Yesterday, after field stripping and cleaning my P220ST, I reassembled the slide and then started to put the slide back on the rails of the receiver. As I was sliding the slide back on, the take down lever flipped from the take down position to the normal position. To clarify, the slide was almost all the way back and ready for me to lock it open when this occured. This has happened a couple of times in the past and I always assumed that I had done something wrong like push against the take down lever. This time, I am pretty certain that I did not touch the take down lever. I have owned a P226 for almost 20 years so I am not new to the Sig line at all.

The question I have is whether or not something has worn and needs to be replaced. If not, then what? I am open to ideas or comments

Thanks

The spring in the locking block that puts tension on the take down lever and the slide catch lever may be broken.

Is the takedown lever pretty easy to rotate? If so I would take the locking block out and inspect that spring.

Good luck

Thank you for the reply. Now to go out and find a parts schematic for the proper part! No idea what the locking block is but I will figure it out asap. The takedown lever feels normal, at least when compared to my P226, and operates normally, with the exception as noted in the original question.

Thanks

Ok, found it at: http://stevespages.com/pdf/sig_p220to245.pdf

I believe that you are talking about the slide catch lever spring, #19, that fits into the locking insert, #17? I will take it apart and see how it looks.

If not broken, the spring may have a flat spot worn on the bend that contacts the takedown lever.

Last night I pulled the locking insert and slide catch lever out of the P220 and compared them to the equivalent ones in my P226. The spring appears to be in good shape and the locking insert appears undamaged and without any issues. I will play with this some more and see what I can come up with.

This is an update!

I got my locking block replacement springs this weekend and just installed a new one in my P220. It appears to have corrected the problem of the takedown lever returning to the locked position on its own. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks for the update. It's always good to learn how these things turn out.

Have you compared the new parts wit the old to see if any variation exists?

quote:

Originally posted by SIG_P226:
Have you compared the new parts wit the old to see if any variation exists?

Only very quickly and casually, looking for something grossly different. The only possible difference that I see is that the tail of the spring, that piece farthest from the little "hook" that fits into the hole in the block, kicks out towards the left side of the frame just a hair more that the one I took out. Perhaps!