I picked up a used 220 Extreme and tried putting a few rounds through it. The factory 8-rounders are fine with ball, and with some of the self-defense rounds, but some of the SD stuff is actually hanging while loading, and will not feed. Seems to stick not on the lips but on the front portion of the mag. My two 7-rounders work fine, one is SIG the other a MecGar. And oddly I have a 10-rounder that seems to work.

Any guidance would be appreciated. I really like this pistol, but I would love for the 8-rounders to work in it!

Thanks!

If you've already got a stash of self defense ammo that you'd want to use in it, check overall length and for deformations on the nose. I had a bunch of Remington Golden Sabre 230 grain ammo that could be a PITA in 220s. A very few bullets were perhaps too long (SAAMI = 1.25", I seemed to have no problems if C.O.A.L. was no more than 1.23" or 1.24"). More often, though, the petals formed by pre-scoring the hollowpoint sometimes jutted out just enough to cause a hangup in the front portion of the mag.

It was a pain to sort through the cache and set aside the less perfect rounds for other guns. On the other hand, the rest of the ammo fed and functioned just fine.

I found that the 200 grain Gold Dots would hang up in mine.

Before changing out ammo, you might first try using a mag loader (UpLula), especially if the mags are new.

My new mags seemed impossible to load beyond 4-5 rounds until I both bought the loader and let the full mags sit for a few days.

I’ve been duty carrying 8 round mags for many, many years with no memorable issues- I can’t imagine what the issue could be.

Are your magazines marked "220-1?"

The most current version has a dimple at the back of the magazine that creates drag near the cartridge's rim.

Good info folks! We took two mags apart, reversed the springs, and they will now load and hand cycle fine. Too dark, wet, and cold for live fire tonight though. Will report back.

Thank you for the update. We all benefit from learning how problems were resolved.

Your experience also validates why when I give classes to new officers I go into the nitty-gritty of things like, “This is how the magazine springs go in.”

But let us know how the live-fire testing goes.

quote:

Originally posted by ajp3jeh:
Are your magazines marked "220-1?"

The most current version has a dimple at the back of the magazine that creates drag near the cartridge's rim.

So stay away from these?

WJR

Yes, these are 220-1’s. My old 7-rounders were fine, as was the one 10-rounder I own.

quote:

Originally posted by ajp3jeh:
Are your magazines marked "220-1?"

The most current version has a dimple at the back of the magazine that creates drag near the cartridge's rim.

quote:

Originally posted by WJR:
So stay away from these?

No, they are fine, and are the most current version that I am aware of.
Stay away from (or fix) magazines whose springs aren’t installed correctly.

My agency issued P220s for years and we had factory magazines that spanned the range from 7-rounders with carbon steel tubes and metal floor plates to the last 8-round version with the indentation at the top rear to keep the second round in place when the top round was chambered.

The only issue I ever observed with the indentation mags was that for a time some Fiocchi cartridge cases had narrower than normal extractor grooves and could not be inserted past the bump on the inside of the mag tube. In time those cases disappeared and all the other ammunition we used, including newer Fiocchi stuff, worked fine as long as the bullets were seated in the cases far enough. Some 45 ACP ammunition whose bullets are seated out farther will also not work in 220 magazines, but that has nothing to do with the indentation.

And for the record, every magazine with a stainless steel tube that I have seen was marked “P220-1,” including the earlier 7-round type and all 8-round versions with or without the indentation discussed above.

Thank you, sigfreund.

WJR