I hit the range today along with forum member TikritTourist. Shooting my 220 compact with factory mags and whitebox 45s.
I went to insert the second mag of the day and it wouldn't seat. Further inspection and we found that the frame had blown out around the mag release(magazine catch) button, causing the catch stop and spring to be catapulted out into who knows where and rendering my day pretty much over(I had my 226, but having my favorite carry gun rendered inoperable pretty much took the wind out of my sails)

Anyone ever seen something like this happen before? Got an RO from Sig, but I'm not sure what they're going to say, or what they can do about it.

Thoughts appreciated.

Did you purchase this pistol new or was it used when you bought it?

Short of switching the mag release to the opposite side, I don’t believe that is repairable. Hopefully Sig still has some frames and can take care of you.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Did you purchase this pistol new or was it used when you bought it?

bought new

Man, that sucks. Sorry to see that. I'd be heartbroken if that happened to my P245. Awesome carry guns...but unfortunately discontinued. I hope Sig has enough parts still available to get you back up and running again.

quote:

Originally posted by donklekins:
Anyone ever seen something like this happen before?

I believe I have seen it here once before.

The “SAS” frame has rounded and smoothed corner edges. That process thins the none-too-thick metal directly over the magazine catch stop, and that’s where the failure occurred: the mag catch stop broke through the frame metal causing the failure.

As I say, I believe I saw the same thing reported with an SAS model here before. Why it happened I can only speculate, but I suspect the recoil of the gun causes the magazine catch to vibrate within its recess and that ultimately resulted in the failure.

...

Wierd, I posted these because your second two did not show up. Even after I reloaded the page. It does look like it will be unrepairable. I am sure sig will do its best for you.

Is that anodizing on the crack surface, or am I seeing this wrong?

I remember when Donklekins got this P220 Compact.. 2018.
I'll bet it has had less than 3,000 rounds through it, and NO handloads.
I hope that Sig can hook him up... discontinued model, but maybe they have spare frames kicking around?

We had a few S&W 2nd Gen semi auto 9mm crack the frame and rails after about 2000 rounds of all Winchester factory. Happens.

They will take care of it.

He's the original owner. Gun is discontinued. SIG will offer a new different gun, unless they happen to have that particular frame just sitting around.

Considering the cause of the failure, I would prefer a different frame anyway. It might never happen again, but it is clearly more likely with the SAS than conventional P220 frames.

I've seen it before, but it was a clear case of customer abuse. I screwed up during the process to remove (or install?) the mag release and the gun is now perfectly suited for lefties or those righties who prefer to hit the mag release with their trigger finger.

Curious if someone before you was messing with the mag release and weakened the area since it is the EXACT spot mine is cracked. From what I understand, I'm not alone.

This is a P229R in 9mm.

quote:

Originally posted by steve495:
I've seen it before, but it was a clear case of customer abuse.

I have also seen a few of those involving the type of non-SAS frame pictured. The ones I recall were due to the owner’s deciding that because he couldn’t correct the mistake of installing the magazine catch stop in upside down by other means, he’d just drive the mag catch out and hope that the stop failed rather than the frame. I gather that that hope has been realized on occasion. Maybe once or twice. But most of the time the steel of the mag catch stop defeats the aluminum of the frame with the result being as shown in your photo.

If, however, anyone claimed that the same failure occurred spontaneously with a normal, non-SAS frame, I would be very skeptical.

^^^^
Looks like an area that wouldn't be highly stressed and looks like a defect that was caused by something other than stress.

quote:

Originally posted by steve495:
I've seen it before, but it was a clear case of customer abuse.

That is what I recall as well. Swapping out the magazine catch incorrectly and then going full tard on it instead of just drilling out the catch. Maybe it's the result of poor assembly at SIG...?

I can’t picture how an assembly mistake at the factory would result in that failure after 3000 rounds. The mag catch stop works properly only when it’s installed one way, and a mistake would be apparent immediately (as any number of people have discovered to their dismay).

Well, I'm not the OP, but I was shooting with him when his failure occurred.
He had fired to slide lock, went to load a fresh magazine, and... stopped in his tracks when the fresh mag wouldn't load.
Didn't take long for him to spot the chipped part of the frame that he showed in his pic.
I know that he's never had reason to remove his magazine release button/mag catch stop, etc...
Mostly, I'm hoping that Sig hooks him up, as that was his favorite carry gun!

Talk to Winchester as well. Give them the lot number off the ammo box.