First a hello! This is my first post but I've been reading for awhile.

I have a Sig P229 Nitron. I purchased it a couple months ago unfired, but the pistol was manufactured April 2012.

I have fired about 3000 rounds through it, and clean it regularly. I use Shooter's Choice grease on the rails and wear points, and Rem Oil on everything else. I have had no real problems until tonight.

Gun began malfunctioning after about 40 rounds. Round fires, slide racks and ejects brass, moves forward and then stops about 1/8" before closing. Gun will not fire. I eject the round drop the magazine and reload. Gun fires 1 to 3 rounds and then slide stops short again. I applied pressure and tried to force the slide forward without luck.

I swapped magazines and ammo and this had no effect on the issue. I removed the slide, put it back on, cycled it and could see nothing wrong. Slide closes normally when empty. Have now taken the gun apart and just don't see anything out of the ordinary.

Only mods to the gun are grips and an 18 lb hammer spring installed 2000 rounds ago.

I am completely stumped! I have an IDPA match in the morning. Does anyone have any ideas?

Regards,
Don

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

Ammo

Quick check pull barell and see if the rounds drop freely into it.

Ammo drops into the barrel easily and freely. I had two kinds of ammo with me, Winchester and Remington and both had the issue. I have shot nearly 500 rounds of the Winchester in the last few weeks as well.

I have just spent the last 10 minutes working the slide and dry firing. Absolutely no issues unloaded. I cleaned the whole gun again and reassembled. I'll take her to the match in the AM and see what happens. Thanks for the replies!

I'm still voting ammo, I assume both are cheap stuff. Do you have access to anything with known zip like NATO spec Winchester.

A couple suggestions:

- Possibly a worn recoil spring going solid or binding? Maybe try a replacement spring to see if problem persists. This is an unlikely cause, but relatively quick to check.

- Check the grip plate screws tightness. Pull the grip plates off and see if the trigger bar is intact or damaged. See if you can see any broken parts or parts encountering resistance. As the gun dry fires successfully I wouldn't expect there to be any problems, but I'd check to be certain.

- You mentioned that the gun dry fires successfully, but you didn't mention whether this is true both with and without an unloaded magazine in place.

- At this point with the little info we have to work with, I'm leaning towards an extractor or breech face issue. Possibly a damaged extractor or extractor spring, something preventing the failed rounds from consistently sliding up the breech face. Check the breech face for any burrs or carbon build up. Another possibility is O.O.S. ammo rim thickness causing the same issue. The only problem with this theory is that you stated that you used two different types of ammo that produced the same stoppage and it seems exceedingly unlikely that you would be unlucky enough to run into the same problem with ammo from two different manufacturers... but I'd check anyways to work down the troubleshooting tree.

Other than that we need more info... which means that you need to do more testing before you can provide it.

What grips did you put on the gun, and when? The slide may be getting hung up on the disconnect tab on the trigger bar. Have you cleaned that area?

Have you cleaned under the extractor claw? A build-up there may inhibit proper feeding.

Did you install the recoil spring correctly after cleaning?

One end of the spring will fit tighter on the guide rod than the other.

The tighter end goes on the guide rod first.

If the loose end goes on first the spring can possibly bind on the guide rod as it extends.

Cleaned it thoroughly again last night. I paid particular attention to the feed ramp and extractor claw. I shot about a hundred rounds this AM and had 3 malfunctions. An improvement.

Recoil spring is installed correctly.

Grips are Hogues and have been on since shortly after I purchased the gun. I looked for any wear marks on the inside of the grips and didn't see anything.

I appreciate the replies. I am going to send it in to Sig on Monday. I was planning on getting a short reset trigger installed anyway so I'll have them look at the feed problem too.

Consensus at the match this AM was that it has to be extractor related.

If the extractor claw appears undamaged and moves freely I'd suggest removing the slide and taking all the failed rounds that produced a stoppage and try manually sliding them up the breech face and behind the extractor claw. Check for proper tension or if there is excessive resistance. If you have any "known" good rounds, or even casings that cycled successfully, try the same thing with them for comparison.

Please let us know what SIG says on the issue.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with a fix!

Figured it out. It was ammo.

Went to the range tonight and bought a box of Freedom Munitions 115 grn FMJ. Shot 40 without a problem. Switched to Winchester ammo and had 7 fails out of the next 50 rounds. Each time the gun failed to go back into battery I ejected the problem round and put it aside.

Loaded those 7 rounds into a mag and they failed every time they cycled. Pulled the barrel and dropped each of them in. They went in easy but all protruded slightly. Good rounds sit flush.

I have shot over 400 rounds of this same ammo without an issue, so it must just have been a bad lot.

After some thought I remembered that I had found some loose rounds in the bottom of my gun bag after a shoot. I must have put them back into the wrong box. That explains why I had multiple brands failing.

Sig did not fail, the ammo did!

I called Sig this AM and they were puzzled but agreed to look at it and sent me a shipping label via e-mail. They suggested I try a new brand of ammo just to confirm. Still sending the gun into Sig for a short reset trigger kit.

Thanks again for the replies!

Thanks for the update. It's always very good to learn how these things turn out.

Good job! I would have placed money on something mechanical. Is the Winchester the notorious WWB (Win White Box)? If so, it has a long and sordid history.

quote:

Originally posted by dcroxby:
Loaded those 7 rounds into a mag and they failed every time they cycled. Pulled the barrel and dropped each of them in. They went in easy but all protruded slightly. Good rounds sit flush.

That's a good check for carry ammo. I always make sure my carry rounds drop in and out of the barrel easily. I'll now check for flushness as well.

Ian