Riveted magazine stuck in pistol.

Stevebot-7

Stevebot-7

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The short story is that I just got a Sig P226 and it came with a magazine inserted, the bad news is that when I'm ejecting the magazine the rivet hits the bottom of the magwell and solidly stops. I suppose I could force it out one way or another but I wanted to ask you folk if any of you have had this happen before. I would prefer to avoid gouging my magwell doing something like going he-man and ripping the mag out.
Thanks.
 
First, I'd push the mag back up then stick a piece of thin plastic behind the mag to act as a shoe/ramp (cut piece of plastic from something like a yogurt lid); put a bend in the top and then try to remove the mag.

if that doesn't work, remove floor-plate of mag and get some needle nose pliers in there and pull the rivet forward to remove the mag.
 
G37 said:
First, I'd push the mag back up then stick a piece of thin plastic behind the mag to act as a shoe/ramp (cut piece of plastic from something like a yogurt lid); put a bend in the top and then try to remove the mag.

if that doesn't work, remove floor-plate of mag and get some needle nose pliers in there and pull the rivet forward to remove the mag.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but that didn't quite work either. I accidentally destroyed most of the rivet with the plyers, thing was so soft it just squashed and came apart, so now just about all that's left is the part blocking the magwell and the part filling the hole in the mag.

Crap.

I'm going to try to file down the rivet stump in the mag and see if maybe that'll be enough so I can yank the mag out with pliers.
 
If you bought it from a local store, take it back to them and see if they can fix it on the spot.

If not, any chance you could partly eject the mag and slide a thin file or screwdriver up to wiggle around the rivet and hopefully move it enough. If you remember to take any pictures that would be appreciated. Just for future reference in case I (or others) ever run into this problem.
 
Be careful. The second you get the rivet out it sets off a national alarm and black helicopters will be hovering over your house! In all seriousness can you remove enough of the rivet from the inside of the mag with a dremmel to allow it to fall out of the mag so what's left is just sliding around between the mag and the well?
 
SwL_Wildcat said:
Be careful. The second you get the rivet out it sets off a national alarm and black helicopters will be hovering over your house! In all seriousness can you remove enough of the rivet from the inside of the mag with a dremmel to allow it to fall out of the mag so what's left is just sliding around between the mag and the well?
Click to expand...

I've filed it almost completely flush with the inside of the magazine, managed to get the spring and follower out. However there doesn't seem to be enough extra space in the magwell for the remainder of the rivet to fall free. Or just as likely it's gotten deformed and is stuck in the hole. In any case it doesn't want to move. I sent P&D an email, maybe I can bring it in on the weekend and they'll have some magic fix.

The irony of this is that this is a SIG P226, made in Germany in '91, used by a police department in the states and then sold, and it is in better condition than I could have hoped for given the circumstances. It looks like it's brand new, and it was actually clean when it arrived! How often does it happen that you need only a handful of patches to clean a gun you just bought? Almost pristine, so the idea that I might have to scratch it up because of our stupid laws is...it's just wrong. 21 or 22 years old, looking as good as new, and it's getting abused because of this.
 
Mil Specs said:
can you access the rivet head with the grips Off ?
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Nope. Inside the mag there's maybe 1mm of rivet protruding, and between the mag and the magwell there's not much more at all. If necessary I could possibly get a thin sawblade between the mag and magwell to saw off the head of the rivet, but that's my last resort. I really don't want to damage the pistol, even if it's just inside the magwell. Waiting to hear back from P&D, they've probably had to deal with this before.
 
Get a feeler guage from crappy tire or your favourite tool supplier... ...the thinner fingers should be in the single digit thous of inches and about mag width.
These are also useful for measuring cylinder gap and other firearm related tasks!
R
 
Update: Rem700 had the right idea. I took off the grip and used some pliers to remove the remainder of the mangled rivet. Black helicopters immediately descended upon my house as the magazine began to emit the smell of sulfur and hissed most alarmingly. Thankfully I managed to get another rivet in before the magazine managed to load itself and start shooting uncontrollably, but it left a black indent upon my desk. A grim reminder of how close evil came to being unleashed.

In other news, I tested the two magazines, with the rivet in the 10 round hole, the magazine is pinned at 6 shots.

Yes, that's right, my 9 holds less than your 45. I have a semiautomatic six-shooter. I'm a modern cowboy.
 
Mil Specs said:
glad to hear it worked out in the end .
Click to expand...

Eh, sorta, even after I filed down the rivets, they still get hung up on the frame and I have to yank them out.

Need to look into internally pinning the mags. Or something. At least some alternatives to filing a groove in the frame to accommodate the damned rivet.
 
Hey Stevebot did you manage to get your magazines to 10 rounds instead of 6?
If so what method did you end up using?
I have a similar issue with some Sig mags.
 
twistedbrilliance said:
Hey Stevebot did you manage to get your magazines to 10 rounds instead of 6?
If so what method did you end up using?
I have a similar issue with some Sig mags.
Click to expand...

No, I just threw those two mags in my tickle trunk and haven't looked at them since. I've got some replacement mags from Northern Republic Magazine, the ones that only have 10 capacity bodies, with a tall floorplate piece to fill the rest of the magwell. Much smoother operation.
I hate rivets.
 
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