Retrofit Sig Sauer P229 10-rnd mags to 12 rounds?

[Kreed]

Howdy, shooters,

Perhaps this question has been asked before, but I couldn't find it in the archives, so here goes:

With the sunset of the so-called "1994 Assault weapons ban", I'm wondering if it's possible to refit the 10-round mags for my .40 S&W P229 to hold the standard capacity (not "high capacity!") of 12 rounds.

I've called Sig's customer service, and according to them, the answer is no. Of course, they're happy to sell you brand new ones. They don't even have any trade-in program.

But I thought I'd ask the RKIs here about this. I've taken one of these mags apart, and I note that both the follower and base-plate are very deep, and it may just mean swapping these. The spring would also be more compressed by this of course, so that too may need to be cut or replaced.

So, any ideas? Anyone done this? It may be more trouble than it's worth, but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[ceestand]

What state do you live in?

I believe the answer is yes, provided you don't live in a state that has it's own laws against it. You would be "manufacturing a high-capacity ammunition feeding device" which is no longer criminal on the federal level.

As always, the advice you get from the internet doesn't replace consulting a good attorney.

 

[wasrjoe]

I've taken one of these mags apart, and I note that both the follower and base-plate are very deep, and it may just mean swapping these. The spring would also be more compressed by this of course, so that too may need to be cut or replaced.

Incorrect. The spring would be less compressed (except when fully loaded, when it would be the same as a fully loaded 10 rounder). If you can indeed just swap out the parts (which you may not be able to, I haven't seen these mags myself) then there may be reliability problems because of the decreased spring pressure.

 

[Jim Watson]

These things had to pass BATlab scrutiny as "not readily convertible" to hold more than 10. You might be smarter than the BATmen but you might be giving up reliability to gain a couple of extra shots.

 

[Kreed]

I live in Florida, and as I read the law (and I'm not a lawyer either), there doesn't appear to be any problem with modifying 10-round mags to their standard capacity of 12.

That said, yep, there might be reliability issues. I figured I'd mod a couple and test them thoroughly to see how well they work.

Next question then: Where to get replacement followers/baseplates? Sig Sauer doesn't want to sell me these directly.

And if all else fails, any suggestions where I could sell these ten-rounders off, so I can use the $$$ to buy standard-cap mags? Of course, if the price was pennies on the dollar, then it's not worth it and I'll just keep them as spares for range practice.

Again, thanks for the good info, folks.

 

[waktasz]

There's nothing illegal about it but Jim Watson is right, they were purposely made to be hard to convert to high caps. In the case of sig mags, the metal mag tube isn't long enough and a plastic floorplate is put in as kinda a spacer for the bottom of the mag spring to sit against, so unless you get longer tubes you are stuck with what you got AFAIK. At least hi-caps are only around $25 now.

 

[JNewell]

The prior post is right. The SIG tubes are just plain short. Unless you want to try brazing an extension on, you're not going to find any way to convert them to standard capacity.

 

[Kreed]

waktasz,

For $25 each for new standard caps, it's not worth working over the old 10-rounders. Where can you find this price, though? I haven't found any place that's less than $40.

Thanks,

 

[waktasz]

Actually I think I paid $26.50 or so, I got them from someone in teh classified section over on sigforum.com. I can't access that site from work for some reason so I can't post the exact link but it's over there somewhere. I think www.mec-gar.com has some as well for reasonable prices. Not sure what the SIG mags go for but I just got 3 16 round Para mags for around $28 a piece there.