For a long time I kept meticulous records of round counts thru my pistols. More OCD than anything else. A few years ago I stopped. My BWTAC has well over 10K rounds down the pipe. I have yet to replace anything on the pistol.

This weekend I probably added another 2-300 rounds to the count, and the last few rounds fired appeared to keyhole. I wish I had my phone with me to snap a pic. Ammo was a mix of various brass, no reloads. I was rapid firing several magazines, the gun was hot.

How many of you have blown out a barrel on a P226? I'm thinking they should go a lot further than say 15K rounds. I gotta get new night sights too, mine are completely dead

I doubt it is the barrel. I suspect the ammo. Even a very worn barrel won't keyhole.

In fact, the only keyholing from a pistol I have ever seen myself was from firing 9mm in a .40. The extractor can sometimes hold the case enough to fire, but they sure do keyhole. And wreck the case.

I don't think that happened to you, but I doubt the barrel could be worn enough to keyhole without putting tens of thousands (maybe a hundred thousand) rounds through it.

Check the end of your barrel to make sure you didn't somehow nick the crown, and try some new ammo, noting whether it happens with a specific brand.

Also, if you really haven't replaced ANYTHING after 10k rounds, you are way overdue for a new recoil spring. You are likely beating up your frame unnecessarily. I'd replace all the springs from a parts kit, but that's just me.

Might be worth sending it to SIG for a refresh and night sights.

Definitely in need of a recoil spring.

For the accuracy, try some different ammo and as mention, check the crown as that damage could cause issues.

Thanks - I'll change out the recoil spring. I'm not sure what direction to go with the sights. I don't care for the long front sight it came with, but not sure I like the new Sig night sights either.

10k is nothing, actually, 40-50k rounds is probably nothing with regards to barrel wear.

Are you sure you don't have significant fouling? I'd say you would be better served to pull the barrel and soak it in a zip-lock with some Hoppe's for 12 hours or so and hit it hard with a brass brush. I'll bet you'll be surprised what comes out of that barrel... No matter how well you think you've cleaned it.

And yes, you're well past the replacement interval for the recoil spring.

I have a Glock 26 with north of 50,000 rounds (when I stopped counting)through it that seemed to keyhole on occasion with cheap 115gr ammo. I doubt I wore out a Glock barrel so I suspect I may have damaged the crown.

That gave me an excuse to try a new alpha wolf barrel and now it doesn't seem to do it anymore. Groups are pretty tight also.

Good luck in figuring out your problem.

Its not a barrel unless somehow you got a defective one. I'm at 60K on my oldest 226. Over 30K on several others. I'd expect 100K easily. I'd get some quality ammo and check. Then of course as is suggested see if you have damaged the physical barrel (not wear...damage).