Sig Sauer Magazine Quality.

Q

Quantum Singularity

New member
Quality of Sig magazines has gone down to below average IMO. My two original P239 magazines had metal followers and felt solid/well built. Both worked 100 percent. Today, I received another magazine I ordered from Sigarms and it feels like junk. Plastic follower, play in the base (it moves a bit), and a cheap overall feel. What happened? Did Sig change the magazine
makers? BTW, same thing applies to my P228 new magazines as well...they appear to have shaky quality to them!
 
The Sig mags are being made by Mecgar now. I tried to purchase Mecgar mags from Ajax Shooting Supply last summer and they told me that Mecgar would not be producing mags for the Sig anymore, because Sig contracted them to manufacture their mags. I am not sure if this applies to all sig mags or just certain models, I was looking at Sig 220 mags. I hope this answers your question.

Mike
 
i agree with you. my 225 mags are all metal and work very well. a saw some newer 220 mags the other day; the followers were plastic and they felt cheaply made. i don't know if they still work as reliably or not.
 
220 mags

I saw the decline in mag quality a couple of weeks ago when I bought a second 220. My first is a version 2 (American, spur hammer, checkered grips). Latest is a current version 3 (rowel hammer, stippled grips). [The frame rails on the new one have relief cuts in them too. The older one has the same cross-sectional profile and the way to the end.]

The mags in the new one are bright stainless (don't like), old ones are matte blue (me likes). No dovetail seem/spot weld like the old one (me likes), the new one has a ground finish in the back like a cheapo mag (ugh). Thickness of the mag body seem to be the same. No SIG stamp on the side of the new one:(. The floorplate is now like any other mag, a small hole in the middle to depress the floorplate retainer. The older one has the mag spring resting into a notch on the side of the floorplate to retain it. Oddly enough, there is a notch for the mag spring in the newer mag but the mag spring in that one does not have a kink at the end to go into the notch.

I've learned my lesson on aftermarket mags for my SIGs. (Even though SIG contracted MecGar to make their mags, I still consider them aftermarket.) All I look for (unless it comes with the gun from the factory) is the dovetail seem when I want/need more mags.
 
When I got my 228 everyone was pointing me in the direction of MecGars, which when I looked and felt them I immidiatly hated. They are NOWHERE near the quality of my 4 factory dovetail seamed factory mags (2 of which are the nickel variant). I suggest you get as many as these old factory mags off the secondary market as you need. BTW The same applies to Beretta mags, the new ones just don't compare to the old ones esp. the stainless ones.
 
It's too bad that the recent MecGar mags have lower quality, because the older MecGars were awesome! :D

And actually the mags that SIG cranked out right before the 1994 ban are of pretty rough quality. It's like SIG reduced their buffing time to the bare minimum, in order to maximize throughput. They work fine, but the finish is the coarsest I've ever seen on a magazine; it's like the texture of blue jeans instead of the texture of glass.

The MecGar P220 mags that Ajax Supply used to sell were the deal of the decade: $12.99 for a blue 7-rd mag! :eek: They're VELLY VELLY NICE :cool: and I prefer them to the SIG-made P220 mags.

BTW, in the "old days" when MecGar made SIG P220 mags (that were stamped with the "MecGar" logo), they had more "witness holes" than the standard SIG P220 mags, so you could tell exactly how many rounds your mag had. Sure, this is utterly useless. But I always thought it was cool.
 
SIG Mags

I had a 239 .40 I bought last year. The mags were very well built. All mettal, no play in the base plate. I sold that SIG and just bought a P239 in 357SIG. I cant tell a difference in the mags. The roll stamp on mine is AA so its a new one. If SIG changed their manufactors if must have been just recently. Within several weeks.

jason
 
My biggest complaint is that I can't fit 10 rounds into my factory mags that came with my 226 .40 without superhuman strength!
 
Blades67:

What do you mean, "he plastic followers in the P220 magazines are to enable the magazines to hold eight rounds."???

They didn't need to go to plastic to get the 8-rd capacity.

I have factory P220 mags with a steel follower and they hold 8 rounds.

On the factory P220 mags I have, both the 7-rd and 8-rd magazine's followers are steel. The difference is that the 7-rd follower has a "stairstep" shape, and the 8-rd follower is flat.
 
220 Mags

OK, now I am thoroughly confused . I purchased a new 220 last year. Came with 2 7 rd mags. Mags have a matt finish, are stamped Made in Italy and have the spring notch in the baseplate. I can't seem to find the "Dovetail spot weld" you folks mention. (Probably because it isn't there:))

I bought 2 Mec Gar mags from a local shop. They have the hole in the bottom and are not samped Sig Sauer on the side. They are stamped "Made in Italy" they have a shiny blue finish.

Which mags do I have? Are they functional. I have noticed the aftermarket mags have play in the baseplate, the original mags do not.

I have used both mags and have not had problems, but I really have not shot many rounds through the gun.

What does the "Dovetail Spot Weld" look like?

I love the way the gun feels in my hand, bought it after I shot a 357 sig (was it a 226?) a friend had. (I like .45ACP) have been thinking of converting the mags to 8 rounds.

Confused but happy.


Geoff Ross
 
K80Geoff,

"Made in Italy " - You have MecGar mags.

The dovetailed seems look like this : P226-top, P220-bottom
View


I had gone to a gunshow this past weekend and examined a used SIG manufactured P220 mag. Instead of the fine rabbit jointed seem of the P220 mag pictured, it had the larger dovetailed joint as the P226 mag.

Mecgar mags are generally good. A minority amount do not work well. They, however, (IMO) cannot beat the genuine from the factory of the gun manufacturer mags. If the MacGars work well in your gun, have no fear.
 
Sig mags not made in the original European factories seem to have lower quality. Maybe mass production with the addition of the US factory has something to do with it...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top