SIG P226 magazines

J

jthuang

New member
Saw some P226 magazines for sale the other day and had a few questions.

These mags were used, but in very good shape -- minor finish wear, springs in good shape, feed lips perfect. All were pre-ban, selling for $40.

There was one that was stamped SIG on the magazine tube and another with Mec-Gar stamped on the tube. I know that Mec-Gar magazines are just as good as factory. Ended up buying both magazines.

There were others in the same basket that looked, externally, identical to the SIG factory mag (z-weld on the back, same witness holes, etc.) but were not stamped with anything on the mag tube or floorplate. I am familiar with USA and other substandard branded magazines and these, by all outward indications, were not such magazines.

Questions:

1. Was $40 a decent deal for those magazines purchased (i.e., one used factory P226 mag and one Mec-Gar magazine); and

2. Are those "unmarked" magazines factory magazines? If not, are they worth buying (i.e., are they reliable) at that price?

TIA,

Justin

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Justin T. Huang, Esq.
late of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
 
1) Yes, good price indeed.

2) There are some aftermarket magazines that will work quite well. You just have to "prove" them at the range before trusting them to defensive use.

CMOS

------------------
NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.
 
Good deal on the used mags. In my area the lowest I've seen used P226 mags for is $70.00.

On the other hand I just bought some USA P226 mags for $16.95. I replaced the followers with the followers from my 10 rounders and they work like a charm.

As a matter of fact they're about to be used again in an hour when I get to the range.
 
Justin, I think the price is ok. Minor finish wear ~ 'demo' these days and the price on SIG mags has (pardon me <g> ) shot up this year, and (worse yet) availability is shrinking, it seems, at least from retail sources. So, lookin' harder and payin' more.

On the z-joint, I have never seen another magazine for SIGs joined that way. I have some SIG-marked P226 mags that don't have the little circular Sauer cartouche, so it's possible that some get out of the factory not marked the way they're supposed to be. (Did it have the little Sauer mark? -- it's usally on the back of the mag.) At a guess, if it's got a z-joint and is welded in all the usual places (like a dozen or so, IIRC), I'd vote that it's authentic and buy it.

Didn't know you were shooting a P226???
 
That is a good price. Mec-Gar is the OEM for many manufacturers... I thought Sig was one of them.
 
Thanks to all for their helpful responses. I will take a closer look at those mags at the next gun show (July 29-30) and if they've got the "mark", I may pick up some more. She's normally got a fresh supply at every show since she gets them from local police as trade-ins.

John, I have to admit that I don't have a P226 yet -- I am getting in the habit of buying magazines for guns that I don't yet own! I still have five NIW PMI 30 round Ruger Mini-14 magazines that I bought for $10 apiece -- and still no Ruger Mini-14.... :)

Justin
 
I confess that I have a few of those ("orphans"), too! <g>

You should buy a P226, preferably in 9x19. The new ones have the Nitron-coated stainless steel slide. Vaguely analogous to a Beretta with the Brigadier slide, in that it's heavier and more rigid and probably has a longer service life, as well as less perceived recoil. The P226 is one of the best pistols available today, in my opinion.
 
Justin,

I take it that when you say 'z-weld', you mean a dovetailed seam. How did they compare to the factory original SIG-stamped mag you bought? Were they identical in all features, including empty weight, other than the stamp? I have come across (and bought) a couple unstamped but identical P220 mags in the past and can't see anyone going to the trouble of manufacturing an exact copy of a SIG mag, dovetailed seams and all, that would cost more to make that say a simple straight weld seam. Ergo, in my opinion, it is a unstamped mag manufactured by SIG.

If they were the exact same, I'll be willing to get some myself.

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- Ron V.
 
Ron,

You got it. Exact same zig-zag pattern on the back, same placement of witness holes, and by all external indications (sans SIG-Sauer stamp on magazine tube) these looked like factory magazines. I didn't know whether there were some factory mags that made it out on the market without the SIG stamp on them so I bought the two that were marked with something reliable (i.e., one SIG and one Mec-Gar).

As an aside, I stripped the Mec-Gar mag and it's practically new. I don't see any indication that it's been inserted into a gun! The SIG mag had some minor rust on the floorplate but a little steel wool will fix that pronto.

This lady normally has a small basket full (I'd say 10-15 mags) of these magazines at every eastern and central Pennsylvania gun show. Word on the street is that she gets them from police officers as trade-ins. My buddy at the US Attorney's office uses a P226 and he bought eight of them (!) from her at $35 apiece, all marked SIG. She has since raised her prices to $40.

Thanks to John, I am going to look for the SIG cartouche on the back of these mags at the next gun show (York, PA on July 29-30). If the cartouche is there, I foresee myself buying some more!

Justin
 
Ladies and gentlemen, an update after the York gunshow this Saturday on July 29.

Magazine Lady was there. I fished around the newly filled basket of P226 magazines and found some of the "unmarked" magazines mentioned above. They did NOT have the SIG cartouche on the back of the magazine.

I am happy to say that I did find two factory pre-bans in the basket (these were stamped SIG P226) and bought them both for $40 a pop.

Justin
 
$40!!?? Did you get enough to share? ;)

CMOS

------------------
NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.
 
I was at the Live Oak gunshow this weekend (San Antonio) and was shocked to find 2 Mec-Gar 17 rounders for $29.99 ea. Snapped them up. Sources are starting to dry up, I think.

Scott
 
My new personnal policy is not to buy non-factory mags if I can't return them. I have purchased Mega-Mags, ProMag, and some generics. None of them had any markings on the mag itself; they all looked pretty much the same. Seems like after-market mags for all guns are shinier than factory mags. The Mega-Mags have worked flawlessly. The ProMag had bent lips, and would not chamber a round. CDNN took it back with no questions. The generics would not go into the gun without pushing the mag release button, and then were still hard going in. Forest took those back with no questions.
 
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