Well it was tricky, but got it working.
I received it today, and right away, there was a problem. It did load 8 rounds, tight but worked.
But when I loaded the magazine into the Sig 230 SL, the slide would not chamber because the slide was locked back by the slide catch. (On the Sig, there is not slide release. It is activated internally by the mag follower only).
So i determined that the Mec-Gar magazine body was causing the slide catch to activate every time, regardless of whether it was empty or loaded.
The dilemma was that if I tried to alter the magazine, my ability to return the mag due to defect or false advertising would void any return policy that fleabay has. So what to do, take a chance and have an eight round magazine or return the darn thing and get my money back, but alway wonder if I had just tried to fix it! Well, it only took five minutes to make the decision and off the the shop for the dremel!
Okay, I got it working! I like to tinker, and just had to give it a try, even if I lost the money. The problem is like I said. The cutout on the left forward shoulder of the Mec-Gar magazine is too high so it activates the slide catch. I confirmed this by stripping the mecgar magazine of all innards and inserted the magazine and could watch the slide catch be moved upwards (with the SIG slide off).
So I took a dremel with a pointed grinder bit and hollowed out the left magazine shoulder like the Sig OEM magazine is. I did this until by inserting the empty magazine body, it would not raise the Sig slide stop catch.
I then put the Mec-Gar magazine back together and checked first to see that the magazine follower would lock the slide back, which it did, then inserted some rounds into the magazine to confirm that it would release the slide and chamber which it did.
Of course I will test it throughly at the range this weekend to make sure it all works.
NOTE:
To clarify, this is a Mec-Gar magazine for the Berso Thunderer that Robertson's trading modified to fit the Sig 230 and 232 models. What they did was to remove a little at the base of the magazine so that the European mag catch could work. The magazine is slightly extended, but there is a stop on the mag body so it won't slide too high. The magazine is very smooth and well made and made in italy, high quality with a metal follower, but plastic base plate. I cost me 38.00 as opposed to the going 80.00 price for the OEM Sig mags.
