Last fall, Athlon Outdoors held its annual Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous in Idaho. We spent three days visiting with different firearms manufacturers. Editors and content creators got the opportunity to see new products, shooting them on our improvised range. We had steel targets from 15 yards to a mile away, and exhibitors displayed gear, guns and ammo. One of my assignments centered around new products for the concealed carry market. Top of my list is the new Mossberg MC2sc!

Mossberg MC2sc

I ran into Mossberg’s Linda Powell the first night of the Rendezvous. Linda is an industry stalwart and an old friend, and she clued me in on the newest Mossberg pistol! “It is a polymer-framed, striker fired 9mm pistol with a healthy capacity of 11+1 with its flush fit magazine and 14+1 with an extended magazine. It’s optics compatible and the gun’s petite footprint and economical price tag will make it a top pick for budget-minded concealed carriers! You’ll have a chance to see he gun and shoot it tomorrow morning,” said Powell.

History 101

Back in 2019 Mossberg introduced their first new handgun since the Brownie that was introduced a century before. The new MC1sc subcompact features a capacity of 7+1, 9mm rounds. It comes with a suggested retail price of just $425, with real-world pricing well under four Benjamins. In the firearm industry timing is everything and, in the case of the MC1sc, their sales were crushed by SIG’s P365 introduced just a few months before the MC1sc’s introduction. The Sig P365 possesses a 12+1 capacity with its extended magazine, a really nice trigger and a tritium front sight. It was a gun that became instantly popular–so much so that SIG couldn’t keep up with demand. Mossberg, like many other companies, scrambled to modify an existing design and upgrade its gun’s capacity.

Powell mentioned that the MC1 was well received as a single-stack concealed carry gun. “But then SIG changed everything when they introduced their P365, which offered nearly double the capacity in the same footprint.” Mossberg’s new MC2sc comes with a flush fit 11-round mag and an extended 14-round magazine. It was a logical improvement to a proven and tested platform.

Better Late Than Never

Ideally, the new gun should have been introduced much sooner, but Covid changed all of that. The pandemic affected Mossberg in every way possible. From deliveries of raw material from their suppliers, to redeveloping their manufacturing processes to include social distancing, to sanitizing the facility, Mossberg had to make some very quick adjustments to keep guns rolling out. The riots and social unrest the summer before resulted in huge backorders that Mossberg had to whittle away at before they could even think of introducing new products.

Burn Barrel Gun Details

Our first morning of Rendezvous we were met with a brisk but clear day. As Powell and I warmed our hands near a burn barrel she gave me the details of the new MC2sc. Some of the highlights include the 416 stainless steel slide and 3.4-inch barrel that are blackened with a DLC process. The slide features cocking serration at the front and rear as well as a low-mounted optics plate designed for use with micro-red dots that use JPoint and Shield patterns. Guns that we’d be shooting at the Rendezvous were outfitted with a Crimson Trace CTS-1500 micro red dots, but Powell said that Mossberg will not initially offer an optics-equipped gun. The low-mount of the red dot allows co-witnessing with the gun’s three-dot sights.

Mossberg has a goal weight of 5 pounds for the MC2sc’s trigger. The gun I fired at Rendezvous broke right at 4.5 pounds, with a firm audible and tactile reset. For defense use this is just about perfect. It also features a blade-style trigger safety and some take-up, which is not a bad thing for a concealed carry gun. Both the slide and magazine releases are low profile for painless deep concealment use. The magazine release is also reversible for southpaw use.

Mossberg MC2sc: Smart Design

The MC2sc also has a unique take-down system that involves sliding off the rear slide cover and removing the striker system before separating the slide from the polymer frame. It is a quick and easy disassembly procedure that doesn’t require tools and I like it! Like most modern subcompacts the MC2sc uses dual recoil spring system.

I also like the ergonomics of the gun. It is undercut at the junction of the trigger guard and frontstrap to encourage a high-hold grip, putting the shooter’s hand closer in line to the bore’s axis to minimize muzzle flip. The grip angle is 1911-ish, and the gun points naturally while the glass-reinforced polymer frame is textured to provide a secure shooting grip even when wet. There’s also a bi-lateral, rectangular groove on the frame’s dust cover for adding accessories like a tactical light and or laser.

The gun I shot that cold autumn morning impressed me! Mossberg had done everything right! The MC2sc has good sights, excellent ergonomics and all of its sharp edges are removed for painless, deep-cover carry. It has more than adequate capacity and the ability to add an optic. Before our meeting was over, I ordered a test and evaluation sample from Powell.

Shots Fired

While I was at Athlon’s Rendezvous I did not have the ability to bench the MC2sc for accuracy. Shortly after Rendezvous, I received my T&E MC2sc and tested it for accuracy at 15 yards. I fired my very first group with Hornady’s 135-grain Flexlock +P loads, also known as the “FBI Load.” Resting the gun’s dustcover on my Millett BenchMaster I centered the Crimson Trace’s red dot in the center of the black circle and squeezed until the 4.5-pound trigger broke. My very first group measured just .76-inch and it proved to be the tightest group of the day. I fired all groups with the extended 14-round magazine in place for an uncompromised shooting grip. The flush-fit magazine is designed for deep concealment, but it requires me to place my pinky underneath the base pad, and that makes it painful to fire groups from the bench.

Everything I fired in the Mossberg MC2sc fed reliably, from the cheap range ammo to +P defense ammo. In fact, there were no failures of any kind with the brand-new Mossberg. My aggregate group size was just .90” for the 4 ammunitions tried. That impresses me!

The new Mossberg MC2sc proved to be reliable and more than accurate. It possesses all of the features that savvy concealed carriers look for in a subcompact, striker-fired 9mm and it also offers consumers the ability to add an optic. The suggested retail price of the MC2sc is just $555 (without red dot). Chances are you’ll most likely find the gun for a lot less at your local gun store. Mossberg will also offer the MC2sc with TruGlo tritium night sights and another version with a cross-bolt safety. For even more info, please visit mossberg.com.

Accuracy Results

Mossberg MC2sc Specs

• Operation: Semi-Auto
• Caliber: 9mm
• Overall Length: 6.25 inches
• Height: 4.30 inches
• Overall Weight: 19.5 ounces (unloaded)
• Barrel: 3.4-inch, stainless steel, DLC finish
• Frame: Glass-reinforced polymer
• Sights: Fixed, 3-dot
• Optics-Ready: JPoint, Shield patterns
• Magazines: (1) 11-round, (1) 14-round
• MSRP: $555