P227 SIG extended magazine issue

August 30, 2023, 06:08 AM

I bought a P227 hot off the presses some years ago. The 10 round factory mags work fine. The 14 round extended factory mags don't.

The extended mags seem to fit and lock like the regular mags and will load the first round. But then fall out when the first round is fired.

Inspecting the magazines, they look exactly the same as the regular factory mags. It just looks like they added an extended baseplate, that's it. Obviously fully loaded they are heavier.

I don't recall if I selective loaded the magazines with various numbers of rounds to see if they worked, say with 10 rounds, then 11 and so on.

Anyone have this issue? Are you aware of the reason and is there a solution?

August 30, 2023, 07:05 AM

12131

The 14-rounder was known to be problematic from the get go, but mostly from failure to feed. The mag falling out after firing is unknown to me.

This is the only mag that Mec-Gar has failed in all the years that I used the brand.

August 30, 2023, 12:20 PM

Mustang-PaPa

quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
This is the only mag that Mec-Gar has failed in all the years that I used the brand.

Another mag Mec-Gar never got right was the 13rd mag for the Beretta 96 in 40 S&W.
Ordered a bunch fro Greg and the tube would swell when loaded causing the mags to stick and be hard to insert and pull out.
Greg replaced them but they were from the same batch and did the same thing. At that point I was turned over to Mec-Gar for help. Mec-Gar determined that one of the heat treat ovens wasn't doing the job. Took about six months for them to fix the oven and start production back up. They also shut down for a whole month for holiday over there so it took awhile for them to arrive here and the new and improved heat treatment did the same thing as before. I finally gave up on them and just stuck with 10rd mags.

This was all several years ago so not sure if they ever got that issue resolved or not.

I am a Mec-Gar user and believer but just not on these two mags being discussed here.

August 30, 2023, 02:05 PM

SIGWolf

quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
The 14-rounder was known to be problematic from the get go, but mostly from failure to feed. The mag falling out after firing is unknown to me.

This is the only mag that Mec-Gar has failed in all the years that I used the brand.

You could also say there is a failure to feed since after the first round, the mag is on the ground!

August 30, 2023, 02:07 PM

SIGWolf

quote:
Originally posted by Mustang-PaPa:
quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
This is the only mag that Mec-Gar has failed in all the years that I used the brand.

Another mag Mec-Gar never got right was the 13rd mag for the Beretta 96 in 40 S&W.
Ordered a bunch fro Greg and the tube would swell when loaded causing the mags to stick and be hard to insert and pull out.
Greg replaced them but they were from the same batch and did the same thing. At that point I was turned over to Mec-Gar for help. Mec-Gar determined that one of the heat treat ovens wasn't doing the job. Took about six months for them to fix the oven and start production back up. They also shut down for a whole month for holiday over there so it took awhile for them to arrive here and the new and improved heat treatment did the same thing as before. I finally gave up on them and just stuck with 10rd mags.

This was all several years ago so not sure if they ever got that issue resolved or not.

I am a Mec-Gar user and believer but just not on these two mags being discussed here.

There is another company making extended base plates that "add 2 to 3 rounds" which is not quite the 14 the factory mags claim.

Don't know how they work. Might give them a try or see if I can get some standard baseplates and just convert them to 10 round mags. At least I would have a couple more mags.

August 30, 2023, 04:17 PM

.38supersig

If you have any extra magazines for a 2011, they can be modified to work with the P227.

August 30, 2023, 05:19 PM

SIGWolf

quote:
Originally posted by .38supersig:
If you have any extra magazines for a 2011, they can be modified to work with the P227.

Do tell. How so?

August 30, 2023, 05:20 PM

SIGWolf

So, replacing the bases is not going to work. I thought it was just an extended base, but what I thought was a base is just a sleeve and the magazine tube extends all the way down.

August 30, 2023, 09:05 PM

colt_saa

The magazines were changed

While there is no official comment from the Factory, when my replacement 14s were shipped to me they were in hanging boxes and not the hanging bags.

Most of the folks that I know who have the boxed 14s are having good experiences.

The magazine release engagement notch was slightly moved. I forgot which way, that was quite a while ago

If you do not already know, changing the locking piece in the magazines to a metal one from a P226 magazine allows the follower to continue moving down and makes room for one more round in either magazine

The plastic locking piece has very long fingers that stop the followers travel. It was a P320 or P250 shooter who passed that tip along to me many years back. This is apparently a very common modification to those firearms

August 31, 2023, 08:07 AM

SIGWolf

quote:
Originally posted by colt_saa:
The magazines were changed

While there is no official comment from the Factory, when my replacement 14s were shipped to me they were in hanging boxes and not the hanging bags.

Most of the folks that I know who have the boxed 14s are having good experiences.

The magazine release engagement notch was slightly moved. I forgot which way, that was quite a while ago

If you do not already know, changing the locking piece in the magazines to a metal one from a P226 magazine allows the follower to continue moving down and makes room for one more round in either magazine

The plastic locking piece has very long fingers that stop the followers travel. It was a P320 or P250 shooter who passed that tip along to me many years back. This is apparently a very common modification to those firearms

So, newer 14 round magazines should work then? Any way to ID the ones that work other than the packaging?

August 31, 2023, 09:15 PM

colt_saa

quote:
Originally posted by SIGWolf:
So, newer 14 round magazines should work then? Any way to ID the ones that work other than the packaging?

Unfortunately, they look incredibly alike

I painted in the P227 on the base plate with any of the magazines that I acquired after the change in packaging so I could easily identify them from any others I came across down the road

September 02, 2023, 06:49 PM

Devereaux

quote:
Originally posted by SIGWolf:
quote:
Originally posted by colt_saa:
The magazines were changed

While there is no official comment from the Factory, when my replacement 14s were shipped to me they were in hanging boxes and not the hanging bags.

Most of the folks that I know who have the boxed 14s are having good experiences.

The magazine release engagement notch was slightly moved. I forgot which way, that was quite a while ago

If you do not already know, changing the locking piece in the magazines to a metal one from a P226 magazine allows the follower to continue moving down and makes room for one more round in either magazine

The plastic locking piece has very long fingers that stop the followers travel. It was a P320 or P250 shooter who passed that tip along to me many years back. This is apparently a very common modification to those firearms

So, newer 14 round magazines should work then? Any way to ID the ones that work other than the packaging?

?How does this even work. Changing the slot would make a magazine NOT lock into place when inserted in the magwell. ?Would Sig have done that ON PURPOSE.

>How does changing the mag catch allow an extra bullet to be loaded. The follower would be well below the mag catch when loaded in any configuration except not enough cartridges. I could see POSSIBLY the catch not allowing the follower to RISE beyond it, so FTF the last 4 or so rounds, but I don't understand how it allows the loading of an EXTRA round.