P239 SAS SA/DA
Originaly a 40 but the guy I bought it from swapped it to 357 sig. 357 works like a dream but I tried to switch back to the 40 and it will not chamber a round(full mag or half loaded). It strips from the mag but will not go into chamber. Any ideas? I am using the same recoil spring as 357 but dont think thats the issue, as even if i try to push the slide forward it wont chamber!I tried all 6 of my 40S&W mags and have the same problem with all of them so its not the mags??? HELP!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mudpudler,

Have you ever shot in 40 before you switch to 357? Are the 357 and 40 factory barrels? There is a difference in the 40 magazine and 357 magazine. I don't remember which caliber will work in both 40 and 357.

You can field strip the gun and put a 40 round DIRECTLY into the chamber and see if it goes in.

Thnx for the reply bullseye

I have not shot the 40 before. Both are Sig factory barrels. I have both 357 mags & 40 mags. A round will load/chamber fine if put in by hand, it just wont chamber when feeding from the mag???

Note this is occuring using factory loaded flat nosed bullets...if that makes a difference?

Something is not right, and my first thought is that the transition ridge between the feed ramp and chamber is too sharp or abrupt. That's not common with SIG pistols, but it's not unheard of, either. I'd have to see the gun or some detailed photos before offering anything more, but if the gun isn't working properly, I'd contact SIG about getting it fixed.

Have you tried firing the gun, or just cycling the slide by hand? If you haven't fired it, that's what I'd try first to see how it functions.

Thanks Sigfreund

I shot the 357 this morning with no problems. When I switched to the 40 is when the trouble started. It would hang up wether racked by hand or using the slide release lever. I tried putting a round in the chamber by hand then shooting to let the slide operate by recoil but had the same problem. I switched back to 357 and had no problems???

I will try to get pics Monday(I left my camera at work).

Based on your description, I'm most suspicious of a problem with the barrel as I mentioned above.

Some time ago another member described a problem like yours with an older P229 (IIRC). He received advice blaming everything from the magazines to the color of his socks, but when he had the feed ramp transition ridge rounded over and smoothed up, his problems disappeared.

Thanks again Sigfreund...

Looks like I'll be calling Sig.

Okay so I had my pistol serviced and they replaced the slide catch lever. It turns out that the one in the pistol was for a 9mm which was causing the failure to chamber! I would never have guessed it but my gun is working great and I'm happy!

quote:

Originally posted by mudpudler:
It turns out that the one in the pistol was for a 9mm which was causing the failure to chamber!

Strange stuff. I would have never made such a connection, but I'm glad to hear it cured the problem. Thanks for the update.

Holy cow, that's really an oddball.

IT is not that odd I had a 239 in .40 do the same thing and one othe member I know of had it to, The problem is a 357sig slide catch leaver in a .40 S&W gun.

quote:

Originally posted by y-not:
IT is not that odd I had a 239 in .40 do the same thing and one othe member I know of had it to, The problem is a 357sig slide catch leaver in a .40 S&W gun.

There seems to be some confusion here. Switching between 357 SIG and 40 S&W in the P239 does not require changing slide catch levers (normally*). The part number description indicates that both use the same one.
What is different is the SCL for the 9mm 239; it has a longer magazine follower engagement tab.

* The "normally" is because I and at least one other member here discovered a problem after moving the magazine catch to the right side of a 357 SIG P239. The engagement tab of the SCL slips off the magazine follower.

After thinking about the original issue in this thread, I realize that I was making some erroneous assumptions about what exactly was happening with the chambering problem. As mentioned above, the 9mm 239 SCL has a longer engagement tab than the 357/40 version. It doesn't cause problems when used in a 357 gun, but the longer tab will contact the .40 bullet during feeding and chambering because of its larger diameter.

I went and shot my 239 this morning and noticed that the slide will release simply by popping in my next full mag after emptying the first. Its not really a problem but compared to my 220(i think i could pistol whip a tank into submission with out the slide releasing)it didnt require me to press the slide release lever.
Is this normal/abnormal?

quote:

Originally posted by mudpudler:
I went and shot my 239 this morning and noticed that the slide will release simply by popping in my next full mag after emptying the first.

It's not something that's common with SIG Classic-series pistols, but it's not unknown, either. It's much easier to produce on demand with Glocks (to cite one example).

It happens when enough force is used to seat the magazine that the slide is jarred back and the slide catch lever is released. Competitors like it if they can make it happen when desired because it saves time during reloads.