Sig 229 E2

[sbcfd]

I have a Sig 229 E2 in 9mm and I came across some mags online for a 229. My question is, is the only difference between the 229 and 229 E2 the grips or is the mag well narrower and not allowing the mags between the two to be interchangable?

Thanks

[unusedusername]

There is a difference between the P229 and the P229-1.

"E2" is just a designation for some grips. The "E2" grips can be put on a 20-year old P229, or a brand new one.

Nearly all of the P229 line has been switched to using the P229-1 frame (including both this gun and this gun)

A few weeks ago, I would have told you that there was a lot of stock of old-stock P229s floating around, but now with the run on everything I'm not so sure.

The way to tell the difference is that the P229 has a short external extractor, while the P229-1 has a long one. The extractor is the part on the slide right next to the chamber.

Long extractor:


Short extractor (the part that has been removed):


There is a difference in the magazine wells as well.

The old P229 had a different width for the .40 caliber from the 9mm. The .40 magwell was wider by a few millimeters.

The P229-1 standardized on the .40 width for both .40 and 9mm.

What this means:
P229s in .40 there is no difference between the original and -1 magwells.

P229s in 9mm
The older ones can't use the new p229-1 magazines as their magwells are too thin (by a few millimeters).

The newer ones can use both the new and old magazines as the tolerances on the magazines are not so tight that the old ones have issues.

You may want to try your magazines if you are using old magazines not made by Sig or MecGar (who makes them for Sig) if you are using older magazines for home defense in a newer gun.

Also, this means you can't convert a old style P229 in 9mm to use a .40 caliber slide, as the magwell on the 9mm frame was too thin.

Newer P229-1s can be converted by just buying a new slide, regardless of what caliber you started with.

[sbcfd]

Thanks. What I have is 229-1 in 9mm its a 2 months old now and I have run about 500 rounds down it between the 2 factory mags it came with which are -1. I came across 5 229 mags on line but they are not -1 I just want to make sure they will work before I buy

[unusedusername]

Yes, they will work fine.

I have some old pre-year-2000 magazines that work fine in my new p229-1.