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I own a W. German P220, and a German made P220 both in like-new shape. The magazines for them are great, but compared to my newer U.S. made mags they are a pain in the butt to unload, especially the last round.
I would have assumed the newer U.S. mags would be tighter since they're more recently made, so I'm wondering from a engineering perspective why are the older German made magazines so much harder to unload. Does this make any difference as to function/reliability? Were they engineered this way on purpose?
Newer polymer followers versus the older metal followers. Also the preoccupation of cramming in as many rounds into the same space, has created smaller diameter spring wire to accomplish this. Regardless of model, this has become the new "normal".
Who is the US magazine manufacturer for the P220? Last I checked, Mec-Gar is still the non-German mag maker for the P220. And ACT (also Italian) makes the aftermarket P220 mags.
Durabilty? I have read some saying that the Mec-Gar mags are more durable from the construction standpoint. The German mags, with the dovetails welded in places on the back, can fail when the welded spots fail. This is just what I read but have not personally experienced that.
Another problem may occur with matching magazine springs to recoil springs, as the early P220s used a 15# spring, while later use what Wolff calls a 20#, and recommends a 10% Extra Power magazine spring.
As 12131 mentioned, some of the early dovetail backs could have one of the spot welds crack, which happened to one of my original 7 rounders on my KA ('90) P220. The biggest problem, with the 8 rounders was "fixed a couple of years back, when Sig redesigned the mags with a "dimple" to prevent the next round in the magazine from moving forward, until physically "pushed" by the slide.
Replacement springs are available from Wolff, even for the 8 rounders, which as I mentioned earlier, used smaller diameter wire, and can fatigue faster. If they won't hold the slide to the rear when empty, replace them.
As 12131 mentioned the ACT Magazines, which are also made in Italy, like the Mec-Gar, are virtual duplicates, but not made with stainless steel tubes, but blued steel, or nickel plated.
Below is comparison of the Mec-Gar and ACT Magazines, and the "Detent" added to the Mec-Gar magazines...
I’ve had older 7rd p220 .45 mags not lock back but otherwise functionally they work well. Yes, it’s easier to load the 8rd mags, and they hold 8. The cool thing about the p220, p226, p228 is there is an abundance of different kind of mags, German, Italian, US, aftermarket etc. Most seem to work well in those guns.
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