Q, I noticed you said in your report that you said you should have immediately stopped firing the gun after the trigger wouldn't reset when the locking insert broke. true, it would have been a good idea. however, and this is just hypothetical, I think that if the recoil spring was always the correct one and in serviceable condition the whole time, and the locking insert still broke (somehow), I believe those 350 rounds of ammo you fired wouldn't have caused major frame damage. Besides the broken tooth, the bulk of the locking insert still retained its integrity, or so it seems from your pictures.

Perhaps the white spring was not correct for the 228/229, when you say that spring is weacker that means the slide will struck the frame harder....

quote:

Originally posted by toto:
Perhaps the white spring was not correct for the 228/229, when you say that spring is weacker that means the slide will struck the frame harder....

Unfortunately, the white spring is what SIG put in the P228s now on the ones that customers send in for service, since obviously they no longer make the original P228 spring. The white spring is the spring for the P229 (9).

Springs and roll pin changes at more frequent and recommended intervals.

Do you think the .40 spring would be closer to the original P228 spring weight?

Sorry to see your Ni cracked
I had bought a P228 parts kit from Sig and it came with the white spring. So I called Sig thinking I received wrong recoil spring and Sig told me the white spring will work fine and the silver spring is discontinued. I never did try it.
Sometimes during machining stress fractures occur, especially in corners with small radius or very little radii. That is why a lot parts get x-rayed in the aviation world. Some fractures appear below the surface metal so visual or penetrate dye inspection will not show the defect. The point being your pistol may have had stress risers since birth.

I think he should send it back to Sig Sauer, tell them after they serviced the pistol, it only fired 100 boxes of ammo.. . Ask them to replace the frame with a nice stainless steel model. Oh and you've fired over 410 pounds of bullet metal through that little pistol. It did a fine service.

Now who's going to do the same test on a standard black W. German P226?

quote:

Originally posted by elberettas:
Now who's going to do the same test on a standard black W. German P226?

I will
(if you send me the ammo.)

quote:

Originally posted by dog44:
Do you think the .40 spring would be closer to the original P228 spring weight?

Compared to the 9mm white spring, the .40/.357 spring is somewhat stiffer to cope with the round(s), but not too much stiffer, since that even heavier .40/.357 slide needs to move. I still doubt that it is acceptably close to P228 spec

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
the new white P229 recoil spring is shorter and weaker than the original P228 spring.

That was always my assumption and impression because the P228 slide is a little lighter than the 9mm P229’s. Lighter slide = higher slide speed = more stress and wear unless the recoil spring is stronger to compensate.

quote:

Looking back, what could have done differently that could have averted this catastrophic failure? Suggestions?

Did you replace the roll pin(s) holding the breechblock in the slide at least every 5000 rounds as recommended? It was reported that if the pins aren’t replaced regularly, the slide will start to flex more during firing and that places additional stress on the frame rails and can lead to their failing.

I also replace my Classic line SIG pistol recoil springs every 2500 rounds rather than the 3-5K as recommended.

In the other thread that you posted pictures of the gun when it came back from Sig.
To me it looks like the frame may already be cracked?
In the picture with the take down lever.

Thank you for all your great information you share with the forum.

Jsjac

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Did you replace the roll pin(s) holding the breechblock in the slide at least every 5000 rounds as recommended? It was reported that if the pins aren’t replaced regularly, the slide will start to flex more during firing and that places additional stress on the frame rails and can lead to their failing.

I also replace my Classic line SIG pistol recoil springs every 2500 rounds rather than the 3-5K as recommended.

Unfortunately, no. And, the factory, didn't bother to replace them, either, even noting that the gun had 20k through it.

quote:

Originally posted by jsjac:
In the other thread that you posted pictures of the gun when it came back from Sig.
To me it looks like the frame may already be cracked?
In the picture with the take down lever.

Thank you for all your great information you share with the forum.

Jsjac

Actually, no. That pic somehow shows a weird pattern that looks like a crack, but there is not one. I just looked again and nothing there. At least nothing apparent to my eyes or by my fingernail. The only obvious crack is on the right side of the frame as indicated by the arrows in the pics on the previous page.

The picture on page 4 of the bottom of the barrel at 20,000 rds, is there a dent in the left side of the locking lug ?

I'm a little worried, are some of these necessary P228 parts going to be in short supply soon? Specifically the Recoil Spring, and the the roll pin(s) holding the breechblock in the slide??

For the roll pins, can it be any roll pin of appropriate size, or is there a specific P228 roll pin that must be used?

For those of us who did not buy the P228 parts kits when they were available, are we pretty much doomed?

Has anyone ever tried the Wolff recoil springs? Hopefully they are a viable replacement.

Wolff and others list the P225 and P228 as using the same recoil spring, but I have seen several folks state that this is not correct and the P225 spring is longer and isn't smooth in a P228. Here's one thread:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/3740061934

quote:

Originally posted by dog44:
The picture on page 4 of the bottom of the barrel at 20,000 rds, is there a dent in the left side of the locking lug ?

Yes it'seems that a little piece of metal has cracked. Perhaps the barrel has damaged the locking block.

Yeah, personally I change springs / roll pins at 3K on any pinned breech block SIG.

Having seen evidence of these guns lasting MUCH longer that 25K, that is pretty much the reason it died an early death.

Here endith the lesson.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Yeah, personally I change springs / roll pins at 3K on any pinned breech block SIG.

Having seen evidence of these guns lasting MUCH longer that 25K, that is pretty much the reason it died an early death.

Here endith the lesson.

Definitely agree about the recoil springs. But I have yet to see a stamped slide Sig whose breech block has come loose. It’s always good to replace them at regular intervals, true, but the only real need I’ve ever personally seen for it is when you’re disassembling that part of the gun for a more thorough clean. Then it isn’t best to reuse the old pins, but insert fresh ones.

I think Q’s gun just needed the recoil spring changes more than anything else

quote:

Originally posted by JBird679:
Has anyone ever tried the Wolff recoil springs? Hopefully they are a viable replacement.

Wolff and others list the P225 and P228 as using the same recoil spring, but I have seen several folks state that this is not correct and the P225 spring is longer and isn't smooth in a P228. Here's one thread:

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...0601935/m/3740061934

Thank you for the above link which jogged my memory. I knew there was some reason I went with the shorter white P229 spring vs. the longer silver P228 spring. Attached is a photo of the package from the new SIG factory P228 springs I recently received from MGW. (Please note SIG also lists this as the correct spring for the P225.) I just installed one of these in my P228 and am not experiencing the "crunching" referenced in the above linked post.