Today my friend and I were at the range shooting some pistols. I was shooting a SW22A and she had my P226(40/357) with the .22lr conversion on. The kit has been flawless with proper ammo and completely acceptable with the unreliable type of bulk stuff.

She was firing and said "wow! Whoa!" I went over to her and looked to find my gun in the condition shown. She said the shot that startled her was more powerful and louder than normal 22lr.

Upon inspection the barrel and slide seem to be completely locked up. I have tried to safely HE-MAN this thing and it won't budge. The barrel seems to look fine to the naked eye but I am no expert. The magazine that was used is also fine.

From her and the gun's report I am lead to suspect a double charged bullet. I was using Federal AutoMatch which has been excellent prior to this.

Can anyone here give me some information or opinion on the damage done here and how to proceed?

Thanks in advance.

I don't have a conversion kit, so I may be missing something, but how about placing the muzzle down on a wood block and tapping the rear of the slide with a rubber mallet?

Well that was my next thought and I just performed it with success. I now have a new problem as I cannot rack the slide back to disassemble because the slide still gets stuck on the barrel(hood.

The slide to frame fit is also noticeably worse and rattles. I'm starting to think it got blown up I really hope it is not totaled.

Sounds like it might be time for a trip to Sig. From your listed location, at least you won't have to worry about shipping.

This may be your problem...

AutoMatch bad lots

I suspect your friend may have had a squib load where the bullet didn't exit the barrell completely and the next round was a boom.

The thread lists known lot numbers of Federal AM22 with underpowered rounds. Compare your box with the list and see if it's on there. Have you checked the barrel to see if it's clear? I'd definitely send it to Sig to see if the damage is consistent with a squib and a second round. If so, I'd then be having a talk with Federal. They're aware of the complaints.

Glad no one was hurt.

rod

ps, given the thick barrel of the conversion kits, and depending on how far down the barrel the first bullet was, it's possible the second round pushed it out. Still a big Yikes

Thank you for that information. I could not find my lot listed (1HZ646)but it could very well be a bad lot though I haven't had noticeable issues prior to this and I have shot about half the box.


The bore is clear. I'm very glad nothing bad happened as I'm sure it would scare my lady friend off from shooting.

I'm going to show it to my friend who works at SIG and see what he says but it's looking like it's in some serious trouble.

Well good luck... I didn't see anyone complaining about double charges with Federal, just low charges, so that's what got me thinking about a possible squib / undercharged load and a bullet not all the way out. I could see this especially if a maybe a lot of rounds had been shot and the barrel was getting a little fouled, but even clean this could happen. AM22 is a bit hotter stuff and I could see the second round pushing out both bullets. A final pat-myself-on-the-back (boy is my shoulder getting sore!) my theory might explain your slide problem - a bulged barrel.

Anyway, good luck with getting it fixed and if this is what it is, that Federal will see the wisdom of making it right. I like AM22 but the thought of a squib in a semi auto (or full auto) is bad juju.

ps, I know a while back there was some scary stuff with Winchester 22 mags with double charges IIRC... but so far I've heard nothing on the AM22.