Beretta M9A1 (Historical)

General General Discussion
1

I was looking up the history of M9A1 procurement (for some personal research) and came across this archive document:

https://www.neco.navy.mil/synopsis/detail.aspx?id=121395

“This is a notice of intent to award a sole source, firm fixed price contract to Beretta USA Corp., 17601 Beretta Drive, Accokeek, MD 20607 for the following items: 3,480 M9A1 Pistols; 6,960 PVD Nickel plated improved magazines; and, 3,480 M9A1 Pistol Holster systems. Classification Code is 10 – Weapons. NAICS Code is 332995.”

On 17 May 2006, this modification appeared:

https://www.neco.navy.mil/synopsis/detail.aspx?id=136938

“The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM), Infantry Weapons Systems, Contract Group, Quantico, VA, intends to award a supplemental agreement to commercial item contract number M67854-05-C-1064 (P00002) that was awarded on a sole source basis under FAR Part 6.302-1 to Beretta USA Corp, 17601 Beretta Drive, Accokeek, MD 20607-9566. The purpose of this supplemental agreement is to increase CLIN 0001, 3,890 Beretta M9A1 9MM Pistols (includes 2 each 15 round magazines), CLIN 0002, 7,779 Beretta 9MM PVD 15 round magazines (C86021SR), and CLIN 0003 3,890 Beretta M9A1 Holster System, Coyote Tan.”

Is the modification increasing the basic quantity from 3,490 pistols to 3,890 or adding an additional 3,890 pistols to the overall order?

2

What is the story on the PVD nickel plated magazines? I could see how they might be an improvement on the civilian side, but military? Were MecGars just not working for some reason?

3

The PVD mags were (IIRC) a response to some contract mags made by Airtronic that performed poorly in sandy conditions. These particular mags had a phosphate finish that retained sand and grit.

4

As Slater said, a lot of .mil M9 mags were garbage, with an overly gritty finish that didn’t exactly aid in reliable feeding. The one and only deployment I was supposed to be issued a Beretta, I planned on using commercial mags instead of the issued ones for reliability. Things changed, and I only ended up carrying the M9 around a few times, but I know I’m not the only person to have swapped out/intended to swap out issue mags for anything else.

5

“Beretta M9A1 Holster System, Coyote Tan” - Is/was that a Safariland product?

6

The airtronic mags were junk. We had a buttload of them issued to us for Iraq in '08 as we were dual carry. Every single one I was issued had crap springs. After loading, and in less than six to eight hours, I could shake the rounds out of them. I initially tried stretching the springs back out, but to very limited efficacy. I ended up having a good buddy stateside send me a bunch of the sand resistant Beretta factory mags made by MecGar. Fantastic magazines that I had zero issues with. Even passed out a few to the rest of my truck crew.

7

I remember the CheckMates (ironic name) were also garbage. I was sending everyone I cared about factory Beretta or MecGars. Thankfully mags were actually plentiful and available so I could order hundreds of MecGars around $10 a mag.

8

The PVD mags had an extra set of ribs formed into the sides to allow the round stack to travel with more sand/grit in the mag. They are a solid upgrade over the standard mags.

9

Forgot about the CheckMates. Pure garbage as well.

10

You can still get Checkmates direct from Checkmate :smiley:

https://checkmatemagazines.com/product/beretta-92fs-9mm-magazines/

11

Original M9 magazines were blued – probably made by Mec-gar.

The Army spec’ed parkerized replacement mags – the coating causing cartridge drag inside the mag tubes. Huge, terrible mistake, on an awesome scale.

12

Good to know in case I ever want to spend more but get less.

13

True that. As far as I’ve been able to tell, Airtronic was only awarded the one contract.

Airtronic is the company that gave us the RPG for the 21st century. The original model was evidently a bit too basic. Who’d a thunk that an RPG and a Harris bipod would be a combination?

https://airtronic-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/AirTronic-PSRL-System.pdf

14

I’m old enough to have witnessed, albeit the tail end, of the transition from 1911’s to the M9. While you are, I believe, correct that they were made by MecGar, I do remember the magazines that we were issued with the pistol when originally fielded, did say Beretta. The biggest problem I saw with the mags were the springs. They wore out way too quickly. I’ve had M16/M4 magazines last longer than this M9 magazines did.

It was disheartening to me when we transitioned to the M9, because for me the 1911 was the iconic American pistol, but I know the issued 1911’s we had hadn’t been refurbished since at least the Korean War era, so it was nice to have pistol that functioned reliably. I do believe the M9 is a good pistol and will likely pick up an M9A3/A4 to go with my stash of magazines.

15

Reading the history of the M9A1, the USMC purchased it from Beretta as a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) item. So there was no TDP control of configuration. If the Marines had made further purchases, and decided that more changes were desirable, this would have been (theoretically, at least) easier and more streamlined.

16

It was all about the finish on Beretta mags, which was specd by Uncle Sam on the replacement mags, not the contractors. Checkmate makes alot of OEM mags for SIG nowadays

Sent from my BE2028 using Tapatalk

17

I’m not the KO, but that looks like adding items.

18

So does MecGar, I know which ones I’d trust more.

19

I don’t think Mec-Gar ever made GI M9 mags or Beretta mags.

Beretta makes their own mags in a roundabout way through a company they own called Meccanica del Sarca or something like that.

AFAIK, the only GI mags were Beretta, Check-Mate, and Airtronics.

20

At risk of being wrong, I’m about 99% that at the time MecGar was an OEM for Beretta as well as SIG and a couple others. The US government may not have contracted directly with MecGar, but if they were buying Beretta branded mags, they were buying Mecs. Currently all Beretta magazines seem to be Beretta and Beretta USA.