(New to the forum, Sigs, and to this forum software I did do a search, but won't promise that I did it well.)

The TL;DR version. P938s bought late January, has had failure to extract, slide stop coming out of position, and grip screw walked out. These are our first Sigs.

Late last year, the wife expressed a desire to get her concealed carry permit and her own weapon. She does not have a lot of grip strength, and none of what I have suits her. Our LGS has a decent rental selection, she handled many .380s & 9mms before test firing, did about 200 rnds of test firing, and chose the P938 Extreme (and I got one as well.)

Because she wanted to be certain of handling failures if they happened during her testing, after firing one box and cleaning the pistol, we stopped cleaning the pistol after each session. Each session was about 100 rnds.

I wish I had kept details, but the first issue we noticed was failure to extract. This always happened on the last round of a magazine. The round fired, the slide locked back, but the spent casing was still chambered. I have not, but will, mark our magazines. This happened with my pistol as well. We've shot 115gr Blazer brass exclusively.

Since the guns were filthy, this didn't upset us. She got proficient at getting the spent shell out.

Then things got bad.

After roughly 400 rounds, she wasn't able to rack the slide. It took me a while, but I finally noticed that the slide lock had become dislodged just a bit. I popped it back into place, we finished shooting for the day, and stopped by the LGS.

The gunsmith ran a box of ammo through it, and of course, it performed flawlessly for him. He wasn't sure what the problem was, but removed the spring, and re-installed it, with a very slight bend (he said. I could have misunderstood, or he dumbed down what he did for our understanding. The intent was to get the slide stop to stay put when it was supposed to)

On our next trip, this time to the range at the LGS, she wasn't able to drop a spent magazine. I couldn't either, and took the safed pistol out to the counter, where we noticed that the top grip screw on the right hand side was gone, and the grip had shifted and was obstructing the magazine release. We had the LGS put in a new screw, make sure all the screws were tight and had Loc-Tite blue (on mine, too) and went home.

I thoroughly cleaned the pistols, and we went back two days later for her shooting test. The owner apologized for the staff charging us for the grip screw, said that they'd discussed customer service twice since our experience, and gave us a box of ammo as compensation.

Some discussion/instruction, and off into the range, where the pistol & my wife performed very well .... until she couldn't move the slide. The owner took the pistol, did not see what the issue was for a little while, then I spotted the slide stop out of position.

The owner called over the gunsmith, who waffled totally, tried to blame it on how my wife was handling the recoil. To the owner's credit, he called BS on that. After many minutes of discussion, the wife finished the last few rounds of the test satisfactorily, albeit not as well has she had been shooting (combination of icing the kicker and adrenaline anger, I suspect)

The LGS marketing manager suggested that we first get a new spring from Sig, and see what happens.

When we got home, Sig got a scathing message on Facebook, and they contacted us. After speaking with a Sig representative yesterday, the pistol is at Sig, who will be replacing the spring, and doing whatever else they want, then returning it to us the week of June 5.

My wife is, in my opinion, justifiably concerned over the reliability of the P938. She chose it because of how it felt to her, compared to other pistols & revolvers, because of her ability to operate the pistol, and because of the Sig reputation. That reputation is, at the moment, a bit tarnished in our view.

I do of course realize that in a self-defense situation, the gun will be clean at the start, and certainly will not end up with hundreds of rounds going through it. I might add a check of the grip screws as part of the cleaning process. I'm still concerned about the slide stop, though. It's going to take some time and ammo to convince us that the pistol will be reliable.

If you made it this far, thanks. Comments welcome, of course. I'll post updates after we get the pistol back. Copious notes will be taken, with marked magazines, round counts, etc, etc.

SkyDaver, I'm suprised at the issues you have had with your 938's and appreciate your concern as a self defense CCW. I have a 938 and have had no issues other than the follow pin that holds the back strap walking out. I added some lock tight and it has never come loose again. My experience with the 938 is very positive and have had no other issues and love the concealabilty of this weapon. I do love my Sigs and hope you get to the bottom of the issues with Sig/Service and share your results. Personally, I wiuld not give up on the 938, however I can see how your spouse may have lost confidence. Best of luck and please follow up!

I posted this reply about my 938 experience in this thread a little while back:

quote:

Originally posted by ARMT Guy:

quote:

Originally posted by Jus228:


What are your experiences with them? Reliability and recoil being my main concerns. My new G43 isn't working out like I'd hoped. If you have experience with both that's even more helpful to me.

Thanks.

I bought my 938 SAS nib, back in March '13. It was newly built that month. I still carry and fire this pistol to this day, though I have begun going the opposite direction from you: I've begun carrying my G43 more often here lately.

For the 938, I would sort of liken it to a small sports car, some what more maintenance needy than most larger pistols. Initially upon bringing one home, I'd recommend putting a dab a loctite on the grip screws. The two piece recoil spring guide rod may, or may not loosen up after a couple hundred rounds or so. Mine did twice after about three hundred rounds fired each time. I blue loctited and German torqued the guide rod and haven't had any issues since and I've got a little south of 2k rounds through mine so far.

The stock main spring housing is plastic and on earlier models such as mine, a single nub protruded from the MSH to help secure the sear spring, ( current models, IIRC, have two nubs. ) Over a bit of time, this nub would wear down and eventually allow the sear spring to move. I replaced my MSH with an aluminum housing from Hogue. It's been working just fine.

I wasn't totally happy with the stock trigger pull. I ordered a Tillamook Precision metal trigger and did a bit of polishing internally while everything was torn apart, ( which the detail tear down wasn't all that easy, mostly due to the trigger pivot pin, ) and got the pull down to about 5.5 lbs.

Finally, I found that the magazines would come unseated while firing defensive ammo. They stayed locked in just fine when firing standard ball/range ammo. I saw the suggestion from another member here to take a standard 1911 magazine release button spring and cut a coil or two from it to provide more tension on the 938's mag release to more positively retain the magazines during firing. This worked like a charm.

So, as you can see, at least my experience with the 938 was rather more involved than many of my other pistols. I know other members here have had some, if not all of the issues I mentioned above with their 938s.

Now, functional reliability with a wide range of FMJs and HPs has been excellent. I only found one type of bullet that would not feed reliably in my 938, WWB 115gr truncated FMJ. Everything else fed and functioned just fine. I don't recall any FTF issues at all during its initial few hundred round break in. Accuracy is excellent as well. I started off using my standard 9mm carry load, ( 124gr Speer GDs ) but later moved on to 124gr HSTs and I'm now using 150gr HSTs for Micro Pistols. Recoil is easily manageable. When I carry my 938, it rides in a DeSantis Super Fly pocket holster. I use a Don Hume mag pouch to keep an additional seven round magazine on my belt.

'German torqued'?

quote:

Originally posted by Skydaver:
'German torqued'?

Meaning: good and tight, ( in a German accent. )

I kind of thought that might be it.

OP ... that sucks.

I had a 938 scorpion, it was garbage. Failure to fire, click on a round with no primer indent. Went back to sig twice, finally had it replaced by a 239.

Bought a 938 equinox 6 months later, and it has been 100% reliable. Have had the second 938 for almost two years now.

Sig says their return rate for the 938 is low. I tend to believe them because I see them often on the wall as range guns throughout the country and when I ask, shops never say they have problems with them.

I wouldn't give up yet - I really like mine, extremely accurate and no muzzle flip.

-Freq

quote:

Originally posted by Freq18Hz:
OP ... that sucks.

I had a 938 scorpion, it was garbage. Failure to fire, click on a round with no primer indent. Went back to sig twice, finally had it replaced by a 239.

Bought a 938 equinox 6 months later, and it has been 100% reliable. Have had the second 938 for almost two years now.

Sig says their return rate for the 938 is low. I tend to believe them because I see them often on the wall as range guns throughout the country and when I ask, shops never say they have problems with them.

I wouldn't give up yet - I really like mine, extremely accurate and no muzzle flip.

-Freq

We're not giving up. We'll be running a bunch of ammo through it after Sig returns it, and I think I'm going to switch to SlideGlide for lube. Haven't decided on what I'll use for cleaning. I still have a bunch of CLP left.

quote:

Originally posted by Skydaver:

quote:

Originally posted by Freq18Hz:
OP ... that sucks.

I had a 938 scorpion, it was garbage. Failure to fire, click on a round with no primer indent. Went back to sig twice, finally had it replaced by a 239.

Bought a 938 equinox 6 months later, and it has been 100% reliable. Have had the second 938 for almost two years now.

Sig says their return rate for the 938 is low. I tend to believe them because I see them often on the wall as range guns throughout the country and when I ask, shops never say they have problems with them.

I wouldn't give up yet - I really like mine, extremely accurate and no muzzle flip.

-Freq

We're not giving up. We'll be running a bunch of ammo through it after Sig returns it, and I think I'm going to switch to SlideGlide for lube. Haven't decided on what I'll use for cleaning. I still have a bunch of CLP left.

Good choice for lube.

Only when I was a young Private many, many, many years ago, did I use CLP in my personal firearms. It's a jack of all trades, master of none, ( or three lies for the price of one ) that's ok.. if that's all one has available to them at the time, but for actual cleaning agents, I'd recommend a dedicated solvent such as Hoppes #9, etc. A dedicated cleaning solvent will do a much better job at breaking up and removing carbon build up, etc, then follow up by wiping down the metal surfaces with a dedicated gun oil.

Heard from Sig this morning at 9:50 EDT. They're replacing the frame, as the grip screw hole is stripped. The slide lock spring was also bad. That explains the two bad problems. I expect the gun will be waiting at the LGS when we get back from a short vacation (if not before we leave.)

I'm still vacillating on what to use for lubrication; I've got grease for my M1, I might have the small sample of Lucas/Sig oil, I might go with SlideGlide. Sometimes too much choice is a bad thing :-)

 
Super Lube is a good lubricant for metal to metal sliding parts. Robert Burke introduced me to it. It is NLGI #2, synthetic with PTFE. It is clear and stays in place well.
 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
Super Lube is a good lubricant for metal to metal sliding parts. Robert Burke introduced me to it. It is NLGI #2, synthetic with PTFE. It is clear and stays in place well.
 

Oh, great. ANOTHER option!

My experience with grip screws on my similar P238. I don't use Loc-Tite, or o-rings. If I remove the grips for some reason, I snug the screws down, not too tight (it's an aluminum frame). After 30 rounds or so, I'll find one or two loosened screws. I snug 'em down again. Same thing after the next 30 rounds. I snug 'em down yet again. But after that, they stay tight indefinitely. I can't explain this effect, but there it is.

Do I understand correctly, that before calling SIG customer service and giving them a chance to make it right, you first wrote a "scathing message" on Facebook? Was it a private or public message? I am sure they will fix or replace the gun, by all accounts their service is generally excellent. I am just concerned why you wouldn't give them a call or email first? Sometimes companies of all sorts produce a product that is out of spec, or doesn't work as advertised. If they told you to go suck an egg then I would see the need for a scathing letter, but it sounds like as soon as they got your message they addressed it.

quote:

Originally posted by JonFrost:
Do I understand correctly, that before calling SIG customer service and giving them a chance to make it right, you first wrote a "scathing message" on Facebook? Was it a private or public message? I am sure they will fix or replace the gun, by all accounts their service is generally excellent. I am just concerned why you wouldn't give them a call or email first? Sometimes companies of all sorts produce a product that is out of spec, or doesn't work as advertised. If they told you to go suck an egg then I would see the need for a scathing letter, but it sounds like as soon as they got your message they addressed it.

First of all, Sig's response has been great, and I expect that the replacement will function as expected.

I'd have waited until business hours the next day to make a phone call to Sig, but SWMBO, the owner of the gun, sent a PM on Facebook to them the evening of the failure that happened during her test (I didn't see what she wrote.) She was extremely upset with the issue, esp. because the slide lock problem had happened at least twice before (that I remember) and the grip screw problem happened the day prior. This was chosen as her self-defense weapon, and the failures caused much angst.

quote:

Originally posted by Skydaver:

quote:

Originally posted by JonFrost:
Do I understand correctly, that before calling SIG customer service and giving them a chance to make it right, you first wrote a "scathing message" on Facebook? Was it a private or public message? I am sure they will fix or replace the gun, by all accounts their service is generally excellent. I am just concerned why you wouldn't give them a call or email first? Sometimes companies of all sorts produce a product that is out of spec, or doesn't work as advertised. If they told you to go suck an egg then I would see the need for a scathing letter, but it sounds like as soon as they got your message they addressed it.

First of all, Sig's response has been great, and I expect that the replacement will function as expected.

I'd have waited until business hours the next day to make a phone call to Sig, but SWMBO, the owner of the gun, sent a PM on Facebook to them the evening of the failure that happened during her test (I didn't see what she wrote.) She was extremely upset with the issue, esp. because the slide lock problem had happened at least twice before (that I remember) and the grip screw problem happened the day prior. This was chosen as her self-defense weapon, and the failures caused much angst.

Gotcha, I didn't see it was a private message. Thanks. And I don't know what SWMBO means,lol.

quote:

Originally posted by JonFrost:


Gotcha, I didn't see it was a private message. Thanks. And I don't know what SWMBO means,lol.

She Who Must Be Obeyed.

From H. Rider Haggard's "She", and also used by Rumpole of the Bailey to refer to his wife.

quote:

Originally posted by Skydaver:

quote:

Originally posted by JonFrost:


Gotcha, I didn't see it was a private message. Thanks. And I don't know what SWMBO means,lol.

She Who Must Be Obeyed.

From H. Rider Haggard's "She", and also used by Rumpole of the Bailey to refer to his wife.

lolololo. I like that

I have no experience with the 938, but I can assure you their customer service is top notch. You'll be in good hands with them I'm sure.

Did you have problems with both, or just hers? If both are they consecutive serial #'s? I wonder in they had a run come through and frames were slightly out of spec?

That's all I got, wish I could be more help.

Welcome to the forum.

Bad slide lock spring is a common issue on P238/P938 pistols. It's pretty easy to replace yourself. Loosening of grip screw is a common issue with G10 grips -- use purple Loctite or o-ring. As for the failure to extract, I don't know. But if you can get them to fix it all for you, that's great, except you'll have to be without the gun for a while.