I just noticed a peculiar behavior in my new SIG P238, and wondered if anyone else has observed it, or if it's just my gun and it needs some smithing.
OK. Put a full magazine in the gun. Rack the slide once to load a round into the chamber. Leave the hammer back. Activate the safety. This puts the gun into a cocked and locked condition: "Condition 1."
Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, and keep your hand BEHIND the gun. Move the slide back slightly, say 1/2" or 3/4". LOWER the slide rather gently, don't let it snap back. Don't push on it. Just pull it back, then gently lower it and let it stop wherever it stops.
This is the issue:
I'm finding that on my gun, when you do the above, the slide doesn't return all the way. It stops about 1/5" short. You can see the guide rod sticking out slightly at the muzzle. A very light touch on the slide will snap it the rest of the way closed. The gun will NOT fire until the slide is closed all the way forward.
Also: it ONLY does this when there's a FULL magazine. Apparently the fully compressed magazine spring creates pressure somewhere against the slide. If there are only 1 or 2 or 3 rounds in it, the issue doesn't occur.
I noticed this today when I put the gun, in Condition 1, in a holster. As I pressed the gun down into the holster, the friction of the holster moved the slide upwards (back) slightly. When I drew the gun back out, I noticed the slide hadn't returned all the way forward, as described above.
It's not really a problem to carefully holster the gun and check it, but I can visualize a self defense situation where you pull it out and don't realize it's in this condition and it fails to fire. That's highly unlikely, since the friction of drawing will probably snap it closed, but it's still possible. Maybe you could bend over or lean against something and inadvertently push the slide back and cause it, something like that. It looks to me like a slightly stronger spring would correct this, or maybe it just needs more breaking in.
Sorry for the essay, but I was wondering if anybody else's P238 had the same behavior. Again, please use EXTREME caution if you attempt to reproduce this.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with SIG. Very nice, professional person. He said it needed another couple hundred rounds through it, but also he had me take the slide off and look at the recoil spring and see if it's made from a "rounded" type wire, or a "flat" type. I said it was round wire. He said that was the old recoil spring; he's mailing me a new one that he said will work MUCH better and should eliminate the issue. Hat's off to SIG customer service.
****WARNING!! DANGER!!****
REPRODUCING THIS REQUIRES PUTTING YOUR GUN IN A COCKED-AND-LOCKED CONDITION, WITH A ROUND IN THE CHAMBER AND A FULL CLIP!! USE EXTREME CAUTION!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
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OK. Put a full magazine in the gun. Rack the slide once to load a round into the chamber. Leave the hammer back. Activate the safety. This puts the gun into a cocked and locked condition: "Condition 1."
Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction, and keep your hand BEHIND the gun. Move the slide back slightly, say 1/2" or 3/4". LOWER the slide rather gently, don't let it snap back. Don't push on it. Just pull it back, then gently lower it and let it stop wherever it stops.
This is the issue:
I'm finding that on my gun, when you do the above, the slide doesn't return all the way. It stops about 1/5" short. You can see the guide rod sticking out slightly at the muzzle. A very light touch on the slide will snap it the rest of the way closed. The gun will NOT fire until the slide is closed all the way forward.
Also: it ONLY does this when there's a FULL magazine. Apparently the fully compressed magazine spring creates pressure somewhere against the slide. If there are only 1 or 2 or 3 rounds in it, the issue doesn't occur.
I noticed this today when I put the gun, in Condition 1, in a holster. As I pressed the gun down into the holster, the friction of the holster moved the slide upwards (back) slightly. When I drew the gun back out, I noticed the slide hadn't returned all the way forward, as described above.
It's not really a problem to carefully holster the gun and check it, but I can visualize a self defense situation where you pull it out and don't realize it's in this condition and it fails to fire. That's highly unlikely, since the friction of drawing will probably snap it closed, but it's still possible. Maybe you could bend over or lean against something and inadvertently push the slide back and cause it, something like that. It looks to me like a slightly stronger spring would correct this, or maybe it just needs more breaking in.
Sorry for the essay, but I was wondering if anybody else's P238 had the same behavior. Again, please use EXTREME caution if you attempt to reproduce this.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with SIG. Very nice, professional person. He said it needed another couple hundred rounds through it, but also he had me take the slide off and look at the recoil spring and see if it's made from a "rounded" type wire, or a "flat" type. I said it was round wire. He said that was the old recoil spring; he's mailing me a new one that he said will work MUCH better and should eliminate the issue. Hat's off to SIG customer service.
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