AIM Surplus has rustbucket LE trade in 228 mags for $10 each.

I don't imagine original 228 13 rounders will be available in any quantity very often in the future, so worth it to jump on them for that price, even if they're rusty.

I picked up 7 of them to squirrel away.

Got a link?

AIM P228 LE trade-in mags



Cringe-worthy, especially that one on the left, but I guess that the effort in cleaning them up some is worth it if what you get is actually salvageable. As for me, I just use the 15rd Mec-Gars in my P228 and don't worry about any of the "appropriateness/period correct" things. Or any of that yucky-looking rust.

dump then in some Coke-a-Cola for a week and see what happens? Couldn't get any worse... Where did AIM find these in the bottom of the Great Miami River?

I posted 7 brand new dovetails and a like new zipper back for a pretty decent price and had not one offer. Those things look terrible, but they can be wire brushed and coated.

Wow - I just can't wait to get one of these and slap it into my German P228! So how much is the actual shipping cost, once they factor in the haz-mat disposal fee?

Could be a project but I think the magazines are still available in quantity in very good or even new condition. I would put these in the recycle bin.

That one on the left is going to need more than Coke.

By grabthar’s hammer, what a savings.

Naval jelly, and a complete refinish is the only way to get all the rust out of nooks and crannies. You’ll most likely new springs as well. If you don’t duracoat/ceracoat yourself, the cost will start to add up.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
By grabthar’s hammer, what a savings.

Win. All I hear is Alan's voice.

I've actually cleaned up some parts that looked worse than that with this stuff.

My order should be here on Saturday, so I'll report back on the actual condition.

I've got plenty of 228 mags already, so this is a cheap way to put more back as insurance against the political winds.

I'll clean them up, see how good/bad they are and probably Duracoat them myself. Short of them needing to be media blasted, I'm not too concerned about the additional cost.

I'll check the springs carefully.

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
I lost all my weapons in a boating, umm, accident.

This may, in fact, be the source of those magazines!

If those are any indication of the rest of them, those are really rough. I wonder how well they would hold up to some light sandblasting.

Those are awful, obviously especially the one on the left. To think anyone would buy one when you can get them cheap elsewhere. No way would I trust that spring so there is another 5 bucks. Gotta soak it in something, another $$$. Probably need to refinish then with something, $$$.

I would do one as a kind of “how would I” kind of project but for any practical reason? Hell no. 10 bucks is ridiculous.

If prices were to return to the past when P-228 mags were selling for $100 these rusted $10 mags might just work in a pinch after a good cleaning. Other than these mags I'd like to know where you can find any kind of mag for $10 these days, even the most unreliable aftermarket mags.

quote:

Originally posted by Kobren:
If prices were to return to the past when P-228 mags were selling for $100 these rusted $10 mags might just work in a pinch after a good cleaning. Other than these mags I'd like to know where you can find any kind of mag for $10 these days, even the most unreliable aftermarket mags.

Yeah, I'm not sure why people are so worked up about these.

They're not pretty, but at $10, they're still half the price of a new Mecgar mag. If they're ugly but functional now, what's it matter?
Even if it needs a new spring and some TLC, the price will be roughly the price of a new Mecgar mag, if not less. As a "for a rainy day" purchase, these are fine. The 50+% I saved putting 7 more 228 mags away can go and buy me other mags right now. In these times, that seems like a good idea to me.

YMMV, of course.

The magazine is probably one of, if not the biggest, element in the reliability equation. The bodies look like shit. Which means the springs look like shit. Wolff sells a spring for 7.49. Now you have a shitty rusty mag for 17.49. That you still haven’t cleaned the rust off or refinished it in any way to prohibit further rust. Plus you are buying a used mag that always comes with the possibility that it won’t be reliable anyway. Or, and this is just a thought, for 5 dollars more without even mildly searching for a deal you can get a brand new, guaranteed to run, rust free mag.

Nobody is worked up. It’s just hard to understand your apparent interest in these. If they all show up and look like the one on the left, well enjoy your weekend. Or weekends. The math, time, money, effort equation just seems off.

At first I actually thought your post was pointing out how crazy things have gotten if people are buying these. Then I kept reading.

Again, lots of concern about how other people spend their money, but whatever.

Here is information about the magazines for those who are interested. If not, feel free to stop reading.

The seven I got are nothing close to the left two images.

Two mags were marked with the old SIG "LE only" markings from the last ban. One mag had an officer's name scratched into it. One was marked with sharpie. The others were unmarked. They're all zipperback.

Two had no rust at all on the exterior and look to have a different coating on them, more like parkerizing. Oddly, these are the only mags that had rust on the inside of the tube and the springs.

Of the other five, there wasn't a speck of rust on the inside of the tube or springs. Some lint, but otherwise nothing beyond normal dirt.

The five with clean interiors show some rust on the outside. Two of those are barely rusty at all; they'll wipe clean pretty quickly. Another two were a bit more rusty, but only on one side of the tube. Maybe close to the far right image.

Only one had anything close to moderate rust. There were some spots with a crusty buildup, but it wasn't actually that widespread on the tube.

Overall, I don't foresee a major investment of time to get most of this batch back into range mag shape. I'll only need two springs. I doubt they'll need recoating, but I'll see once I've got them cleaned up.

Spend your own money as you see fit, but I'm not concerned about what I received, either from a monetary or time standpoint.