of magazines. Our skilled assembly department catalogs parts and assembles thousands of magazines daily in a swift and timely manner. The shipping department then carefully packages the magazines and ships them to customers around the world.
For over 50 years we have been on the forefront of magazine design and manufacturing. Some of the proud moments from our history are:
Early in our history we made the decision to be the first firearm magazine manufacturer to convert to TIG welding of thin material magazine tube, which was a revolutionary idea at the time. The result is the durable and seamless finish that have become a trademark of Mec-Gar magazines.
We are proud to have received United States patent # 5,386,657 which focuses on a proprietary spring and follower design resulting in additional rounds of ammunition being able to be introduced into a traditional magazine tube without increasing the magazine length. As a result, a shooter can now increase the firepower of their firearm by using a higher capacity magazine which does not increase its length.
In 2007 we started to offer a proprietary Anti-Friction Coating(AFC) as a finish option on our magazines. AFC magazines allows for easier loading and unloading of ammunition by reducing the friction of the rounds of ammunition rubbing against the interior walls of the magazine tube resulting in increased feeding reliability. AFC also offers superior anti-corrosion properties of successfully completing over 180 hours in military salt spray testing.