A longtime friend who worked for me at Dallas PD and is now a sergeant at Tarrant County S.O. (I retired from TCSO not quite three years ago) is having a strange issue with his P226 sidearm.

He went to qualify yesterday and everything was going low. Not just a little low, but WAY low---between 15 and 18 inches at 25 yards, at least 10 inches at 15, and even at seven yards he was low.

The rangemaster, who I also know well, tried and he had the same issue. Although he's not a Sig armorer, he is with other brands and inspected the pistol pretty thoroughly. I assume he checked the barrel for burrs, proper seating, and inspected the frame for any cracks or uneven wear.

The pistol is about 15 years old and has been well-maintained.

I told him to bring it to me and I'd go over the barrel and frame to see if I could find anything with my magnified work lights.

With this information, do any of our Forum armorers have an idea as to what else I might look for?

Thanks!

If a quick going over doesn't show something obvious, I'd start by checking the ammo? Different manufacturer? For that type of ammo, normally just a lot number change doesn't really affect the performance but who knows what was put out.

Years back, we had a delivery of new Remington .357sig ammo that was printing drastically way off from what everyone was used to. Turns out the lot was "off" and it was all shipped back for replacement.

It's not likely the problem but it can happen and it's an easy way to check. Try the same ammo in a few other guns.

Just lower the target…
I’m here all week

That’s a discard pile of ammo if it is the ammo though!

What ammo are they using? They recently switch brands due to availability?

Is the same ammo working just fine in every other pistol?

Check the barrel crown first and then work your way back and look for barrel bulges. A squib that was then blown out by the round behind it can cause some decent damage and be very hard to detect. Remove the locking block insert from the frame and check for cracks, especially where the slide stop goes through it.

To be quite honest, if it is a duty gun the best bet is to call SigSauer, get an RMA and send it back to them for inspection and service. Make sure they know it is a LE duty gun.

Don't assume a rangemaster/instructor checked anything or even knew what to check for. Some years back, one of our officers who normally quals just fine kept failing and being sent to remediation. The instructor, a fairly senior guy and a self-proclaimed "gun guy" who failed her said he shot her gun and it was "just fine."

After the second day of remedial practice and failure I got called up there. We put her gun in a Ransom Rest at 25 yards and sure enough half the rounds were off-paper. Gave her a new gun and she qualified with an almost perfect score on the first attempt. Visual inspection of the gun showed nothing wrong with it Off the gun went to S&W and came back a few weeks later with a new slide and barrel with a note stating the original slide and barrel were damaged and out of spec (nothing we could actually see).

It’s Winchester Ranger 9mm duty ammo.

Several deputies were qualifying and his rounds were the only ones flying low. He’s a good shooter, scores in the mid- to high 90s.

Any chance that the sights have been changed lately? Maybe with the wrong front sight height?

All things being equal, I'd say it is the sight height or the shooter.

Different lighting? Has his eyeglasses prescription changed? I can’t think of any reason why a previously properly functioning firearm would suddenly start shooting low. Unless he’s seeing the sights differently.

The department rangemaster had the same result—-and the sights haven’t been changed out or damaged.

quote:

Originally posted by snoris:
The department rangemaster had the same result—-and the sights haven’t been changed out or damaged.

Maybe the sight picture is wrong and they are both aligning in the same (wrong) way?
or
the sight heights are wrong.

If it shoots consistently but the impacts are not as expected then change the sights.
No need to overthink it, just find a cure.

Check the crown of the barrel. I would go as far as trying to get a different barrel in the gun.

Nothing mechanical would cause such a change.

Either the sights were changed or it’s end user error. Or maybe the rounds were loaded on the verge of squib.

I would think an 18" drop at 25 yards one would be able to tell the difference in the ammo if that is it.

PROBLEM DIAGNOSED!

I took my friend up to Robert Burke a few miles north of where I live.

Robert dropped the barrel into the slide and felt that the fit was too loose for his liking, which of course would throw off accuracy.

A new barrel has been ordered, Robert will fit it when it arrives, and my friend is a very happy camper.

Curious, did the pistol always have accuracy issues, or did the problems begin just recently?

I'm curious about all this too... how does a barrel get 'loose'? Has the pistol been shot 30,000 times? What would cause this to happen in a 'well maintained' pistol?

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I'm curious about all this too... how does a barrel get 'loose'? Has the pistol been shot 30,000 times? What would cause this to happen in a 'well maintained' pistol?

Maybe the barrel got cancer and lost weight.
There is potentially something very weird in play here.