I am a Glock guy and carried my G19 for twenty years and never had an issue.
I purchased my first non-Glock, a 365 and love it. What a great gun. Since that was such a great surprise I recently purchased my second Sig, a 320 compact in .45. I felt confident that I could use this as an EDC. With less than 300 rounds through it I took it to the range today. First shot the extractor flies out of it! WTF? If I had been carrying this and my life depended on it I would probably be dead. I NEVER had this type of issue with my Glock. That was real bad. I put it back in and after 100 rounds it worked fine but that was unacceptable. If the extractor broke that would be one thing but it just flew out of the gun.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,

Para frowns on any sales or discussion of sales outside of classifieds FYI.

Something has to have failed or is out of spec. Roll pin??? Spring?? Etc.

I am not a 320 guy and have no desire for one but I can’t believe the extractor just launched out and went back in without some kind of part failure at play. Even if it was mis assembled from the factory 300 rounds is a lot of ammo for it to have “worked”.

Many years ago I had bought a 1911 (Kimber) that was said to have had the same thing happen.

It was marked down really cheap and I'd never had a 1911 in a .17mach2.

Simple machines can have defects.

If you contact Sig, they may send you a replacement extractor for free.

Cheap lesson for ya. Everything fails at some point. Only an idiot would carry or depend on a firearm to defend themselves with without testing.

Edited to add that it was good you discovered this at the range.

The 320 extractor depends on a 90 degree cutout in the plunger to interface with the flat on the extractor itself, under spring pressure, to retain it in the slide. If it's assembled improperly, the extractor can fall out. It's likely not broken, just needs to be re-installed in the proper orientation.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:
The 320 extractor depends on a 90 degree cutout in the plunger to interface with the flat on the extractor itself, under spring pressure, to retain it in the slide. If it's assembled improperly, the extractor can fall out. It's likely not broken, just needs to be re-installed in the proper orientation.

I did reinstall it and it worked fine. Just not happy that it happened. I never touched it. The gun is practically brand new.

Nobody's perfect. Every company misses one every now and then. That doesn't excuse it, and I wouldn't be happy about it either, but at least it was an easy fix and you can be reasonably sure it's correct now and not some difficult-to-diagnose tolerance issue or something like that. You also didn't have to deal with CS and wait for them to ship extra parts.

Always vet a new gun, no matter who made it.

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Always vet a new gun, no matter who made it.

Totally agree 100% but I don't think I've ever had a gun fail on me (other than through normal parts wear etc.) if it checks out with 250-300 rounds, including the defensive ammo I might shoot. Every gun I have had fail in some way usually exhibits it extremely early on, like first box or three.

Seems weird that the extractor would have been put in wrong at the factory but still go a fair number of rounds before failure. Not sure if this is a testament for or against the design. Again 320's are not my bag so I don't know what I don't know.

IIRC there was a guy here a few months back who got a new 320 that didn't even have an extractor in it. Can't remember what subforum the thread was in, though, or who it was.

ETA: Here's the thread: https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...640055405#9640055405

It's not a design flaw. If it's put together right it won't fall out. I take mine out all the time to clean my striker, and I've never had an issue. Somebody at the factory put this one together wrong, and QC didn't catch it.

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Originally posted by jer830:
Cheap lesson for ya. Everything fails at some point. Only an idiot would carry or depend on a firearm to defend themselves with without testing.

Edited to add that it was good you discovered this at the range.

The 300 rounds were shot prior to today. I never touched the extractor since the gun is almost brand new. Didn’t think there was a need. I am a firearm instructor and stress the importance of maintaining your firearm. How many check the extractor spring before holstering up each day? Probably not many. I don’t. You can be diligent in maintaining your firearm and still things can go wrong. I don’t know why the extractor flew out. I checked it and it wasn’t broken and neither was the spring. I will contact Sig and see what they say. It’s the unknown that concerns me right now. I don’t trust that gun right now and I will try to uncover why it happened. All I know is that I have shot thousands of rounds through my Glock and never had a catastrophic failure like this. I’ll will post after Sig replies.

I took some pics really quick to illustrate how the extractor works for anyone who is curious. It's similar to the Glock design, but unlike the Glock plunger which is circular, the 320 plunger and extractor are notched and require proper orientation to work correctly.


The example on the top is an improperly assembled extractor assembly. If the nub on the plunger doesn't overlap the notch in the extractor, the extractor will not be properly retained and can fall out of the channel. It may not happen immediately, but it's just a matter of time and cycles. And there is enough spring travel to allow it to be assembled this way...it takes noticeably more effort to compress the spring, but it can be done.

The bottom arrangement is the proper orientation. You can see how the notch on the extractor interfaces with the notch on the plunger. Provided the spring is not compromised, this retains the extractor in the channel.



Here's a pic of it properly assembled in the gun:

92fstech is correct.

It probably was the plunger rotated during installation.

I've seen PLENTY of Glock failures, hell, even the last NEW one I bought had no sights on it. I failed to inspect it at the shop, got it home and discover there's no sights.

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Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
92fstech is correct.

It probably was the plunger rotated during installation.

I've seen PLENTY of Glock failures, hell, even the last NEW one I bought had no sights on it. I failed to inspect it at the shop, got it home and discover there's no sights.

Not having sights on a gun, in my opinion, is not a failure that would put your life at risk.

Thank you for the pictures. If it was as you point out the installation, that makes me feel a bit better. However, that does not say much for the quality control at Sig Sauer. I understand it can happen. I stress the importance of maintaining your firearm and probably would not have thought to look at the installation, especially as you said the pistol can work with it installed incorrectly. I am just glad it happened at the range and not at a critical moment. Thank you again for the pictures.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,

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I've seen PLENTY of Glock failures, hell, even the last NEW one I bought had no sights on it. I failed to inspect it at the shop, got it home and discover there's no sights.

On a Glock is that REALLY a failure? . I kid, I kid.

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I stress the importance of maintaining your firearm and probably would not have thought to look at the installation, especially as you said the pistol can work with it installed incorrectly. I am just glad it happened at the range and not at a critical moment.

Honesty, I probably wouldn't have caught it at the dealer either, especially on a new gun. I'd have expected the factory to get it right. I bought a used S&W 642 a few years back and totally missed a huge crack in the frame under the barrel until I went out to shoot it and it was all over the place on paper. I'd checked the forcing cone at the shop and the lockup, but never looked at the frame above the crane. Thankfully, like you, I took the time to go shoot it and figured the problem out on the range instead of on the street.

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Originally posted by cslinger:

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I've seen PLENTY of Glock failures, hell, even the last NEW one I bought had no sights on it. I failed to inspect it at the shop, got it home and discover there's no sights.

On a Glock is that REALLY a failure? . I kid, I kid.

I mean, that's essentially just saving me a step since I wouldn't have to take the plastic dovetail protectors off to put real sight on! If they offered that as an option from the factory (especially if they'd shave a few bucks off the price) that's probably how'd I'd order them anyway !

92fstech's pics are excellent tutorial. I suppose that, even when the assembly is installed in the slide incorrectly and works temporarily, you still can visualize the gap resulting from such installation and know right away the f-up.

I thought SIG test-fired pistols before packing them up and sending them out. I saw this activity in person multiple times during tours and visits.

One possibility to consider is that other hands and staff members at the gun store handled your pistol. Being in retail for quite some time, I know customers mess with things. I would certainly think someone might have removed the slide cap and extractor pin, only to reinstall it incorrectly. No tools are required.

Customers and staff dry fire, remove slides, insert and eject magazines... I'm not saying that's what happened, but it is certainly possible, if not even probable.

Updated to add - When I first read the OP, I thought he shot 300 rounds AFTER he put the ejector back in place, and the issue happened on the first round out of the box.

Also, I'm curious if you have looked at the ammo case. I'm not super versed in this stuff, but is it possible out-of-spec ammo (overpressure) resulted in the ejector taking off?