I purchased a .40 P239, then bought a Bar-Sto barrel in .357 Sig. I have a failure to feed 98% of the time with Gold Dot 124 grain ammo. I sent the gun back to Bar-Sto, it came back with one fired case. Note that GD has an extra wide hollow point.

I tried cycling the slide today, and again complete failure to feed each time. Any suggestions? This ammo works perfect in my P226 with a Bar-Sto barrel. The mags are new, I tried four different mags, same issue.

I used to get FTFs using the Bar-sto barrel in my Legacy P229R-9mm. Not every time, but at least 2-3 times every range session. I finally decided to go back to the factory bbl.

I knew that the problem might have gone away once the barrel wore in more, or that I could have sent it back to Bar-sto for (another) re-fitting. In the end I decided it just wasn't worth the risk on a defense arm.

One suggestion, now that I think about it. If you haven't already tried, grease up the outside of the barrel. This helped mine a lot, though not enough for me to keep using it. Maybe you'll have better luck.

In order of what I would do
Might polish the ramp with flitz.
Ensure your mags have fresh springs.
Might also try a lighter different recoil spring

Sorry meant to say put in extra strength springs in your mags

Has been a few years now, but I had the same issue with both a Lone Wolf barrel as well as a Bar-Sto. I finally gave up and found a factory barrel and had no problems after that. I realize that doesn’t help your issue, but for it to choke on Gold Dots indicates a problem with their barrel to me.

Just to be clear.... have you actually fired the P239 with the barrel after it was returned or just tried to cycle ammo through it?

I have one p239 that will not hand cycle HP ammo but fires and then chambers another round just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Just to be clear.... have you actually fired the P239 with the barrel after it was returned or just tried to cycle ammo through it?

That was my immediate question. I assumed the former, but ...?

When I first installed the barrel, I greased all surfaces that I thought would help. Went to the range, first round was getting hung up at the beginning of the feed ramp, never got one shot off.

Went home, worked it a bit, and it appeared to feed satisfactorily. Back to the range, round would not feed. Tried mags a few times, finally got a round in. Went through the entire mag, no problems. Next mag, would not feed.

So entire pistol and one mag went back to Bar-Sto. They sent it back, and the feed ramp looked untouched. Complete FTF on the dozen times I tried to cycle the slide. So, that is where I am today.

I can see the the lip of the hollow point is hanging up low on the feed ramp. Will post a photo later today. If I could buy a Sig barrel, I would. However they are out of production.

I am not a SIG guy, I shoot 1911's almost all the time, so this might be a waist of time (but...). Can you increase the extractor pressure to take some pressure off the nose of the round. With a 1911 this easy to do by adjusting the extractor.
Maybe try a different recoil spring.
Best of luck.

Maybe try some other factory ammo and see how it functions? If it does,just use that ammo in the 239.

Most likely other ammo will work, but after paying the big bucks for the Bar-Sto barrel, I would like to be able to use Gold Dot, as it is common, I have lots of it, and it works great. Minimum deflection when going through auto glass, etc. Barrel was about $250, so I think this is reasonable. My other Bar-Sto barrel works perfect in my .357 Sig P226.

It might be informative to see a picture of what happens when the round fails to chamber (which is what I assume you’re referring to as “FTF”).

Long ago when hollow point ammunition in autoloading pistols was new and still relatively uncommon, I experienced chambering failures when the cartridge would be pushed out and up from the magazine at too steep of an angle to enter the chamber properly. In several cases I found that radiusing the transition line between the top of the feed ramp and the bottom rear of the chamber allowed the cartridge to “roll” over and into the chamber without getting stuck on that sharp ridge-like transition point.

I performed that modification to the top of the feed ramp with a fine abrasive tip and Dremel tool, and then finished with a bit of Simichrome polish on a felt tip. I was always very careful to remove a minimum of metal because I didn’t want to leave the cartridge case unsupported.

The modification shouldn’t be attempted by anyone other than a competent gunsmith due to the risk of ruining the barrel and creating a dangerous unsupported case situation.

Could be the angle of the pictures, but it looks like it's more the case stuck on the locking insert rather than the bullet on the feed ramp of the barrel.

Wow! That was not what I expected to see. I anticipated seeing the round part way into the chamber and hung up there.

With the cartridge covering the bottom of the feed ramp I can’t be certain, but your feed ramp may be steeper than my factory barrel’s, which could be a factor.

For some reason, though, I’m wondering about your magazines. A silly question, perhaps, but they’re not 9mm mags, are they? It seems to me that the cartridges aren’t being released soon enough to allow them to angle up on the ramp into the chamber. It’s hard for me to imagine, though, why 40 S&W ammunition would work okay with the same magazines, but 357 does not.

Can you take a photo of the same area but without the magazine and cartridge? To retract the slide to that point and leave it there would have to be without the recoil spring. I’ll try to post a photo of mine with the factory barrel for comparison.

quote:

Originally posted by ah3:
it looks like it's more the case stuck on the locking insert

That’s a good point as well. There is a small ramp on the locking insert with a rather abrupt transition ridge at the top. Could the case mouth be catching on it? If so, radiusing that ridge as I mentioned about the top of the barrel feed ramp might help.

But first try stripping a round from the magazine without the barrel in the slide to see if it catches or hesitates in the process.

I replaced my Browning Hi-Power barrel with a Bar-Sto barrel. Sent the pistol and the barrel to Cylinder and Slide to have it installed along with some other work. The pistol upon it's return just would not run properly. After two return trips to Cylinder and Slide the problem remained and my Hi-Power went to the back of the safe. A couple of years latter I pulled it out of the safe and took it to Benny Hill a local gunsmith who is a friend of mine. Turns out that the chamber was undersized and needed to be reamed out a bit. Fixed the issues.

The one time I've gotten a conversion barrel of any kind was a Bar-Sto semi-fit 9mm barrel for my .357 Sig .40 S&W P229 about seven years ago.

The day it arrived, I went to Robert Burke (the Sig Armorer), who did a few minor precision passes on the critical surfaces. I have had ZERO problems with feeding and the pistol is VERY accurate (the regular recoil spring is used).

If you're having issues with your P239, I'd consider contacting Robert.

Did you swap your magazines for 357? Unlike all other pistols, the 239 in 357 uses s specific 357 magazine. .40 and 357 are not interchangeable magazines in the 239.

Actually you can use 357s in a 40 mag but not the other way around.... now MWC could be right that the the problem is the 40 cal magazines... they don't have the indent that the 357 mags do.

Still, what is going on is exactly what happens with one of my p239s when I try to 'hand' chamber a round... but either firing the pistol or releasing the slide lock and the round will chamber fine.