My 226 now works great in .40 and with the 9mm conversion barrel.
Xpower recoil spring from Wolff.
Both the original .40 work fine and the new 20 round 9mm mag from Greg.
I think stripping down the 226 giving it a good clean and lub and the new recoil spring did the job for me.
Best of luck.

I found that the slide lock "problem" on my P239 was from me letting my thumb press the slide release lever. I solved the problem by grinding off the lower rear corner of the slide release, about half way up and half way forward. The exact amount you would need to grind off depends on your grip.
There is a video on YouTube of a guy that had to take off almost all of the lever on his P229. He must have had some huge hands.

Has anyone tried installing this catch lever on their P229:

http://www.topgunsupply.com/si...-p226-p228-p229.html

If so, I would like to see a picture.

quote:

Originally posted by hernlui:
Has anyone tried installing this catch lever on their P229:

http://www.topgunsupply.com/si...-p226-p228-p229.html

If so, I would like to see a picture.

That looks a whole lot like what I ended up with. I think I took a little more off. It isn't very hard to get the slide release out. This YouTube video shows you how to do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g0WyCWUON0

It only took me 30 minutes or so with a Dremel grinder to get the shape I wanted.

I'll post pictures of my P239 if I can figure out how to do it.

The slide catch mod was figured out way back on page 5

(see page 5 for some photos on how I did the mod)

For no lock back on last round measure the distance the slide lock tab extends into the frame.
My 229 is having problems and I have noticed the tab which is hit by the mag follower is 2mm shorter than it should be.
The follower is missing the tab.

FWIW, I just bought a CPO Sig P239 in .40, and converted it to .357Sig. It shot great, then I went to a CCW & combat training weekend class, which changed my grip hold in a major way & I started having the same problem of the slide failing to lock back. This is a clean gun, 2009 mfr, new 8 rd Sig mags, all the best. So, I have come to the conclusion that my grip is indeed causing my thumb to press downward on the SCL. And, to further prove it, my 226 started also having the same problem that weekend, whereas it was ALWAYS reliable. Sucks, because my new hold is great! Oh well.

I installed this Slide Lock Lever on both my P229's and my P226 that is currently at GrayGuns (to get some magic performed on it), and one P229 at Sig for one of their special package installs. I have E2 grips on all 3, and this X5 Slide Lock Lever works with no problem or need for modifications, I can't speak for stock or other grip types. I'll try and post some pics sometime...

If you get this Slide Lock Lever to fit on your Sig, you'll probably not have to adjust your hold.... It was a blessing for me, as I tried grinding off the tab on the original Lever but it made releasing the slide quite a bit more difficult. Awesome that TGS has it ALOT cheaper than directly from Sig!

quote:

Originally posted by hernlui:
Has anyone tried installing this catch lever on their P229:

http://www.topgunsupply.com/si...-p226-p228-p229.html

If so, I would like to see a picture.

I have found that this problem is almost always magazine related and have noted that only new magazines cause the issue....ones with the detent to prevent drifting of rounds under recoil. These magazines seem to be a few thousandths wider than the older mags and may interfere with the slide stop. Of course, I have not seen enough to claim this as statistically valid, but is seems like a strong indicator.

quote:

Originally posted by Aegis_777:
I have found that this problem is almost always magazine related and have noted that only new magazines cause the issue....ones with the detent to prevent drifting of rounds under recoil. These magazines seem to be a few thousandths wider than the older mags and may interfere with the slide stop. Of course, I have not seen enough to claim this as statistically valid, but is seems like a strong indicator.

Welcome to the board. This is the most common issue with Sig. We've figured it out, and it's not mags People's thumbs hit the slide lock lever 99% of the time to cause this problem. You can replace the slide lock lever, modify it with a Dremel, or change your grip. Old mags or new mags, this will still happen.

Hi Everyone,

Here's my fun with this issue. Picked up my first Sig, a used 40 cal P226 and the gun seemed to function without issue at the range, but I was only using one of the mags that came with the gun (its one the state run ranges with limits on how many rounds you can have in the mag, how fast, etc. But it's free and close). This is the only 40 cal I have and I have a lot of 9mm ammo, so I bought the 9mm conversion kit.

With the 9mm kit, the slide won't reliably lock back just pulling the slide back by hand on an empty magazine. Yesterday I picked up 2 Mecgar 18 round mags as well and have the same issue.

In comparing to the 40 cal parts, one mags will lock the slide back, the others are intermittent.

From reading this entire thread, the source of the issue can be one of the following.

• Slide Catch Spring
  
• Slide Catch Bar
  
• Magazines
  

We have a local gun shop here called Top Gun (not Top Gun Supply) that has a Sig Armorer and Kudos to them for taking a look. He looked at it and said the Slide catch spring is definitely worn as it doesn't force the Slide catch bar to snap back. Most of the time it will stay raised up (yes there's oil). I've also noticed the slide catch bar seems to snag/bind a little towards the rear of the bar. They didn't have any of the parts there unfortunately.

So, here's the plan... I'm ordering the following parts.

• Replacement spring kit for the 40 cal (I have a new recoil spring on the 9mm kit) - $23
  
• Set of wolf +10% mag springs to help make sure the follower is lifting on the slide catch bar - set of 3 springs is $16
  
• New Slide Lock Bar - $30.00
  

I'm not a 100% sure on the slide lock bar, but with an unknown round-count I figure it might be prudent.

While I have the gun apart, I figure I'll put in a SRT trigger kit too.

Does anyone have other advice or suggestions? Am I missing anything? If pictures would help let me know what photos.

I had an issue with the +10 mags springs.
I could not load the full amount of rounds because the +10 spring was taking up more space than the regular thinner springs.

Quick update...

I skipped the Wolf +10 springs on cyberphobia's advise.

I've received the new blue slide lock catch. I ended up ordering it from Brownells as they had it in stock and nobody else did. The places I found it were Brownells, Midway, and Topgun. I installed into the pistol tonight and everything works... it even snaps down from the slide catch spring.

The original one in the pistol had the notch and it must have been slightly bent or something since it seemed to be binding a little.

I still have the spring kit on order with the SRT trigger from Midway, but I don't think it's needed. But it never hurts to have a spare part or 2.

Chris this is on a 1911 and I don't know of any spring on the slide stop lever other than the, for a lack of a better term, the detent pin on the outside of the frame. I checked two other Sig 1911 Scorpions and they don't have this problem and this is a nearly new, very low round count pistol. I have three other 1911s and don't have this issue with the others. Any other thoughts? Thanks, Jim

Thanks for all the ideas, however, my problem is with a 1911 and the issues described involving springs for the slide latch are not applicable to the 1911. The slide catch is raised by the follower in the mag itself and I have tried 5 different mags. Three new Sigs, a Colt and a Nighthawk. If the slide is racked slowly by hand, it will hold the slide back. If fired or racked quickly by hand the catch won't engage. So, new thoughts?

quote:

Originally posted by 1wjim:
Thanks for all the ideas, however, my problem is with a 1911 and the issues described involving springs for the slide latch are not applicable to the 1911. The slide catch is raised by the follower in the mag itself and I have tried 5 different mags. Three new Sigs, a Colt and a Nighthawk. If the slide is racked slowly by hand, it will hold the slide back. If fired or racked quickly by hand the catch won't engage. So, new thoughts?

Wilson Combat 47D mags + ISMI SSCS2 magazine springs + a high quality slide stop (I like the Wilson Bulletproof one myself).

The idea is you use a self-leveling, plastic follower that is replaced as it wears (which take quite a lot), strong chrome silicone springs that don't wear out, and a quality slide stop that positively engages the mag follower. I've never had issues with rounds not locking back using this setup.

I recently bought my first Sig, a P226 Tac Ops and since the first day I had problems with the slide not locking after last round. Knowing the cause was my high grip and not wanting to change the way I shoot neither to throw away such a wonderful gun just filed the slide stop lever the way suggested in this thread. Now the slide locks always at the last round and I feel very pleased with my Tac Ops. Thanks.

Recently swapped for some 10rd mags for my 2 year old P226 .40 S&W and the slide won't lock back, even when empty.

Followed member skip237's advise posted in his blog (previously mentioned in this post) and problem solved.. thanks skip237 !

Called Sig and asked for part 34260120 (Slide Catch lever) but they sent 34260120N - nickel finish. Called Sig again and they sent 1200779. It's blued and has the longer, squared post that contacts the mag follower (compared exactly to the nickel one they sent). Works perfectly with both my 12 and 10 rd mags. I see that TGS also has part 1200779 listed too.

BTW.. found a real detailed P226 strip that also covers this replacement here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g0WyCWUON0

Good Luck... Rob

quote:

Originally posted by caneau:

quote:

Originally posted by Aegis_777:
I have found that this problem is almost always magazine related and have noted that only new magazines cause the issue....ones with the detent to prevent drifting of rounds under recoil. These magazines seem to be a few thousandths wider than the older mags and may interfere with the slide stop. Of course, I have not seen enough to claim this as statistically valid, but is seems like a strong indicator.

Welcome to the board. This is the most common issue with Sig. We've figured it out, and it's not mags People's thumbs hit the slide lock lever 99% of the time to cause this problem. You can replace the slide lock lever, modify it with a Dremel, or change your grip. Old mags or new mags, this will still happen.

Respectfully I have found this to be wrong, and sig has told me it IS a mag issue and in fact the hardware was changed creating a cross year compatibility issue with 226 mags.

The big group of this malfunction they get are from 10 round limit states where people bought 226s in the past few years and had to buy 10 rounders on their own to be compliant. I purchased three new in box, never used, sig branded mecgar 10 rounders, and one used one.
The new in box ones were actually older stock, and gave me lots of failures to lock back. The used 2011 one, as well as my 2013 15 rounders never once failed to lock back on me.


Again, I get this failure constantly 25% of the time on my pre 2010 mags and NEVER on my 2013 mags in my 2013 p226.

I know because after having this happen many times I marked my mags. I had hardly ever use my 15 round mags that came with the gun as I am in DC and I keep them at my bothers out of state and just use them when I am there. After getting many failures to lock back on three of mecgar ten round mags I bought for keeping in DC, I did an n extensive test. I took my three 15 rounders and my four ten roudners. I ran them each many times with between one and five rounds. I got not one failure to lock back on the 2013 mags. I got regular, say 1/4 of the time, failure to lock back on the new in box but old stock 10 rounder's.

I called sig. they know about this and it is not operator error. If you have 2009 and before mags and current mags you can see the feeder is different exactly where the slide catch is.

After 50 or so failures to lock back on 200 loads on my old stock 20 rounder's, I switched my feeders from my 2013 15-round mags into the mags that were failure. I tested the tens again -- not one failure to lock back.

I never saw this thread when it first appeared but I think my issue is with the slide stop itself...I'm a SouthPaw so my thumb is not stopping the slide or contacting the lock, further, none of my other P Series pistols exhibit this issue...

I called this week and had a poor experience...I am unaware of anyone above whom I called as I tried to email Victoria Martin (past dealings that were positive) and my CS representative was aware I made the email and refused to help further...

...my own fault for waiting so long to get this fixed (more than a year) but I am currently emailing back and forth with SIG Sauer on a remedy...

...despite being a 2 time graduate of their armorer school I have been given the option of sending the pistol in at shipping costs to SIG Sauer... or buying the part and replacing it myself (at half the cost of shipping and no loss of pistol for ANY amount of time...)

...it is too old (2009 date on case despite it being sold much later than that) for them to send me a "courtesy" part (their word and I didn't ask for it)...

I sent them the link with high quality photographs of the part, the change to that part by SIG that has caused the failures to lock back and the fix that SIG employs on their P226s today...plus the blog site that details ALL of this (not mine but borrowed from member skip237 of this Forum)

I asked what the point was of being a SIG Armorer if I can't replace a known bad part?
I asked what point is a lifetime warranty if I need to pay for the replacement part?
I asked why I would pay $55 to ship a pistol for a $28 dollar repair?

I was informed that I could send the gun in for repair or pay for a part to be sent to me...that's it...nothing more...

"to Hell and back"...maybe just to the bank and back...

full disclosure...being frustrated, I contacted someone else in customer service (I tried to contact Victoria Martin, no reply)...no luck there either...

Bill
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