I’ve been reading on the forums here about issues with the takedown levers failing on the stainless steel P232 pistols and was wondering if it was a problem exclusive to the stainless models or whether the blued, alloy-frame P230 also suffers from that failure.

By the way, regarding the P230, many compare it to the Walther PPK in terms of aesthetics, but I would say the lines of the P230 resemble those of the Mauser HSc, another cool-looking classic.

Bill

The lever on the P230 / P232 is a 2-piece design, with the "rod" pressed into the lever, and then peened. The "failures" come from people trying to rotate the lever while the slide is rearward, like done for the normal SIG P22X series pistols. The lever has to be turned down when the slide is forward. Otherwise, the internal slide stop binds in the forward part of the slide and does not easily rotate down. Then when forced like this, the lever itself "slips" from the rod. The "failure" is due to improper use / disassembly procedure. Unfortunately, no-one reads the manuals anymore...

I have several P230 and P232 pistols, and they are very nice and have never had an issue with take down lever.