Arik
Member
I guess theit 17 rounders came out to comopete with Glock 17s and i can see why there are 10 round mags but what was the point of having 14 and 15 round mags?
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10, 14, 15, 17 round 9mm mags...why?
- Thread starter Arik
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Smith likes to offer more magazine capacity than their competitors. the 45s had 8 round mags, the 10mm had 9 round mags, one more than Colt.
The 14 rounder 9mm mags came first in the S&W 59. Why 14, my opinion is that it offered one more round than a Browning Hi Power. 15 rounders came next because other 9mm manufacturers put 15 round magazines in theirs. The 17 rounders came when Mec-Gar came up with a new follower design to add two rounds to existing sized mags, Browning, Beretta, S&W, etc.... the marketing race for mag capacity.
The 14 rounder 9mm mags came first in the S&W 59. Why 14, my opinion is that it offered one more round than a Browning Hi Power. 15 rounders came next because other 9mm manufacturers put 15 round magazines in theirs. The 17 rounders came when Mec-Gar came up with a new follower design to add two rounds to existing sized mags, Browning, Beretta, S&W, etc.... the marketing race for mag capacity.
I think you're reading too much into it. Mag cap probably was nothing more then what size magazine fit flush into the gun after the gun was designed. Follower design played into this. 10rnd and extended mags are all about mag cap but 'standard' capacity is about simple volume.
Badkarma 1
US Veteran
The 10 rounders came about because of the Clinton Crime Bill. The 14 and later 15 rounders were considered standard capacity for the 59 series. Tge 17 rounders = Mec Gar magic. And they work too! Dale
If you take each of these mags apart you'll see how the followers had to be made just a little bit shorter each time, and the springs sometimes altered as well to allow the extra rounds to fit. S&W likely felt that 14 rounds was sufficient at first, but when competitors began offering 15-18 shot pistols they had to figure out how to squeeze at least one more round in the mag. Mec-Gar got even more creative and figured out a way to get 17 rounds to fit. Of course they also came up with a great 18-round mag for the Beretta 92, so it still didn't help S&W much.
OK,
the 14 round were first and have a black follower
the 15 round were next and are basically a redesign of the follower for 1 extra round. they have an orange follower
the 17 round are an aftermarket item made by Megar, Ram-line, or Eagle IIRC
As mentioned, the 10 round are a blocked mag made for political restrictions
HTH
the 14 round were first and have a black follower
the 15 round were next and are basically a redesign of the follower for 1 extra round. they have an orange follower
the 17 round are an aftermarket item made by Megar, Ram-line, or Eagle IIRC
As mentioned, the 10 round are a blocked mag made for political restrictions
HTH
fiasconva
Member
If I had to hazard a guess I'd say a lot of it was LEO driven. Police dept's wanted to be able to compete with the criminals out there.
The increase to a 15-rounder was probably little more than a modest product improvement. Cops were mostly happy with the ability of a semi-auto to be reloaded quickly, not necessarily the number of rounds the gun had in the mag. For example, the 40xx series held "only" 11 rounds in the mag, yet I've never seen an LEO comment that the pistols' capacity was too low.
