sig hammerli trailside, who else has one?

T

troy_mclure

New member
its probably one of my favorite guns.

and of all the new shooters i take to the range, they enjoy shooting it most.

ive got 30k+ rounds thru it right now, mostly 550 bulk packs, and wolf gold medal match.

the only shortcoming of this gun is magazines. they are pricey, and hard to find.

ive modified a couple of 41a mags to work, but you have to push the mag release to seat the mag. a 12 rounder would fit flush if i could find on to modify.

i dont know why Sig sold hammerli and dropped the trailside.
 
J

Jo6pak

New member
Happy ending

I also own a Sig Trailside. I saw one at a gunshow soon after they were released and fell in love with the grip and feel of the pistol. A while later, I found a used one at a gunshop and picked it up.

I took it to the range.......... and started cursing.
The thing just wouldn't fire a complete magazine without an FTE or FTF. The only thing that kept the pistol in my collection was the extreme accuracy of the piece. I had no problems bouncing golf balls around out to 25-30 yards (which for me is unheard of with a pistol.)

I tried every ammo I could find, and nothing liked to run. I took a ScotchBrite pad to the slid rails and polished the slide bottom. Which helped a little, but the pistol was still not up to my standards as far as reliablility.

Finally in a last ditch effort, I trimmed about 2 twists off the end of the recoil sping. Voila!

I now shoot the pistol nearly everytime I hit the range. I fact I put about 200 rounds through it on Sunday.

It still requires high quality, high velocity ammo. But it runs just fine if I feed it right.

This little headache has become one of my favorite guns.

I've heard alot of varied reports conserning the Trailside. Some say they were unreliable(which I can attest to) and others claim that they weren't accurate (Mine is a little tack-driver)
everyone who has shot mine has loved it and asked me where I got it.

If you find a source for mags let me know, I only have three and I like to have at least 5 for all my guns.
 
T

troy_mclure

New member
the s&w mod 41 mags from midway work fine with a bit of filing.

you have to file the back groove down about 2mm, and the right lip down 1mm.
 
L

l98ster

New member
LOVE my trailside. When I was looing for a 22 pistol, I looked at the standard buckmarks and rugers (which were very nice), but the second I put the trailside in my hand I knew it was the one.

The only trouble I had with mine was the trigger bar would pop of from the trigger itself. All I had to do was remove the right side grip and put a piece of electrical tape on the inside of the grip (in essesnce making it thicker) and never had a poroblem ever again.

This thing is a tack driver. With a bushnell red dot optic of a rest, I can REGULARLY hit 38 special cases off of a 30 yard berm!!

If I had to get rid of my guns one by one, the trailside would be one of the last to go. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

-George
 
C

Casimer

New member
Larry's that Big Jim mentions is now importing the Xesse, which is the same pistol that was marketed as the Trailside in the US. So parts and support should be much easier to come by.

D
 
J

Jo6pak

New member
Hit the range today with a couple of rimfires, and had no luck with either. One was my Trailside, the other was my GSG-5 (which is another thread)

Refer to post #2 in this thread for the backstory

Well after about a year, (and maybe 500 rnds) of working nicely, the old devils are haunting my Trailside.:(

Took it to the range today with a few other guns, and rarely got a full mag thru it without a Failure to Extract/Eject.

I started off shooting American Eagle 38gr HPs, which have run well in the past. Then I switched to Centurion 40gr RN (which have also been fine in the past) and still had the same issues. Even tried to eat up some Wildcats in desperation.

All the ammos had the same failures, mainly failing to extract the casing form the chamber. Is most cases I was able to drop the magazine and rack the slide to eject. In a few instances I had to push the casing out with a rod.

I'd just sell the pistol if it weren't so damn accurate.

I'm thinking it must be the extractor? Anyone know where I can get another?

Any other ideas?
 
H

HighValleyRanch

New member
Jo6pak,

Check that your chamber breach is not peened.

It states in the manual that dry firing can peen the breach, causing malfunctions.
When this happens, the case can get stuck and hard to extract.

This happens on the old High Standards as well, since the metal was softer.

Oh, and I got one of the original Sigs, but Hammerli is not making the same gun as the exesse, not be confuse with the other earlier one, I think!:confused:
The current ones looks exactly like the Sig Trailside, but some of the earlier Exesse's had a different mag release.

And one more thing to note....
I got too enthusiastic and detailed cleaned my gun with hoppes # 9 right before a major pistol competition. Long story short, I lost the clean break on the pistol, and came out with a lighter rolling trigger break. After much discussion on some of the Bullseyes lists, it was surmised that I had cleaned off the original moly lube on the hammer and sear?
anyways, what ever happened, it now has a light rolling trigger with no clean break. So careful on the Hoppes #9 in the sear area!
 
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J

Jo6pak

New member
Thanks for the info HVR

I always take great care not to dry-fire my firearms. Although, since I bought the pistol used, I don't know about the previous owner.

Chamber peening?
I inspected the pistol and at the 12 o'clock postion on the chamber mouth there is a slight dimple. I'm guessing this is the peen. Which makes sense since unfired rounds will alwaya eject if the slide is manipulated by hand
I tried taking a pic, but it doesn't really show up very well.

Any suggestions on how to remedy it? Is it something that could be done with a steady hand and a polishing stone?
 
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V

varoadking

New member
I had one...enjoyed it but sold it due to other interests and only so much room.

The black plastic X-esse grips, while pricey, are a great addition to the platform.
 
H

HighValleyRanch

New member
Any suggestions on how to remedy it? Is it something that could be done with a steady hand and a polishing stone?
Click to expand...

There is a correct more expensive solution, and a cheap hide your head in the sand solution!:)

The high standards did this often, as I stated, so the correct solution was to take the gun to a gunsmith. They have a special tool that pulls the peened dimple back out and they somehow pressed the metal back into place.
It looked like original after this. But then after a couple of time paying for this
I just took the more drastic measure of honing out the peened dimple.

This worked fine, and the gun always fired, even though others warned that by removing the metal, there is a dimple where the firing pin is trying to hit the rim. Not enough to cause misfires, apparently, because it was reliable after my more drastic measures.

So gunsmith or hone!
Hope that helps, but check out a fired case and see if it has drag coming out. That could be causing an ejection problem.
 
J

Jo6pak

New member
Thanks,

Not many good gunsmiths left in the area, but I think I'll take it around and get some opinions.
May contact LarrysGuns and see what they have to say.
If I strike out, I will have to try it myself.

Really hope I can get it working, since I shoot it really well.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted on the results
 
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