I'm experiencing intermittent failures to feed (high-quality) Speer Gold Dot hollow-point ammunition from all of my 3 magazines. The flat edge of the hollow-point tips are just getting wedged at the bottom of the feed ramp.

My P229 in 357 Sig shoots the same ammunition with no problems at all.

I noticed that the feed ramp on the 226 barrel is fairly steep, and the 229 barrel's feed ramp is shallower. I bet that has something to do with it.

Apart from attempting to polish the feed ramp, is there anything I can do to make this pistol reliable with self-defense ammunition? Is there a replacement barrel that's designed to work well with hollow-points?

The feed ramp does appear to be more vertical than those of my 357 SIG P226 barrels, but it’s hard to be certain. Can you remove it from the slide and photograph it from the side? Is it a factory barrel?

The top round in the magazine also seems to contact the feed ramp at a lower spot than they do in my pistols as if the chambering angle is different. Although it shouldn’t really be necessary, sometimes it helps to ensure that the cartridges are pushed well to the rear and down on the bottom of the rounds when loading them in the magazine. I’d also be concerned about the magazines themselves. Are they factory mags and have you disassembled them to ensure they’re assembled correctly?

I just checked my 226, your angle is too shallow. I think some new mag springs are in your future...

Here's my barrel:


I have tried one original factory magazine, and two Mec-Gar mags.

What weight replacement magazine springs should I try?

Do you have any round nose ammo? See if it feed that. Might not like those hollow points

Well, your barrel’s feed ramp looks just like the one of the P226 357 SIG barrel I checked. Your other photos made it look different, but evidently not.

I usually believe that replacing magazine springs is a waste of money, and I suspect that’s especially true in your situation, but it can’t hurt to try. If your magazines have been disassembled, though, I would still check to ensure the springs are installed correctly.

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Is this a pistol you recently acquired and started shooting or have you been using 357 Speer Gold in this bullet weight for a while and the feed issue is new?

Wolf Springs (https://www.gunsprings.com/SIG...226/cID1/mID4/dID254) sells regular and +5% extra stiff springs for the same price. For my 9mm P226, I buy their +5% thinking they would last longer ~ how long have the magazine springs lasted before this FTF started?

I have a P226 that does not feed 9mm Speer Gold Dot .147 gr ammo reliability but has no issues with 9mm Federal HST .147 gr ammo.

If after chaining out the magazine springs, try other Gold Dot bullet weights and/or Federal HST. Sorry I don't have any 357 pistols or I would send you a box since ammo is difficult to find.

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It's a new-to-me pistol, I believe it was factory refurbished. I'd like to avoid shipping the pistol to Sig because it will cost a fortune plus spending several hours of my time during the business day.

I have a lot of Gold Dot 357 Sig ammo. Cases of it. Given ammo supply issues these days I can't just give up on it; I'd sooner give up on the pistol.

Does anyone here have a 357 Sig P226 that works reliably with Speer hollowpoints?

It won't help but try replacing all your mag springs... is not exactly the advice I was hoping for.

Would a new factory barrel fix my issue?

The other, probably unnecessary, question is are the magazines all marked for the 357/40 cartridges?

I have P226s chambered for 357 SIG and the standard (not "limited penetration") load is my carry ammunition. I never fired very much of the load with the P226s, though, and it was a long time ago when I did. I never, however, had any problems with it or any other ammunition.

Yes, all the magazines are all marked for 40/357 Sig. It feeds *sometimes*, but between about 30-60% of the time, you get a jam like the one I pictured.

Sooo, if both the P226 'and' the Mags are new to you, you might consider replacing the Recoil Spring as well....Here's why

You indicate that you 'believe it was factory refurbished' and while the exterior of the Barrel looks fresh, it sounds like you REALLY don't with any certainty, the true functional condition of this P226. It's possible the Recoil Spring is worn/EOL, or it could even be the WRONG Spring! If the Recoil Spring is NOT controlling the Slide velocity correctly, the Mags 'may' be unable to feed properly regardless of their condition, especially hollow point ammo!

As others have indicated, I'd recommend disassembling the Mags to ensure they're clean, dry and properly assembled. If you can pick up a new recoil spring locally I would DEFINITELY do so, and see if that corrects your FTF problem. If a Recoil Spring can't be had locally, I'd order the Recoil 'and' Magazine Springs online just because the shipping charges would/could cost as much as the springs otherwise. Good Luck...Let us know how it works out!

Great Avatar, by the way....Too bad he's now the 'Old Man in the Valley'!

pm me, I may have the mag springs, I know I have the recoil spring. Just pay for shipping.

Hey @nhracecraft -- you recognize the Old Man! Well, he was still on the mountain when I moved down to Texas from Keene. Not that you were implying I had anything to do with his untimely demise!

Anyway, I am doubting the recoil spring theory, because when it gets stuck on a cartridge, I cannot get it to feed manually by pulling the slide all the way back (that is to say, clearing the jam, re-feeding the same cartridge into the magazine, and attempting to re-rack manually will still FTF).

I will give all new magazine springs a try. Although, I took them all apart and inspected them, and they all looked fine to me. But maybe I just need all new springs for some reason.

Odd. I have carried a P226R in .357SIG for ~12 years and have never had a single malfunction with any ammo. My primary carry ammo has always been Speer Gold Dots. I’ve never had this issue.

I’ll have to check the angle of my rounds in comparison to your photos.

No doubt it goes without saying, in addition to the previous good advice, it's worthwhile to reduce friction where you can. Polish the feed ramp. Also do the usual stuff to reduce friction. Grease frame rails, barrel, barrel bottom lug and lock up surface (front of hood).

Here's my carry 226 with a mag full of Gold Dots. It seems pretty similar to yours, though the top round almost seems to sit a bit higher in relation to the feed ramp.

I would also carefully inspect the locking insert of your 226, especially the portion which essentially mates with the bottom of the feed ramp.
My 229 somehow developed a blemish (?) there, and I was getting periodic FTF issues similar what you describe. The blemish was hardly noticeable until compared side by side with a new one, but apparently it was enough to prevent the tip of the round from meeting the feed ramp.

I have two of these, both LE trade-ins. Had a new one that I sold to a friend. Never had a problem of any kind. I mostly use Gold Dots and Lawman, it was cheap back then too. I still think your mag springs are in upside down. The angle of the top round looks wrong. Do your mags have the old steel floor plate, or the newer polymer? I have both, but prefer the polymer because the steel ones have sharp corners. I bleed easily these days.

OK, I replaced all the magazine springs and the recoil spring. Still having FTF issues with all the magazines.

I have a laser sight for this pistol. I noticed when I was aiming using the laser I was having more frequent FTFs. After that I very consciously made sure to keep my wrists firmly locked (for lack of a better term), but I still experienced some FTFs with each magazine. Same problem as before.

Mind you, I've been shooting pistols for most of my life and never really knew what exactly "limp wristing" was supposed to be, because I'd never experienced this kind of problem, not with my P228, P6, or P229 (or any Colt, Beretta, Glock, Walther or HK either, for that matter). I think keeping less of a firm grip exacerbates the issue with this pistol but is not in itself the root cause.

Any more ideas before I ship the pistol back to Sig?

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Do your mags have the old steel floor plate, or the newer polymer? I have both, but prefer the polymer because the steel ones have sharp corners. I bleed easily these days.

I have two of each.