There are some differences in parts depending on manufacture location. I had a caliber exchange kit that would not fit on a German 229 but would fit a US 229. Swap out the locking block from the US gun to the German frame and no issues. Interestingly either frame ran fine with the original slide and barrel no matter which frame had either block.
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Posts: 814 | Location: Orlando and Daytona Beach, FL | Registered: April 02, 2002
This thread is confusing to me. The frame of a 9mm 229 is in two sizes depending on the exact date of mfg. The exchange kit doesn't give a hoot about that. I have swapped slides between frames of original and 229-1 frames a zillion times. Mags are a slightly different issue. 229 original mags fit both frames but when installed in the wider frame works most of the time, but not all the time so I don't recommend it. 229-1 mags don't work in original frames. I have heard of locking block issues on this, but I've done this and not had them.
“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
There are times that I think SIG NH would have been better served to have given a whole new model number to the P229-1 and NOT concerned themselves with bothering to make the new one partially compatible with the original 9mm P229. If there was any compatibility it would have been merely happenstance and not be a point of extreme confusion for those of us who are bad at following flow charts, family trees and similar confounding gibberish.
This thread is one of those times. Trying to keep straight what kit (and parts as well) goes with which frame (unless it's a Wednesday, when the reverse is true...at least up until 5 minutes after it stops raining but only if the ambient temperature is below 45ºF and above absolute zero) is rather maddening.
I called the SIG Store last week when I saw they had the 229 RX Exchange kit back in stock and asked them the same question. I was told it will not fit the older 229; HOWEVER, he said you could send your gun in to them and they would fit the exchange kit to the gun for NO CHARGE. He mentioned the locking block has to be changed.
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Originally posted by hrcjon: I have heard of locking block issues on this, but I've done this and not had them.
That is interesting because it is my understanding that the old 9mm frame has a P228 locking insert while the P229-1 has the "universal" block that is basically the old .40/.357 one, and they are different. That is why the P229-1 barrel is different from the old 9mm P229/P228 barrel and not interchangeable.
Posts: 2807 | Location: Texas | Registered: July 13, 2009
