My New Must-Have: Sig Legion P226 SAO

[fidelity]

Okay, so what magazines do you Legion owners recommend? It comes with US made magazines. I was used to MecGar mags made in Italy. So these are new to me. There is a considerable price difference between the Sig US made and MecGar Italian. I wouldn't mind spending the extra cash on the US mags if they're worth it. But are they?

MecGar used to make P226/229 mags for Sig. They're great. I have at least a half dozen. Function flawlessly and smoothly drop out of my Legion P226 SAO. Quality construction and good looks as well. I like them better than the mags Sig currently sells.

 

[Ski169]

MecGar used to make P226/229 mags for Sig. They're great. I have at least a half dozen. Function flawlessly and smoothly drop out of my Legion P226 SAO. Quality construction and good looks as well. I like them better than the mags Sig currently sells.

Thank you! This is what I was looking for. My older Sigs came with MecGar mags and I never had a problem with them. I was just surprised to see US made mags come with the Legion. Looks like I can save some money and just get MecGars. Thanks!

 

[lkrose78]

...No offense but this made me laugh. I really shouldn't though. You have mags for a pistol that hasn't shown up yet and I bought a pistol I don't have ammo for...

I had previously tried a MecGar Mag in a P226 and it worked great! I just found them at a great price, and ended up with 4 at an even lower price! I've also stockpiled over 1,000 rounds of ammo as I've been waiting so long...every time I see ammo on sale that I haven't tried yet, I pick some up! Can't seem to stop!!!

 

[Ski169]

I had previously tried a MecGar Mag in a P226 and it worked great! I just found them at a great price, and ended up with 4 at an even lower price! I've also stockpiled over 1,000 rounds of ammo as I've been waiting so long...every time I see a sale on ammo I haven't tried yet, I pick some up! Can't seem to stop!!!

I do the same with ammo. No one ever said they have too much.

Anyway, to you and fidelity, thanks for the feedback. I just ordered 4 15rnd and 4 18rnd MecGar mags. Now to go ammo shopping!

 

[lkrose78]

I do the same with ammo. No one ever said they have too much.

Anyway, to you and fidelity, thanks for the feedback. I just ordered 4 15rnd and 4 18rnd MecGar mags. Now to go ammo shopping!

 

[pilot25]

Okay, so what magazines do you Legion owners recommend? It comes with US made magazines. I was used to MecGar mags made in Italy. So these are new to me. There is a considerable price difference between the Sig US made and MecGar Italian. I wouldn't mind spending the extra cash on the US mags if they're worth it. But are they?

The main body of the Mec-Gar magazines are much better than the "stock" ones. I received two US made ones and 1 Italian made one in the Legion case. It appears, from other forums, this isn't uncommon. There are no identifying marks on them except where they are made. After buying a few Mec-Gar mags at a gun show it is apparent Sig still is shipping Mec-Gar mags. I use all of them two to three times a month and have 3000+ rounds through the gun now. The Mec-Gar mags look new and are nice and smooth while the US made ones are pretty scratched up and rough to the touch.

I like buying US made products but it has to have the same quality product equal to the value of it's price. I don't believe that is the case here. Of note, I have not taken the springs out to determine if they are equal.

You can get 18 round mags that sit flush or 20 rounds ones that slightly protrude but not much. Additionally, like you said, the Mec-Gar mags are much less expensive. So it's pretty much win-win buying them. There is a guy at the Chantilly show that sells almost every magazine under the sun. When I bought from him, over the summer, he had about a dozen P226 mags in different capacities.


edit: I just read that you already purchased mags. Oh well.....Have fun.

 

[Ski169]

The main body of the Mec-Gar magazines are much better than the "stock" ones. I received two US made ones and 1 Italian made one in the case. There are no identifying marks on them except where they are made. After buying a few Mec-Gar mags at a gun show it is apparent Sig still is shipping Mec-Gar mags. I use all of them twice a month and have 3000+ rounds through the gun now. The Mec-Gar mags look new and are nice and smooth while the US made ones are pretty scratched up and rough to the touch.

I like buying US made products but it has to have the same quality product equal to the value of it's price. I don't believe that is the case here. Of note, I have not taken the springs out to determine if they are equal.

You can get 18 round mags that sit flush or 20 rounds ones that slightly protrude but not much. Additionally, like you said, the Mec-Gar mags are much less expensive. So it's pretty much win-win buying them. There is a guy at the Chantilly show that sells almost every magazine under the sun. When I bought from him, over the summer, he had about a dozen P226 mags in different capacities.


edit: I just read that you already purchased mags. Oh well.....Have fun.

As highlighted above, that was one of the reasons I was looking for suggestions. I prefer to "buy American" when I can but only if the quality is worth the cost. I can't remember what magazines came with my 228 I had years ago. I know the mags that came with a previous 226 and both 229s were MecGar. They worked fine and I never had an issue. Since I have no experience with the US made magazines, I wasn't sure if it was worth buying more of the same for twice the cost. Thanks for the insight and giving me a little more confidence that I made the right choice. I'm looking forward to these showing up in the mail.

 

[pilot25]

Slight tangent here on a related debated topic:

I use a 20 round magazine that I keep in the handgun, at all times, in the safe. I have never unloaded it since purchase several months ago. Shooters, that I know personally, who have several decades of experience, both professional and personal, said I need to rotate the magazine every month at the latest. Others disagree. Stating the continual expansion and contraction of the spring will wear it out quicker. I tend to believe the latter. That probably a once a year test on the spring would be sufficient for maybe up to a decade if kept in a safe that maintains humidity to a low level.

Are the opinions on here equally divergent or has there ever been a definitive study done to answer to that question?

 

[Ski169]

Slight tangent here on a related debated topic:

I use a 20 round magazine that I keep in the handgun, at all times, in the safe. I have never unloaded it since purchase several months ago. Shooters, that I know personally, who have several decades of experience, both professional and personal, said I need to rotate the magazine every month at the latest. Others disagree. Stating the continual expansion and contraction of the spring will wear it out quicker. I tend to believe the latter. That probably a once a year test on the spring would be sufficient for maybe up to a decade in a safe that keeps humidity to a low level.

Are the opinions on here equally divergent or has there ever been a definitive study done to answer to that question?

I've heard both arguments and agree that constant expansion/contraction of the spring will wear it out faster. I have various rifle/handgun mags that have been loaded for a year or longer that go to the range on occasion and have worked fine.

 

[Hawkeye]

Shooters, that I know personally, who have several decades of experience, both professional and personal, said I need to rotate the magazine every month at the latest. Others disagree. Stating the continual expansion and contraction of the spring will wear it out quicker.

Those people are wrong. I literally have a buddy who used to work in a spring factory, and (somewhat simplified) it is the repeated cycling that will wear out a spring, not taking a permanent amount of compression at any point that's within it's design parameters.

 

[pilot25]

Those people are wrong. I literally have a buddy who used to work in a spring factory, and (somewhat simplified) it is the repeated cycling that will wear out a spring, not taking a permanent amount of compression at any point that's within it's design parameters.

I agree but I can see where at some point the spring tension will give out. However, I think that wouldn't occur for many many years in a normal stored environment.

http://www.usacarry.com/how-often-change-concealed-carry-ammo/

This article states you should change out the defensive rounds more often instead if ejecting and replacing it over and over again. I probably will take this recommendation more seriously than changing mags out over and over.

 

[MDElite]

Another batch Legion P226 SAO guns available.
https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?p=4669391#post4669391

 

[campns]

At the NRA Range on Saturday the guy in the lane next to me had a MK25 and was having lock open issues with his mags, his SIG mags were working fine but the MECGars did not lock open on the last shot. Any of you guys have that issue? I was surprised as my 320 has been stone cold reliable from day one, even with ammo that traditionally jams any other 9mm I have owned.. the aluminum Federal 115gn.

 

[Hawkeye]

I have owned and shot SIGs for.... 18 years now. I have Mec-Gar magazines for all of my SIGs, and I have never once had a magazine related issue with any of them over more thousands of rounds than I could possibly count. That's really odd.

 

[beretta_maven]

I had previously tried a MecGar Mag in a P226 and it worked great! I just found them at a great price, and ended up with 4 at an even lower price! I've also stockpiled over 1,000 rounds of ammo as I've been waiting so long...every time I see ammo on sale that I haven't tried yet, I pick some up! Can't seem to stop!!!

Where did you pick up your mags?

 

[Ski169]

So these showed up today. Ammo to be delivered tomorrow and a range trip this weekend. For roughly $20 a pop each for 15 and 18 rounders, I think it was a pretty good deal from CDNN. Shipped yesterday and delivered today. Standard shipping. It helps I'm only 6 hours away from them.

 

[Hawkeye]

Where did you pick up your mags?

I've always gotten mine from Greg Cote:

http://gregcotellc.com/cart/?main_page=index&cPath=123&sort=20a&filter_id=5&alpha_filter_id=0

He used to be based in MD but he moved after FSA2013. Good guy to deal with, and good prices on the mags too. Obviously you can't have them shipped to MD, and he requires a billing address outside of MD for mags with a capacity of more than 10.

 

[beretta_maven]

I've always gotten mine from Greg Cote:

http://gregcotellc.com/cart/?main_page=index&cPath=123&sort=20a&filter_id=5&alpha_filter_id=0

He used to be based in MD but he moved after FSA2013. Good guy to deal with, and good prices on the mags too. Obviously you can't have them shipped to MD, and he requires a billing address outside of MD for mags with a capacity of more than 10.

Thanks! I've actually done a lot of business with Greg and I have a P.O. box in Virginia.

 

[Hawkeye]

Thanks! I've actually done a lot of business with Greg and I have a P.O. box in Virginia.

I got a bunch of 17 round P229-1 mags from him just before the 2013 ban went in to effect.

 

[jimbobborg]

Quantico Tactical has them, too. http://quanticotactical.com/asp/catItems.asp?type=C&subCatNum=36&CMN=Pistol They have a shop in Woodbridge, VA.