The ins and outs of SIG pistol mag types
When you have something as straightforward as a handgun magazine, you would figure that there isn’t much room for error in your selection. However, when you are a SIG owner and you understand that it’s a Swiss design made in Germany and New Hampshire, you can see how things would get a little pear shaped. With that being said, let us cut through the chaff and get down to the heart of the matter.
German mags
You have to realize that Sigs imported into the U.S. from overseas were typically made in West Germany (back when there was a Berlin Wall) due to Swiss export restrictions. The maker back then was the German firm of Sauer & Sohn, which is where the term “Sig-Sauer” came from. In 1990, SIG began their U.S. manufacturing center in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1990 but for years continued exclusively making some models just in a now-unified Germany.
As a by-product of this, most Sig mags in the country made before 1999 are of German origin. Some mags were only made in Germany, such as those for the SIG P-225/P6. They can be readily identified by a triple S Sauer logo (which dropped off in 1994 to accommodate a date code, more on that later).
Besides the logo, the words “Made in West Germany” for bodies assembled before 1990 and “Made in Germany” between 1991 and current are evident on the right hand side of the magazine body. These mags also have a slightly lower feed lip, a zipper-back assembly, and witness holes on the spine of the magazine.
Then there are Italian mags, fake mags, coating differences, dates, etc.
To find out the rest, try my column at University of Guns