Thoughts on Checkmate 226 mags ?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Thoughts on Checkmate 226 mags ?

Posted: 6/22/2016 11:22:44 AM EDT

I finally picked up a 226 Legion. Of course when I bought it there were no 226 mags around. I got the 3 that came with the gun. So I worked a deal and got 3 more Sig mags for a slight discount. Now I am thinking should I pick up some of the OE mags that CDNN and Greg Cote has.
Has anyone had problems with the Checkmates? Money is a little tight after buying the gun and mags. On the other hand with what may happen I would like to have mags to use until I am an old man. Thanks.

Posted: 6/22/2016 11:46:15 AM EDT

[#1]

I personally stick with MecGar.

Posted: 6/22/2016 12:38:54 PM EDT

[#2]

If given a choice I'd stick with Mecgar.
I've only owned 1 Checkmate 20 rnd 226 mag that worked fine for me with moderate use. But I know some folks had issues. Mecgar is the gold standard in handgun mags to me.

Posted: 6/22/2016 1:10:00 PM EDT

[#3]

I would prefer Mecgars . I have 6 of the OEMs no names from CDNN for my 228 and they have worked fine for 1000s of rounds. When I shopped for the Legion no one had any Mecgars. I got nervous. So I worked a deal for 3 extra. Then a week after I get it they are everywhere again.
The Checkmates have worked good. I had one fail to lock the slide back on the last round. I think it was ammo ( Federal aluminum case 115s). I will pick up some for the 226 as soon as my wallet heals

Posted: 6/22/2016 1:57:11 PM EDT

[#4]

I think the majority will say try to get MecGar mags. They would be my preference too. The issue I have seen with Check Mate mags has been in the coating and the feed lips being finished rough. the phosphate coating seems to get caked a bit on the interior of the mags if you disassemble the mags and run a green scotch brite pad on the inside to smooth things out a bit and also hit the edges of the feed lips I have seen reliability with troubled mags improve. Iv'e done this with some of the infamous Check Mate mags that were for the Beretta M9 as well, and seen no failures after buffing them out a bit on the inside and feed lips.

YMMV, but its worth a try, even if it just gives you good range mags.

Posted: 6/22/2016 2:22:32 PM EDT

[#5]

The Check-Mate 226 mags are GTG. I have a bunch of 'em, never a problem with any. I have a set of 9 that have fed over 2000 rounds with zero issues. Ball and 147 gr HSTs.

They're not phosphated, it's some kind of paint like the Mec-Gar Optimums.

Posted: 6/22/2016 2:32:33 PM EDT

[#6]

I have four that came with my 226 Tac Ops. I've never had an issue with them, but I've been a MecGar fan for so long that I wouldn't go out of my way to buy any Checkmates. If I could pick them up for super cheap then sure, but otherwise I'd stick with MecGar.

Posted: 6/22/2016 5:45:37 PM EDT

[#7]

I stick with Mec Gar mags. I've never had function failures with Check Mate mags but the finish has always worn as if the mag body was out of specs. I've never had a Mec Gar Mag do that. Just my preference.

Posted: 6/22/2016 6:48:39 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:

I think the majority will say try to get MecGar mags. They would be my preference too. The issue I have seen with Check Mate mags has been in the coating and the feed lips being finished rough. the phosphate coating seems to get caked a bit on the interior of the mags if you disassemble the mags and run a green scotch brite pad on the inside to smooth things out a bit and also hit the edges of the feed lips I have seen reliability with troubled mags improve. Iv'e done this with some of the infamous Check Mate mags that were for the Beretta M9 as well, and seen no failures after buffing them out a bit on the inside and feed lips.

View Quote

Exactly this. Is the price difference worth it for not having to scrub and polish? Get Mec-Gar 18 rounders and you won't have to worry about anything.

Posted: 6/22/2016 10:01:09 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
Exactly this. Is the price difference worth it for not having to scrub and polish? Get Mec-Gar 18 rounders and you won't have to worry about anything.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
I think the majority will say try to get MecGar mags. They would be my preference too. The issue I have seen with Check Mate mags has been in the coating and the feed lips being finished rough. the phosphate coating seems to get caked a bit on the interior of the mags if you disassemble the mags and run a green scotch brite pad on the inside to smooth things out a bit and also hit the edges of the feed lips I have seen reliability with troubled mags improve. Iv'e done this with some of the infamous Check Mate mags that were for the Beretta M9 as well, and seen no failures after buffing them out a bit on the inside and feed lips.

Exactly this. Is the price difference worth it for not having to scrub and polish? Get Mec-Gar 18 rounders and you won't have to worry about anything.

I seriously doubt what he's saying. Check-Mate has not made any phosphated mags for the P226. Everyone likes to get all chicken little when something changes but I ended up with all my Check-Mates on the recommendation of a rental range that has a lot of traffic. They've never had a problem with 'em, I use mine on a range that's all kinds of sandy, no issues since I got the first three in 2012. The floor plates and inserts on the CMs are better than on the MGs, the MGs have a better spring. You can buy Wolff or ISMI springs, you can't buy a floorplate...

The bad M9 mags were over ten years ago. The newer Check-Mate Beretta mags are fine. I have a pile of those too and they feed ball and HST just as reliably as a PB mag.

Posted: 6/23/2016 10:53:45 AM EDT

[#10]

Just buy Pro Mag and be done with it.

Just kidding.

Posted: 6/23/2016 2:56:14 PM EDT

[#11]

Thank you everyone for your help. I am going to pick up some of the OEM from Greg Cote next check.

Posted: 6/23/2016 5:05:41 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
Thank you everyone for your help. I am going to pick up some of the OEM from Greg Cote next check.

View Quote

Those are the best deal going on 226 mags. They're the reason I got back into Sigs.

Posted: 6/23/2016 6:36:09 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:

I seriously doubt what he's saying. Check-Mate has not made any phosphated mags for the P226. Everyone likes to get all chicken little when something changes but I ended up with all my Check-Mates on the recommendation of a rental range that has a lot of traffic. They've never had a problem with 'em, I use mine on a range that's all kinds of sandy, no issues since I got the first three in 2012. The floor plates and inserts on the CMs are better than on the MGs, the MGs have a better spring. You can buy Wolff or ISMI springs, you can't buy a floorplate...

The bad M9 mags were over ten years ago. The newer Check-Mate Beretta mags are fine. I have a pile of those too and they feed ball and HST just as reliably as a PB mag.

View Quote

The Beretta mags I had were around that time and were phosphate coated. The Check Mates may not have been phosphated but did have some high spots and rough spots in the texture at the feed lips. they probably would have worn smooth with enough use. I just accelerated the process, as I had done with the M9 mags around 2003. Sorry if I misled anybody on the coating, because you are correct it is obviously some form of baked enamel, resin, or other coating. Mine just had some rough overspray internally and some build up in the feed lips that was mostly notable when dragging a thumbnail on the edge of the lip. the internal roughness wasn't noted until disassembling the mag. They seem to work now, that's the important thing.

Posted: 6/23/2016 6:39:07 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
Thank you everyone for your help. I am going to pick up some of the OEM from Greg Cote next check.

View Quote

I've had nothing but good transactions with him. Good quick service and decent prices, and I never felt like I got ripped off on shipping.

Posted: 6/27/2016 12:05:55 PM EDT

[#15]

I have four of the P226 Checkmates from the past year of production. It wasn't by choice; two came with my Elite SS and I received two free ones as part of their promotion at the time.

They look like crap (might as well be Rustoleum) and they sound like a rusty swing set when I load them up. That said, the damn things have worked 100% over the course of about 2,000 rounds. I prefer the Mec-Gar experience by far, but I won't be smashing my Checkmates with a hammer anytime soon.

Posted: 6/27/2016 12:37:28 PM EDT

[#16]

My latest purchase was a Enhanced Elite last week. It came with two US mags that I would assume are Checkmate. These look better than my last ones. The coating still had a couple rough spots at the feed lips, but the interior looked smoother. No problems at the range and the minor rough spots on the feed lips smoothed out by the end of the range session, with 150 rounds down range. Finish looks similar but a bit more shiny than my MecGars.

So, I guess if one is concerned, just check them individually, and see how they run.

I could have sworn some of my old ones were US marked and phosphate coated. Don't have them any more.

Posted: 6/28/2016 2:16:41 PM EDT

[#17]

I have some checkmate SIG mags and they have ran fine, the M9 problem was in 03-04. I know cause I sent a friend in the Sandbox 4 commercial Italian made Beretta mags to replace his issue checkmates

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Thoughts on Checkmate 226 mags ?

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