I have the half height serrations 229R Elite All Stainless Steel 9mm pistol.

I am too weak to rack the half height serrations slide. The recoil spring has little usage on it and is so damn strong that I can't rack the slide without great difficulty.

What can I do to solve this problem?

What technique are you using? My wife has found that it is easiest to use an over-hand grip on the slide, hold the gun close to her chest and push with both arms in a crossing motion.

Also, have you tried cocking the hammer? The resistance from the mainspring can make it harder to rack the slide.

Something like this may possibly be helpful, though I have no personal experience: http://www.handi-racker.com/

Exodus mentioned the two primary suggestions I make. Pinching and pulling like a slingshot is usually more difficult than the overhand and push-push. Many women shooters I’ve taught have been able to successfully use the technique described even with P220s and their heavier springs.

And perhaps not ideal, if nothing else you could try a lighter recoil spring. A heavier spring protects the gun from excessive battering with heavy use and hot ammunition. If you’re not firing a gazillion rounds of heavy bullet or +P loads, the gun will probably do just fine with a lighter spring that would make it easier to rack the slide. An all-steel gun will also be less likely to be damaged by using a lighter spring.

Provided you're right handed, try gripping the slide with your left hand and, rather than racking it back with your left, push with your right hand. You have much more strength pushing with your strong hand than you do trying to pull with your weak hand. My wife and kids adopted this method and have had good results.

quote:

Originally posted by Exodus:
What technique are you using? My wife has found that it is easiest to use an over-hand grip on the slide, hold the gun close to her chest and push with both arms in a crossing motion.

Also, have you tried cocking the hammer? The resistance from the mainspring can make it harder to rack the slide.

I have done both but it still remains too difficult to rack and i Just don't have the strength in my fingers and wrists.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Exodus mentioned the two primary suggestions I make. Pinching and pulling like a slingshot is usually more difficult than the overhand and push-push. Many women shooters I’ve taught have been able to successfully use the technique described even with P220s and their heavier springs.

And perhaps not ideal, if nothing else you could try a lighter recoil spring. A heavier spring protects the gun from excessive battering with heavy use and hot ammunition. If you’re not firing a gazillion rounds of heavy bullet or +P loads, the gun will probably do just fine with a lighter spring that would make it easier to rack the slide. An all-steel gun will also be less likely to be damaged by using a lighter spring.

Can you recommend a lighter spring wt. and where to get one? Do you know the weight pounds of the recoil spring used in the 229 Elite?

Are the rails greased and guide rod oiled.

I’m not much into aftermarket recoil springs, but I do know that Wolff makes them, see here:

https://www.gunsprings.com/SIG...cID1/mID4/dID253#293

They are not too expensive and as the site shows, several less powerful versions are available. In your situation I’d try all three lower-power versions.

(I don’t, BTW, place too much credence in Wolff’s claims about “weights.” For example, even after all these years they claim that the standard spring for the 357 SIG P229 is heavier than that for the 40 S&W. It’s not; they are identical. They also claim that the 40 spring is the same as the standard one for 9mm; that’s not true either. But that’s neither here nor there. Try and see what works for you.)

As another aside, the Grayguns “fat” recoil spring guide was evidently designed specifically to use with Wolff springs. Normally there is no problem with the standard guide, but the fat rod helps prevent the somewhat thinner Wolff spring from escaping through the guide hole at the front of the slide.

If you start using a lighter recoil spring, I recommend replacing it frequently. Even with factory recoil springs in Classic-line SIGs I replace them every 2500 rounds. That’s no doubt much more frequently than necessary (SIG recommends every 5K), but I want my guns to last as long as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I’m not much into aftermarket recoil springs, but I do know that Wolff makes them, see here:

https://www.gunsprings.com/SIG...cID1/mID4/dID253#293

They are not too expensive and as the site shows, several less powerful versions are available. In your situation I’d try all three lower-power versions.

(I don’t, BTW, place too much credence in Wolff’s claims about “weights.” For example, even after all these years they claim that the standard spring for the 357 SIG P229 is heavier than that for the 40 S&W. It’s not; they are identical. They also claim that the 40 spring is the same as the standard one for 9mm; that’s not true either. But that’s neither here nor there. Try and see what works for you.)

As another aside, the Grayguns “fat” recoil spring guide was evidently designed specifically to use with Wolff springs. Normally there is no problem with the standard guide, but the fat rod helps prevent the somewhat thinner Wolff spring from escaping through the guide hole at the front of the slide.

If you start using a lighter recoil spring, I recommend replacing it frequently. Even with factory recoil springs in Classic-line SIGs I replace them every 2500 rounds. That’s no doubt much more frequently than necessary (SIG recommends every 5K), but I want my guns to last as long as possible.

So let me ask you question, which I hope is not too silly of me, but if you replace your recoil springs every 2,500 rounds, does that mean that if I rack my slide 2,500 times just to loosen the spring up, I then have to replace it?

quote:

Originally posted by GrandPotter:
I have the half height serrations 229R Elite All Stainless Steel 9mm pistol.

I am too weak to rack the half height serrations slide. The recoil spring has little usage on it and is so damn strong that I can't rack the slide without great difficulty.

What can I do to solve this problem?

Finger off the trigger and gun pointed in a safe direction, hook the front of the rear sight off the side of of your shoe bottom and push.

quote:

Originally posted by GrandPotter:
So let me ask you question, which I hope is not too silly of me, but if you replace your recoil springs every 2,500 rounds, does that mean that if I rack my slide 2,500 times just to loosen the spring up, I then have to replace it?

Short answer and if the gun were mine: Yes, I would replace it.

I am not a (trained) metallurgist or spring expert of any sort, but there are things any of us can learn and others we can infer about springs used in guns like the SIG P229.

First are the maintenance intervals recommended by the factory. What we do know from the factory recommendation is that “they” believe recoil springs wear out through use. If there was no evidence of that, there would be no reason to replace them. What’s more, SIG uses multistrand recoil springs in most of its Classic line pistols. They don’t do that because such springs are cheaper or easier to make, so that’s another clue that they think recoil springs perform an important function of some sort. And we can’t blame the replacement recommendation on corporate greed; factory recoil springs are incredibly inexpensive for what we’re getting and most users don’t replace them ever, so SIG isn’t getting rich from selling springs. If, then, recoil springs wear out and in time no longer provide proper protection to the gun, the question becomes when should we replace them?

SIG recommends replacing the recoil springs of guns like the P229 every 5000 rounds. That’s probably conservative, so when I choose to replace mine twice as often, that’s 2× as conservative. For me, though, that’s cheap stuff compared with all the other expenses associated with shooting. Even though I have spare guns, I don’t want to be inspecting one of my 226s or 229s one day and find that the frame rails are cracked. I especially don’t want to find that and realize the reason may have been ignorance, laziness, or stinginess on my part.

Do the spring compressions from manually cycling the gun count the same as firing it? I don’t see why not. The speed of the cycle might have something to do with the effect on the spring, but until someone explains why, I must assume that a compression and relaxation cycle is the same regardless of how it occurs. Does that mean I keep track of the times I manually cycle my slides in addition to the number of rounds fired? No, but not because I believe it does not affects recoil spring life.

Then there’s the whole cycling versus leaving a spring compressed for a long time thing. This comes up time and again when discussing magazine springs. Some of us will say it’s the compression/relaxation cycles that wear out the springs, but then someone else will jump in and point out there are springs in car engines that are cycled literally countless times as the engine is running and they don’t wear out. That of course ignores the fact that spring A and spring B may have different properties.

Some people believe that locking a slide back to leave the recoil spring compressed for a time will weaken it. On the other hand, most users who carry guns as part of their jobs (e.g., the police) leave their magazines loaded 24/7/365 except for far-too-seldom training and qualifications. If leaving them compressed killed mag springs, we’d hear about failures of LE magazines all the time, but we don’t. On the other hand, I have worn out German P229 mag springs by frequent training use, so that might validate the number of compressions thing, except for the fact that I haven’t done that with Italian or American made magazines.

Mainsprings (hammer springs) are yet something else. I have worn out Wolff mainsprings, but SIG doesn’t even put their mainsprings on its replacement maintenance schedule. Again, what we know versus what we can infer.

Then there’s the spring “set” factor that is recognized by experts such as the people at Brownells who give technical advice, but if a spring will take a set, it evidently happens early in its use and that’s that, so I won’t get into that any further.

And I don’t believe your question is silly. The fact that you asked it demonstrates that you’re more thoughtful and aware of what a recommendation means than 99.9% of the rest of us who would never think to consider it.

The half-height serrations appear to be one of your concerns. I have arthritis in both hands, so I can relate to your issue here. I'm still able to manipulate the slides on my pistols, but it's not getting easier.

Besides the push-pull slide manipulation technique, which splits the required force to both hands/arms, try this. Get one of those rubber pads used to open jars. This will give you better purchase. Also the Pachmayr Slide Rack Assist:

https://www.amazon.com/Pachmay...Assist/dp/B077TD5LTP

Second, is the gun used for SD or is it strictly a range gun? If a range gun, what ammo do you use? Most 9mm tend to be a little oversprung re the recoil spring (RS) and you could probably drop down a little on RS weight with factory ammo. If you shoot only reloads, you could also play with lighter weights on the RS (13, 14#), depending on the loads.

Wolff Gunsprings rates factory RS weight at 16#. With factory practice ammo you could safely drop down to 15#. Have no idea how much easier slide manipulation would be. With factory, it gets iffy if you go to the 13# or 14#. It's difficult to determine scientifically whether a given reduced power spring with a given load will result in any battering. I wouldn't go lighter than 15# with factory.

https://www.gunsprings.com/SIG...229/cID1/mID4/dID253

At 77, I'm learning that some things may have to change. I can still do things I could before the aging started, but am preparing for known problems. You've got to be creative.

ADDED:
Just thought of something else. If there is no solution that works for you with the P229, you may want to consider getting a striker with a dual-spring RSA. My Gen4 Glocks and P320C 9mm take far less strength than my pistols using conventional single RS.

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