MGC S&W 459

Post by Claymore

This is the new new model MGC S&W 459 9mm, this cost me £190 which is approx $350 i think, yes expensive but then all the new models are.







First impressions
first impressions out of the box were excellent, the finish is matt black but looks very good. and it has smith & wesson on the left side of the slide.
The 459 is not a large gun,combat commander size(ish) but it has a good weight to it about 866g loaded (which is heavier than the commander).
The model is made of ABS with some metal parts, this one came with pachmeyr grips. Now this would normally be an excellent extra, however the grips on this model are very bulky and although they fit my hand (my hands are not the largest in the world) they are not as comfy as pachmeyr's usually are.
The 459 takes 15 rounds and is semi auto only (as you might expect). The barrel is chrome which at first worried me as i have had nothing but trouble with chrome barrels on my MGC 45's (constantly breaking) which is i believe to do with the chroming process.
However the 459 barrel looks solid and so far shows no sign of giving up the ghost. The plus side to that is that a chrome barrel really does set the model off well. The mag is also chrome and a metal one however the mag is fairly small in dimensions due to the fact that the rounds are not full 9mm size, but that does not detract from the model in any way.
Rounds
Although the rounds are 9mm they are in size more like 380 as they are the same as the ingram rounds and you can use the ingram rounds in it.
They take a 5mm cap and are slightly different in shape at the bullet head to the ingram. This is a good thing as the seals which are tiny always blow off the ingram and after you fire them a few times the seals break, annoying and frustrating.
With the slightly different shape of the 459 round this blowing the seal does not happen.
Firing the gun
This is one of the loudest model guns i have, you get a really good crack from the round and the spent case gets ejected forcefully. The 459 has a double action trigger so if a round fails to fire first time it's easy enough to just pull the trigger again to set the cap off. The trigger pull is smooth and not heavy even in double action use and the slide has a good smooth movement as well. The barrel is open as usual and with this being a small gun you get a decent amount of smoke and sparks out of the barrel. I really enjoy firing this gun it performs well, you do get the occasional jam when a round fails to function correctly (so not a problem with the the gun itself) and of course as the rounds and the barrel pin get dirty then you can expect ejection problems.
Overall
This is a very well put together model solid in construction and i am very pleased with it. I stay away from 5mm cap firing models usually because of the seal problem, i have reverted to the old type round for the ingram because of the seals, i also have a USP which has been converted to take the 7mm real look rounds. The 459 has put my faith back in the 5mm cap and i wopuld pick another 5mm model from MGC now.
For me also i will probably change the pachmeyr's to wooden ones, simply bexcause the pach's are to bulky for me and just dont feel right in my hand. So if you have small hands stick to standard grips.

Post by Mark

Hi Claymore,

What a great review! Thanks! I had just noticed this paticular new MGC on redwolf airsoft site. I actually was shocked that MGC released this version of the old Smith&Wesson M59.

MGC/Taito is sure being rather nice to us in the last few years by releasing several old/new modelguns for us to "play with."

When I noticed that it used the 5mm cap rounds I too, thought that I would have to deal with the O-ring situation again and yes, that is a pain!

But, they must have done some detonator mods too because the Ingrams detonator allow's the piston to tilt in the cartridge and this is why the O-ring blows off or wraps around the piston..

Did you buy your M459 with the pachymers as an option? I bought one of my old MGC M59's and it had pachymers on it when I received it I immediately removed them and replaced them with the original grips that where (thankfully) included.

I also noticed that the modelguns I have in 5mm have been loud I am not completely sure why but it is interesting.

It's interesting that you have reverted back to the old type rounds(open 5mm cartridges) on your Ingram, did you buy an older detonator or did you have an old version of the Ingram that you used to convert over to the newer O-ring CP HW cartridges?

I was thinking of converting my USP over to the KSC/MGC Beretta cartridges as they are plentifull at the moment but, I haven't got around to it yet!

Again, very nice reveiw! Thanks claymore!

Post by Claymore

Hi Mark
The 459 came with the pachmeyr's, i did have the choice of standard or pach's i thought the pach's would be the way to go DOH!!. Anyway when i can find a good set of wood one's i will change.

I had a new ingram that took the new rounds, but go so fed up with replacing the seals that i enquired about the old type rounds and bought the old type pin (it was cheap) and old rounds and the ingram works great not had a problem with it since.
It's the model i let everyone have a go off now and it brings a huge grin to everyone's face.

I also have an ingram that fires the new real look rounds, which do look great but you can only get about 19-20 rounds in a 30 round mag as the rounds are larger yet they still work (fit in the breach) which is strange.

Post by Mark

Ya, my Ingram was one of the open cartridge types until I converted it to fire the later style of cartridges.

In the old configuration I had nothing but trouble with it and had lot's of trouble with jams It later turned out that I didn't have the right cartridges for it!

It later turned out that I was using the cartridges from the open cartridge Smith&Wesson M59 that I have and they are too long! (9x24) compaired to the special Mac11's .380 "super" (9x22) cartridges it was only when I obtained a box of the .380 super's that I discovered the reason why I was having problems!

Of course, I no longer have the original detonator as I machined it down for the later style cartridges!

So, I never had the chance to try my Mac 11 in it's original configuration due to the cartridge situation..

Yes, the Ingram is lots of fun until it gets too dirty! I still like shooting mine as I have always wanted a real Mac 11!

I have heard about the converted MGC Mac 11s from the Japanese usually they use the marushin Beretta M84 cartridges (side or center fire) and as you have discovered, the rounds are larger.

The "real look" cartridges also have more taper than the original cartridges so they don't fit in the magazine as well as the original MGC .380 super cartridges.

Oh, I forgot to ask, is the M459 a centerfire or side fire?