Referring to the 9 mm versions: Why does Sig ship its full size P226 with 15 round magazines (I am aware of the TacOps higher capacity). Especially since their "compact" P229 also has 15 round magazines ... Surely 15 rounders aren't that much less expensive than 17 or 18 rounders? I also wouldn't think that 15 is more politically correct than 17/18? I am not aware of any reliability issues with the MEC-GAR 18 rounders?

I just find myself very curious about this??

The MecGar's are GTG.

If you can buy 17- and 18-round MecGars, would you shell out what the SIG website is asking for 15-rounders? My WAG is that

- SIG has a bunch of 15-rounders in inventory

- selling them at a discount is painful, in accounting terms,

- whereas putting them in a box with a pistol doesn't cost SIG any more than SIG ever anticipated paying anyway

- and SIG, with its pathological hatred of inventory storage and management, has to do something with those 15-rounders anyhow.

Colorado has a 15 round magazine limit, so if it weren’t for the 15 round 9mm P226 magazines and the 14 round 357/40 P320 magazines, we’d be stuck with being limited to the next common size down which is 10 rounds. SIG didn’t plan any of that based on one state’s restrictions, but that was one minor thing that worked out better for us.

As for Mec-Gar’s actions, it was right after SIG started buying 15 round 9mm P226 magazines from Checkmate that Mec-Gar introduced the 17 round mags. It was speculated at the time that Mec-Gar may have been prohibited from selling the 15 round mags due to some contractual agreement with SIG.

And why SIG didn’t have Checkmate produce larger-capacity 9mm P226 magazines when they switched over, this is pure speculation, but I suspect that no one at SIG thought it would make their products any more desirable, or perhaps Checkmate didn’t believe that they provide a reliable product. Checkmate did, after all, have problems when they first started producing the standard mags.

OP here: Thanks for the thoughts fellers. I have another question from this ... are the P226 and P229 15 round magazines the same/interchangeable?

quote:

Originally posted by bpnkrtn:
OP here: Thanks for the thoughts fellers. I have another question from this ... are the P226 and P229 15 round magazines the same/interchangeable?

The 229 mag will not work in the P226. Too short.
But the 226 mag will in the P229. It will just stick out from the bottom a little.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
The 229 mag will not work in the P226. Too short.
But the 226 mag will in the P229. It will just stick out from the bottom a little.

Interesting. The Sig site says 5.5" vs 5.4" for the height of the 226 vs 229. Does that seem right to you?

The magazine body on the P229-1 magazine is wider than the standard P226 magazine. That is why it fits 15 rounds in a shorter tube, and why the P226 will fit in a P229-1 magwell bit not vice versa.

A lot of people theorize that HK and SIG don't push mag capacity to ensure function. The P228/229 used to ship with 13 rounders in 9mm, the P226 with 15. As for the height, the P226 mags are flush fit, where the P229 mags have a bit of a baseplate to them.

Just buy some Mec-Gars and save the factory mag for range/practice.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Colorado has a 15 round magazine limit, so if it weren’t for the 15 round 9mm P226 magazines and the 14 round 357/40 P320 magazines, we’d be stuck with being limited to the next common size down which is 10 rounds.

NJ is in the same boat.

Also be careful not to put 9mm rounds in a .40/.357 P229 mag. The wider width of the P229 mags will cause the 9mm rounds to jam in the magazine.

quote:

Originally posted by bpnkrtn:
Referring to the 9 mm versions: Why does Sig ship its full size P226 with 15 round magazines (I am aware of the TacOps higher capacity). Especially since their "compact" P229 also has 15 round magazines ... Surely 15 rounders aren't that much less expensive than 17 or 18 rounders? I also wouldn't think that 15 is more politically correct than 17/18? I am not aware of any reliability issues with the MEC-GAR 18 rounders?

I just find myself very curious about this??

The original P229 sized 9mm SIG was the P228. Flush fit mags for it contained 13 rounds. The P229 came out and that was built originally for the 40 S&W. The original P229 was designed with a slighly enlarged mag, flared about half way down the mag body, and in 40 S&W held 12 rounds.

Eventually SIG chambered the P229 in 9mm but stayed with the P228/P226 non-flared magazines so they still held 13 rounds. Somewhere along the line someone at SIG, finally, thought to use the larger 40 S&W magazine size in the P229 9mm. This brought us the P229-1 and, yes, that magazine holds 15 rounds.

P226 and old style P228/P229 9mm magazines work in the P229-1, they will wiggle left to right a little though. BUT new P229-1 magazines will not work in the older P228/P229 9mm.

The P226 never had the larger, flared magazine design.

That's why the P226 9mm holds 15 rounds and the current M11A1 or the P229-1 will also hold 15 rounds in the newer style flared magazine.

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyChryst:
A lot of people theorize that HK and SIG don't push mag capacity to ensure function.

I am one who subscribes to this theory, It also allows easier insertion of a full mag into the pistol.

Some pistols with extremely high capacity magazines are almost impossible to lock a fully loaded magazine into with the slide closed, not to mention the extra drag on the slide from the very compressed magazine spring for the first 2 or 3 (critical) shots.

quote:

Originally posted by CAR:

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyChryst:
A lot of people theorize that HK and SIG don't push mag capacity to ensure function.

I am one who subscribes to this theory, It also allows easier insertion of a full mag into the pistol.

Some pistols with extremely high capacity magazines are almost impossible to lock a fully loaded magazine into with the slide closed, not to mention the extra drag on the slide from the very compressed magazine spring for the first 2 or 3 (critical) shots.

All that may be true, but I've not had any problem using 20rd mags with any of my P226s.

IMHAAHO, SIG should've introduced higher capacity magazines in both 9mm and 40/357SIG for the P226 when the P229-1 went live. Not that the P226 stopped selling once the P229-1 was live but maintaining a family hierarchy has psychological importance. More than a few of our customers have wondered about the two platforms offering the same capacity, yet one had obvious advantages in terms of concealed carry whereas the the other could only offer a 1/2" longer sight radius and slightly different ergonomics as its main distinction over its smaller brethren. Questionable marketing planning, IMHAEAHO...

BTW, back in the late 2000s/early 2010s SIG Sauer DID sell a larger cap, SIG-branded 9mm magazine for the P228/P229. I have a couple of them, purchased from the first Cabela's to open up in my area. They're marked 'Made in Italy' so presumably they're sourced out of Mec-Gar, but they also wear the SIG Sauer rollmark. A little different base plate that maybe juts out an additional 1/4" or so is about the only real change I remember about them from the 13rd factory mags. In hindsight I wish I had bought more of them but shortly afterwards I developed a unhealthy (for my wallet) fascination for the 18rd P229 SCT mags that Mec-Gar was also producing for SIG at the time.

Yes, but we saw with the P227 14 rounders that it's not always the case. My guess is it depends on the mag producer. Of all my SIGs, my only non-MecGar ones are 2 P320 mags. I haven't had any issues with them, but they'll only be range use. Only MecGar gets carried.

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyChryst:
Yes, but we saw with the P227 14 rounders that it's not always the case. My guess is it depends on the mag producer. Of all my SIGs, my only non-MecGar ones are 2 P320 mags. I haven't had any issues with them, but they'll only be range use. Only MecGar gets carried.

The 14-rd P227 mag is Mec-Gar. So, even the vaunted Mec-Gar is not immune to bad design.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

The 229 mag will not work in the P226. Too short.
But the 226 mag will in the P229. It will just stick out from the bottom a little.

^

9mm P226 mag in a 9mm P229 SAS DAK..



I run Mecgars in all my Sigs..

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyChryst:
Yes, but we saw with the P227 14 rounders that it's not always the case. My guess is it depends on the mag producer. Of all my SIGs, my only non-MecGar ones are 2 P320 mags. I haven't had any issues with them, but they'll only be range use. Only MecGar gets carried.

The 14-rd P227 mag is Mec-Gar. So, even the vaunted Mec-Gar is not immune to bad design.

Yeah, someone FUBAR'd that one. It apparently does take a bit of thoughtful engineering to come up with a workable +4 45AUTO mag base extension that doesn't hang up the mag spring as the compression is released. I'm not sure if it was Mec-Gar or SIG who screwed that one up, but it was embarrassing for all parties nonetheless.