Can I use a 15-rd. mag in my Sig?

gravedigger · September 2001

Hi,I bought a Sig Sauer P226 recently. It came with two 10-rd. mags. Can I legally use a pre-ban 15 rd. mag in this post-ban gun? I am in Louisiana.-Marcus

sig-man · September 2001

If you bought it recently and it's new no you cannot legally use the 15 rd mag. If you bought it used and it came with the mag, or was manufactured before the ban was effective or it is a police turn in , then yes you can use them, cofusing isn't it...

leeblackman · September 2001

Yes you can use it. As long as the magazine was manufactured before 1994 it can be used in any gun. There is no judicial presedent set for doing so however, but I seriously doubt that the local ATF office will spend its time or money enforcing the usage of preban mags in post ban guns.

Tom C · September 2001

gravedigger,There are NO Federal restrictions as far asusing preban high capacity magazines in postban handguns. Some states and cities havelaws limiting the ownership of high capacitymags. If you like the Sig226 then by allmeans buy all the high capacity mags that youcan afford. P.S. ( I lived in Shreveport for6 years. Sure do miss that Cajun food.)

lrarmsx · September 2001

Not that you haven't got this already, but yes you can use any and all pre-ban magazines in your post-ban Sig 226. There are still some models of post-ban guns that come from the factory with high capacity mags. If the mags were made before the ban, there is no federal restriction on them being in a post-ban gun. You can't have or use "Law Enforcement Restricted" mags, they will be marked accordingly. Additionally, you can not legally modify a 10 round post-ban mag to take more than 10 rounds. As long as the magazine is pre-ban, you can use it in whatever gun it fits. The belief that you can't use pre-ban mags in a post-ban gun is a common one, but is in error. As an example, the Intratec AB 10 came with 32rd mags from the factory up until the year 2000 when they finally ran out. That model of gun was exclusively a "post-ban" gun, but it used the Tec 9 magazine. ("A" "B" 10 stood for "After Ban"-AB, 10-10rd. They named it that, just to screw with the politicians that zeroed in on the Tec 9 in the 1994 Crime Bill. The AB 10 was just the same gun with out the evil threaded muzzle and shrouded barrel. It was much less evil without those features.To reiterate, use whatever pre-ban mags you wish. I think you'll find used or new factory mags will give you better performance than most of the aftermarket mags. MecGar makes a good aftermarket mag, but of course they were who made the factory mag for Sig in the first place. There might be some other okay ones out there, but be cautious, don't buy a bunch of one kind before trying one to see if they really work.

kimberkid · September 2001

What about using the Sig 227 mags (.40 cal) in a Sig 226 9mm, they "fit and function" and hold more than 10 rounds of 9mm with no modification to the mag ... is that crossing the line?

If you think I'm stiring the pot ... I probably am

gravedigger · September 2001

I bought a used factory Sig mag. My brother-in-law bought an aftermarket 15-rd Sig mag and it does not feed. In addition it does not easily come out of the gun when the mag release button is pressed. So I was very wary of aftermarket mags.-Marcus

74cuda · September 2001

Do you know the manufacturer of your aftermarket mag? Not all aftermarket mags are of the same quality...

"In God We Trust........All Others Go Thru NCIC"

opentop · September 2001

My understanding is that if your 15 round mag is a "true" pre-ban mag (manufactured and acquired by you prior to the ban) you can use it. Now, how anyone would know you had a 15 rounder in your gun is beyond me. I believe it probably would only ever come up if you were stopped while carrying and the cop was just looking for things he could charge you with and your were unable to prove it to be an actual pre-ban mag or if you had occassion to use your weapon and during the post shooting investigation they found out it was in fact a 15 rounder instead of a 10, you might then be asked to prove it is a genuine pre-ban mag or they could then charge you with illegal possession of a magazine over 10 rounds. What's the difference, other than a couple of seconds during magazine changes, of a person carrying two 15 round mags or three 10 rounders. That's always beat the hell out of me, pointing out the obvious stupidity of the law. Sorry about my constant "preaching to the choir", it just feels good to "vent" occassionally.

74cuda · September 2001

Most cops aren't fully aware of the law and really don't know what to look at. Beyond popular belief, they are not taught as armorers in the academy. They only know what they have been told about the particlular sidearm or long gun that they carry. Unless of course, they have a desire to know the particulars about firearms. I would be more concerned with an atf agent than the local cop...

"In God We Trust........All Others Go Thru NCIC"

JudgeColt · September 2001

Unmarked magazines of more than 10 rounds are by definition pre-ban. It normally would not be the owner's burden to prove that an unmarked magazine is a pre-ban magazine. It would be the duty of any prosecutor to prove (beyond a reasonable doubt) that a magazine holding more than 10 rounds is an illegal magazine (ie - either has had the LE markings removed, or is an illegal import, etc.). Unless there is some paper trail, or an eye witness to something to do with a true illegal magazine (most likely from a sting), I doubt that anyone would be prosecuted for an unmarked but illegal magazine. (However, certain states have magazine limitations that may make it possible to be prosecuted at the state level while in compliance with federal law.)kimberkid raises the same question I have also raised, to which I do not know the answer. My example was using a 10-round post-ban Beretta M96 .40 magazine, which will hold 13 9mm rounds, in a Beretta M92 while loaded with 13 rounds of 9mm.As a prosecutor, I would argue that the act of loading more than 10 rounds in a post-ban magazine is "manufacturing" an illegal large capacity magazine, or at least "possessing" an illegal magazine. My defense would be that the mere loading of a magazine is not "manufacturing" and the magazine is not illegal to possess because it is not a restricted magazine. Again, the likelyhood of prosecution probably depends on how you came to the attention of the authorities (a shooting, etc.). For a carry pistol where there is the possibility that it would be involved in a shooting, I would suggest that one never carry a questionable magazine. Either stick with a 10-round magazine, or spend the money for a true pre-ban magazine.

Can I use a 15-rd. mag in my Sig?

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