I recently picked up a used P226 locally. It had apparently been a duty weapon at some point in its life so it had plenty of holster wear. I was okay with that because I have been kicking around the idea of doing some customization to it including getting it refinished.

When I got it there was evidence of some type of grease on the frame rails. After getting it home and cleaning it all up, I am beginning to get paranoid about the frame rail wear and I am hoping that it will still be viable for my project.

Here are some photos:









In addition to the overall wear being acceptable, I am also confused about the spot on the right side at the front of the frame shown in the third and fourth pictures above, what could be causing this?

Previous owner stated he had put about 2500 rounds through it, prior to that he did not think it had been shot much at all. Thoughts from the experts?

Lube it and shoot it.

quote:

Originally posted by Cous2492:
Lube it and shoot it.

Yup.

I am always looking for older Sigs with honest wear. I would buy yours in a second. Lube and shoot!

It appears to me that the rails were maybe not properly lubricated. If it was I don't believe there should be that much bare metal showing..

Also for the spot at the end of the frame, that looks to me like there is some play between the slide and the rails because of the sightly exessive wear on the rails.

The wear does not look too excessive though so like others have posted.. lube it and shoot it.

The rails could be worse. Somebody didn't believe in maintenance Keep both them and the slide properly lubed and you'll still enjoy years of faithful use without effect..

My 239 had worse frame rail wear than that after the first 500 rounds. I kept it well greased, and it never got worse, in fact it is a fine shooting pistol now with somewhere near 3000 rounds through it.

Just lube it and shoot it!

It is normal to have some wear on the frame rails. Mine have had worse and still shot like a laser.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I am always looking for older Sigs with honest wear. I would buy yours in a second. Lube and shoot!

Honest wear is the exact wording that popped in my head. Must be a Michigan thing. But I'm a troll.

1. Lube
2. Shoot
3. Repeat
4. Enjoy

You can get the frame refinished if it really bothers you. But never attempt to remove the old anodizing or have it reanodized. Just have a new finish applied over the existing anodizing, like a finish from CCR.

Still years and years of life in those frame rails, especially with proper lubrication. I'd buy it and not worry a bit.

Normal wear on an old school P226.

Use some grease on the rails.

Stainless or folded? Seems that's pretty normal for the stainless slides. I have a jk folded slide and hat has zero rail wear. I had a stainless slide P226 that showedcwear like that after 500 rounds. Both had heavy coats of slide glide.

Minor wear in the grand scheme. Lube it and shoot it. That frame has another 75k on it.

I've bought and sold a bunch of LE trade in Sigs. Some if not most LE agencies prohibit grease and they must use oil only. This leads to more rail wear than normal.
Grease can trap more junk than oil or so I was told by one LEO. His joke was, "grease traps the donut sprinkles more than oil".

Grease

I had the same question at ~3500 rounds and sent photos and queried SIG. Long and short of it was deemed "normal wear". Lucas grease it up and keep banging.

Let me know where I can find one in that good a shape for an LE trade in...

Move along; there's nothing to see here.

Seen a whole lost worse in past years. A little more than I care for personally. Got some Sigs with thousands of round through them that don't look like that. Still OK I guess by todays standards.

How old is the gun?