Believe it or not, Mossberg hasn’t made a handgun in about a hundred years. Of course, they are known for their shotguns and rifles, but not for their handguns. Some time ago, I did a review on their MC1sc 9mm handgun, and it is one sweet little shooter in 9mm. It comes with a flat bottom magazine that holds 6-rounds as well as an extended mag that holds 7-rounds, and I much preferred the extended mag for a better grip on the gun. Mossberg promised another 9mm was coming, and it was about a year before I saw the first one on the marketplace, and I’m impressed with it.
The MC2c is a compact 9mm – however, it appears to be bigger than it really is. When I held it up next to other similar 9mm handguns, it was no bigger and even smaller than I thought it was. Right now, during this Coronavirus pandemic, anything in the way of a 9mm handgun is selling as fast as they hit dealer’s shelves, and needless to say, it is even more difficult to find 9mm handgun ammo these days. One place, and I won’t mention their name, is shamelessly selling 9mm FMJ imported ammo for $799.99 per case – that comes out to about 80-cents per round for FMJ ammo. That’s almost criminal if you ask me – but people are paying it. I also note that this same dealer is selling imported Russian steel-cased .223 ammo for $699.99 for a case of 1,000 rounds – again, this is steel-cased ammo, not quality brass-cased ammo.
Here in Oregon, the wait to get a background check completed, so you can take possession of your firearm you just purchased is running 9-10 days now – and as of this writing, we have more than 5,000 people waiting to get cleared so they can get their firearms. If you believe guns and ammo are hard to find now, and expensive, you ain’t seen nothing, yet!
I used to carry full-sized handguns – almost all the time, I found them more “comforting” than smaller handguns. But so much of that has changed over the years. Now, more than at any other time, small compact, sub-compact, and even micro sized handguns in 9mm are very popular – and they work! Many attempts have been made over the years to make handguns as small as possible – and many of those just didn’t work!
The Mossberg MC1sc was a joy to shoot, and it is very compact, and easy to pack, a lot of women like the size because it fits in a concealed purse hidden pocket, along with a spare magazine, and you should always have at least one spare magazine if you are carrying a firearms! Guys like the little MC1sc because it is reliable – thus far – 100% in my on-going testing – and it packs a punch, and can handle +P 9mm ammo, and it can be worn on a belt, inside the waist, on an ankle holster or even a pocket holster. And, if you are carrying concealed, “concealed” in the definitive word!
The MC2c under review is the bigger brother to the MC1sc, and this one is a real winner, once again. First of all, the gun comes with two magazines, one holds 13-rounds, and the other is 15-rounds – that’s a lot of on-board ammo for such a compact 9mm handgun. I’ve been carrying this gun – on/off for a couple months now, and I prefer the 13-round magazine in the gun, and the 15-round mag as my spare on my left side. The grip is very thin, and I don’t see how it holds those double-stack magazines, but it does – nice touch, Mossberg very well engineered that.
Here are some of the specifications on this little 9mm: First of all, it only weighs 21-ounces with its black polymer frame. The slide is stainless steel, but with a DLC black coating for non-reflection. We have the traditional 3-dot white sights, one on the front sight and two on the rear, and they are very fast to pick-up. And, I understand that any after-market sights for a Glock 9mm will fit the dovetails on the slide, if you want to put on some night sights. The grip frame, has a very fine “checkering” on the sides of the grip, while the rear and front strap portion has a different pattern, and it very effective in keeping the gun in your hand under recoil – not that a 9mm has punishing recoil. Above the magazine release, we have slight indentations on both sides of the frame for a place to keep your thumb on the gun – excellent!
The magazine release is mostly squared and easy to reach for a fast reload, and it doesn’t stick out too far, either – some guns have overly large mag release buttons and you can accidentally hit it, dropping your magazine, when you don’t want to. The triggerguard is big enough to accommodate a gloved hand, and it is flared a little wider towards the rear than it is in the front.
Now, on to the trigger. It is a flat version – not curved – and I was determined to not like a flat trigger — that is, until I tried it on several other firearms over the past year or two – I have to admit, I really like the flat trigger face. And, in the center of the trigger is a wide “blade” that is very common to many polymer-framed striker-fired handguns, that acts as one of the safeties. Mossberg says the trigger pull is “about” 5.5-pounds – not sure if that is correct or not. There is some slack as you press on the trigger to fire the gun, and it is gritty, but once you take-up that slack, the trigger breaks very cleanly. The more I’ve fired this gun, the smoother that “slack” and gritty feel seems to improve. However, as I stated, the trigger break is very clean!
There is a slide-release/slide lock on the left side of the frame, however it is difficult to drop the slide once it has locked open on an empty magazine. Not a problem as far as I’m concerned – just load a new mag into the gun and retract the slide and it goes into battery – it’s a more effective method of loading than using the slide-release. Long time friend, and one of the top firearms instructors in the world, John Farnam, taught me this method way back in 1989. We also have a Picatinny rail on the dust cover, if you want to mount a light or laser. On the frame, on either side, there are concave indentations, just forward of the trigger guard, and there is a very rough texture on both sides. This is for proper placement of your trigger finger, when you are not firing the gun…place your trigger finger into the indentation and you are practicing safe gun handling procedures.
Moving up to the slide, we have cocking serrations on the sides of the slide – front and rear, and they are angled and deep enough for a sure grip on it, when chambering a round, or checking to see if a round is in the chamber. The ejection port is lowered and flared, so empties and loaded rounds cleaning clear the ejection port. The extractor – not overly big, nor is it too small to get the job done. And, the sights we already discussed. There is a full-length recoil spring guide under the barrel.
Now, here is where the MC2c is different from many similar handguns, when it comes time to clean them. There is a small “button” on the rear of the slide – make sure your gun is unloaded and has no magazine in it. Lock the slide open, and then press in on that button and slide it down – then you can remove the striker and spring. Then while holding the frame, slowly release the slide stop, and the slide will come off the front of the gun – and that’s all there is to it – very simple to learn – I like it a lot! Oh, the 3.9-inch barrel is also made out of stainless steel, and DLC coated, as well.
My Range Tests
I’ve cut back on the number of rounds I’m running through firearms these days, for articles, because of the ammo drought, and this is the worst ammo drought we’ve ever faced – bar none. In my testing, I only fired 300-rounds through this dandy little 9mm pistol – I usually fire about 500-rounds. From the nice folks at Black Hills Ammunition, www.black-hills.com I had the following ammo on-hand: 115-gr JHP, 124-gr JHP +P, 124-gr JHP, 115-gr Barnes Tac XP +P -all copper hollow point, and their outstanding 100-gr HoneyBadger solid, fluted +P ammo. I had zero malfunctions, nor did I expect any, in all my testing. The magazines were easy to load, too. I might add that, I ordered some spare 15-round mags from Mossberg. They were out of stock, and it took about two months to get my order shipped, during that time, the price went from $24.00 each, to $27.00 each. That figures!
Accuracy testing was conducted at 25 yards, with the MC2c rested over a sleeping bag, over the hood of my pick-up. All the loads easily shot between 3.5-inches and 4.0-inches…and that’s more than fair enough accuracy for this compact 9mm. There was one stand-out – and that was the Black Hills 124-gr JHP – not the +P version. And, if I did my part, I could get groups slightly under 3.5-inches most of the time. I always shoot more than one group, with each load, for my accuracy testing – just to be fair.
If by chance, I see another Mossberg MC2c for sale, I’m going to get it for the wife – she liked shooting mine. However, chances of finding another MC2c at this point – not very likely with everyone buying up every 9mm handgun they can find. But I can bide my time – no rush, the wife has plenty of handguns already. However, that says a lot for this little gun, that I want to get another one.
I can’t begin to tell you what these guns are selling for these days, prices are all over the place on the ‘net because of supply and demand. If you want your own MC2c – then start shopping around, and don’t think about it – snap it up when you lay your eyes on it. If you don’t, the guy or girl next to you, will buy it before you can say “sold.”
I did not add AR’s to my inventory until recent years. Without the ability to reload, I could not have afforded enough ammo to feed them all. My cost to reload is $230/cs, and the accuracy is more than acceptable. MOA out of inexpensive mil spec rifles is good stuff . Today factory MOA ammunition would be spendy!
7.62×39 is now $600/cs, and the shocker is .30-06. Apparently there were lots of grandpa’s rifles in .30-06 discovered in closets, and the ammo supply was thin due to falling interest. The least expensive soft point ammunition for hunting I can find is the usual Winchester Super X at….$5.00 per round. A single premium hunting ammunition choice, Barnes Vortex is $6.50! There are only 6 entries on Ammoseek.com for .30-06. All other common caliber ammunition is half or less.
Good thing I got case of brass to reload. I was expecting 7.62 Nato to be higher.
There is a point were the price exceeds one’s ability to purchase a practical quantity. .30-06 is there. The only thing that has not out performed ammunition this year is Bitcoin. Now is the time to sell that, and buy silver.
Only 300 rounds instead of 500? I cant even train on mine at 50 rounds. Must be nice
Twelve year lows 1.5 years ago. The time to buy is when it’s plentiful and cheap. Not after everyone goes nuts. I told many people at that time to buy now, panic buying, election day was coming and most kept buying stupid chinese trinkets instead. Now they want me to sell them ammo.
Nope, not my problem.
Ditto
Well when producing at record rates who is getting the ammo?
Agreed shooter.
Good to hear on the pistol. Evals may have to take a back seat till this ammo thing gets lined out.
Pat, a friend purchased the MC1sc and we had feed issues almost immediately –
After swapping to G43 magazines these issues ceased-
Thoughts?
I own 2 of the MC1sc and my two daughters each own one…no feeding problems at all…maybe your gun just needs a little break-in period…if that doesn’t help, contact Mossberg…
It is a defensive handgun, I would hope a break in period is unnecessary, especially when ammunition runs 0.80+ a round when you can get it these days.
Oh well, it was a serious question.
I’ve been shooting for 40+ years, I’ve taught professionally for 2 decades, LE and military as a civilian instructor, all prior to current disabled status.
I was hoping for an answer that wasn’t just *send it back*
The turn around time right now is insanity, especially in that I have zero relationship with any manufacturer.
Thanks again!
I do appreciate the reviews! Outside of this handgun and my personal/and friends experience as well, have to agree with your approach in most!
Thank you!
Without examining the problem personally, I can’t give a definitive answer, but if you’ve been around guns as long as you say you have, then you must surely realize that, every now and then a bad gun slips through, or perhaps its a bad magazine…Thanks for writing…
”ammo for $799.99 per case – that comes out to about 80-cents per round for FMJ ammo. That’s almost criminal if you ask me – but people are paying it. I also note that this same dealer is selling imported Russian steel-cased .223 ammo for $699.99 for a case of 1,000 rounds – again, this is steel-cased ammo, not quality brass-cased ammo.”
you have to lose that [deleted] mentality, the normalcy bias is too strong here. those old prices ain’t coming back or these prices are not dropping. if you can obtain ammo the prices are what they are. you should have a rifle you don’t mind shooting steel cased ammo in if needed worst-case scenario.
nothing is going back to normal first the run on ammo and guns, next is the restrictions forced registration and then confiscation.
“One place, and I won’t mention their name, is shamelessly selling 9mm FMJ imported ammo for $799.99 per case – that comes out to about 80-cents per round for FMJ ammo. That’s almost criminal if you ask me – but people are paying it.”
….yep! …..it’s called a in-elastic demand curve…..that’s when no matter how much prices go up people will still continue to buy….the same rip off pricing practices that American colleges and universities have been feasting on for decades…..have you noticed all the Russian Ammo coming into the U.S. market in the last year?…..the Reds know how to exploit an in-elastic demand curve when they see one…..
That´s called capitalism
Yep. If demand goes up, the price goes up. If it’s too expensive for you, don’t buy it.
Terms like “Price Gouging” and “Greed” are socialist buzzwords used to get us to support price controls.
Good article, I’ve looked at these handguns when I first seen them and really liked them, but l”m not a striker fired fan. I’ve looked at lot of them and turned them down for that one reason. I like the 1911 platform and currently carry a SA range officer compact 9. It’s delight to shoot and a delight to carry ( I have to watch where I go so as not to be arrested for carrying in places where it would be a felony ), but because of the bull barrel, it is a [blank Lily edit] to take apart to clean ( recoil spring guide and you need a ” L shaped wrench or paper clip ( both of which I’ve lost more than once )), so I’ve been keeping a eye out for a SA Ronin in a 9 in the commander size / compact size. Why a Ronin, it has a barrel bushing. And yes, the price of ammo isn’t normal, but then again we are living abnormal times. EX, communist takeover of the federal government and world health issues. Just my two cents
Recently picked up a CZ 75 B omega. My first CZ. Oh my goodness. Went back the next day and they were sold out. If you find it and want it you had better get it. Crazy times.
EAA Corp. imports the Tanfoglio Witness, built in Italy, and based off the CZ-75, same as the Bren Ten was. You’re sure to remember the Bren Ten as the primary sidearm carried by Crockett in Miami Vice early season or two.
I don’t own a Bren Ten, but I do own a Detonics MK VI, .45 ACP, which was the “backup” gun Crockett carried on his ankle.
Sorry, I stray off the subject at times. My point is the Witness can be purchased all steel or bottom plastic, in different calibers, and feels like a CZ. I’ve shot several owned by a friend. They shoot very well.
While I’m at it, I also own a Detonics Scoremaster in .451 Detonics Magnum caliber.
PS
Sent my SB dues.
Semper Fi
Semper Fi
This is a comment about gun reviews in general, not Pat Cascio’s review. When is the last time anyone read a gun review that ended with the conclusion being, “This firearm is a piece of (fill in the blank)?
What we are seeing with regard to the ammo shortage is simply capitalism at its worst/best. The demand was high in the first few months of the China Virus. It took off like a rocket after George Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose while in police custody. While much of the demand was due to first time gun buyers who finally understood that the world can be a dangerous place, and BLM/Antifa might be bringing a riot to their neighborhood, long time gun owners were impressed with the need to add to their stocks, most because everybody else seemed to be doing the same thing.
To try to hold the price of limited production to, say, 2019 prices would be to simply transfer the right to make a profit to the purchasers who bought everything available and then sold it for massive profit. In 2012, Walmart maintained pre-Sandy Hook prices, but limited purchases to three boxes a day, no matter whether a box contained 50 rds. of .22LR or 200 rds. of 5.56. The gun counter cashier told me that one fellow came every morning an hour before the store opened. He sat in his lawn chair and read his newspaper. When the store opened, he went inside and if he found bricks of .22LR, he bought his three boxes–and then sold them on the internet. With prices around $75.00 a brick at that time, this would have resulted in about $150.00 in profit.
I saw bricks of .22LR for
Not only are people competing against increased consumer demand, we are also competing against our our government ‘requirements’. It appears from numerous purchase orders, that our government is once again in “stockpiling mode”.
This is not intended to be a comment on Pat Cascio’s review, since I have never even seen this Mossberg pistol, but has anyone ever seen a firearm review that ended with the conclusion, “Don’t even consider purchasing this piece of (fill in the blank)?
The China Virus started the ball rolling with the run on ammunition because a great many people became fearful of just how bad it would effect the fabric of society. Then George Floyd died of his fentanyl overdose while in police custody. Thereafter, a great many people then became fearful that BLM/Antifa riots would be coming to a neighborhood near them. As a result, we were then off to the races with ammo prices.
It’s interesting how so many survivalists/preppers who are, in large part, conservatives, are screaming about ammo prices. It is capitalism at its worst/best. It is basic supply and demand. With demand like it is now, if prices remained at 2019 levels, some people would be buying all of the ammo and then re-selling it at a profit.
Walmart kept its prices at pre-Sandy Hook levels during the last great surge in prices. It limited customers, however, to three boxes of ammo a day, no matter whether a box held 50 rounds of .22LR, or 200 rounds of 5.56.
One reason Walmart could do this was probably because it was big enough to cause ammo manufacturers to fear that when the shortage was over, Walmart might stop carrying their brand of ammunition. A second reason was probably because it increased foot traffic in it stores, and that a customer buying ammo might grab a jug of milk, a new sweatshirt, and a new CD before leaving the store.
The guy at the local Walmart’s ammo counter told me that one fellow showed up each morning an hour before the store opened. He brought a lawn chair and newspaper and sat there until the store opened. He then came inside and bought his three boxes of ammo, bricks of .22LR if they had it. He then placed the ammo for sale on the internet. This would usually result in a $150.00 profit, given that .22LR was usually going for $75.00/brick nationally. (I personally saw a vendor at a “prepper expo” asking $90.00/brick. When I said to him, “Are you serious?” he said that a vendor at the gun show in the next building was asking $120.00/brick.)
While some people truly were unable to buy a considerable amount of ammunition due to financial limitations (which would have included me in my younger days) a great many people spent their discretionary funds on trips to Starbucks each week, restaurant takeout, a new set of golf clubs/running shoes, or maybe even a second chain saw (“2 is 1…).
It is always clearer through the rearview mirror than through the windshield, and, as with most things in life, the choices we make have consequences.
I’m stacking and packing for a move to my Idaho place ,,so ,i look at what I really need and how much things weight. A friend has a gun shop and helps out traing kids to shoot so I loaded up 40 one hundred round box’s of 12 gage trap and was going to give it to him for the kids to shoot up ,well started to unload it at the shop and nearly started a riot ,,we looked at each other and laffed ,long story short ,,sold the whole thing for .75cents a round. To one guy for silver ,,,that was last week ,, the kids will still get there ammo later this week ,
He is selling my 9mm ammo for me with new guns,
We closed our gun conner in the trading post in December and sold about a million rounds in 10 days ,all for silver , the trading post is a silver only place ,
“that’s almost criminal if you ask me”
Ammo is replacing fiat as one of the new currencies. Same as bitcoin, Ethereum etc. Food will do the same soon enough. A market is what it is, and takes a life of its own. Everyone had the same chance to buy ammo while it was cheap. Now ammo at these prices is Not for everyone–it is for those that have none. Many are glad to pay the price. Even at 3-4X retail I am reluctant to sell for who knows if it can ever be replaced. Call me a “gouger” if you want but I have sold some “as a public service” trusting that the buyer will put it to better use than I would. As they say welcome to the “new normal”.