Weird Sig P226 problem.

K

Kevinfreem

New member
So this may sound wierd but I have a Sig P226 40 with an issue that I can't find any information on. Basically at this point I have put somewhere between 2k and 2.5k through it and the only problems I ever had was with a magazine that needed to be lubed a little to fix a failure to feed. However the last two times I took it to the range I keep getting a failure to fire. I will have a clip in and be going through the clip and after anywhere from 2 to 5 rounds the slide racks and cocks the hammer but when I pull the trigger nothing happens. If I decock and fire double action it works fine and will usually finish the clip just fine. Insert another clip and sometimes it will work the full clip or sometimes I have the same problem. Its completely random. I have field stripped the gun and oiled it up but have the same results. I am hesitant to really pull the gun apart so I am trying to see if anyone else has had this problem and knows of a fix or if I need to take it to an armorer to have them do it without voiding the sig warranty just in case it is a more serious issue.
 
When the failure to fire happens do you take a look at the primers of the cartridges that didn't fire? Wait the few seconds first in case of a hang fire, but what it sounds like is happening is you're getting light strikes. Does this happen with all types of ammo, or certain brands? Does this issue correlate to you using a new brand of ammo you haven't used before? Some ammunition uses relatively hard primers, but that said usually hammer fired pistols are a bit better with those than say striker fired pistols. Another question would be did you replace the hammer spring at any point?

And welcome to the forum!
 
These are light strikes. If you eject the round, you'll likely see a dimple on the primer from the firing pin strike, but having failed to ignite the primer.

One of three things is happening:

1) Your firing pin channel is gummed up and needs to be cleaned.

2) You are using ammunition with hard primers.
a) What ammo are you using? My P229 does not like Monarch steel cased, and often requires a second strike to ignite the primer.

3) Your Hammer Strut / Main Spring is worn out. Was this a used gun? What was the last time that the springs were changed?
 
The firing pin channel being dirty and slowing down the firing pin is definitely a potential issue, which is why I asked if it looked like light strikes. 2500 rds might be enough to do it too depending on how dirty the ammo is.

What's weird IMO is that the two times for me when it was the firing pin channel being clogged it wasn't intermittent. The firing pin just stopped hitting primers with enough force to ignite them. It went from working to not in the space of a few rounds and once it wouldn't hit hard enough I couldn't get back to it working.

I imagine there could be a transition period where that's not the case, but it's weird how the OP mentions finishing the rest of the magazine without issues after the failure to fire or even whole magazines after that. That level of randomness is a bit odd to me.

The only time I ran into a similar situation was when I had a trigger kit for a CZ and the firing pin block wasn't being depressed fully when the hammer was falling. This left me with very sporadic failures to fire. I had to get David at CGW to shave a bit of the firing pin block for me.

Hopefully the OP will chime back in.
 
Checked the firing channel and used a compressed air can to make sure its clean after using some clp. Happened with multiple types of ammo. No pin strike after dropping the mag and clearing the breach. In effect its like the last bullet fired racks the slide and loads the next round and the hammer cocks back but pulling on the trigger does not release the hammer. Almost like the hammer cocks but the trigger does not reset. It does come forward but pulling the trigger does nothing.
 
Woah so when you said, "nothing happens", I thought you meant the cartridge doesn't ignite. You're saying the hammer doesn't fall?

If I decock and fire double action it works fine and will usually finish the clip just fine.
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I thought this was a mistype, but when I read it I did wonder why you'd need to decock on a light strike. Now I think I get what you're saying.
 
Also the ammo was two different types. Winchester 165 gr fmj and remington range box 165 fmj.

Also edit to earlier post it was cleaned with hopps 9 then blown out then lubed with clp.
 
Now that is interesting. Do you feel a click at all? Any "feeling" in the trigger that the trigger bar is interacting with the sear?
 
Does this 226 have the SRT trigger?

There is an issue with the older SRT triggers, in that there is a part that starts to wear and get a burr on it over time... About 2000rds give or take is the average. (can't remember the name of the part off hand)

When this happens, it causes trigger reset issues... I believe you may be describing a symptom of that.

There is a replacement part available from Sig, basically the part is just a bit longer and it prevents the issue.

I do not know if they put it in the new 226s or not, it was originally designed for the 227, and had to be ordered as such.

I will try to find the info and get it to you.
 
It does feel like a reset issue but I cant confirm because of no previous experience. It is not a SRT although I have considered putting one in. The gun was manufactured in 2010 and as far as I know it is the regular trigger not the SRT.
 
May be an issue in the trigger bar then... or the safety lever may have an issue.


If you remove the right side grip panel (carefully, there are parts under it) You can see the action working. You may notice something.
 
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The gun was manufactured in 2010 and as far as I know it is the regular trigger not the SRT.
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Send it back. That's all you had to say.

I had two SIG Sauer pistols a P226 and a P229 from 2010 and they were functioning beasts, but ticking time bombs.

Are you the original owner? If you're not, too bad. You're stuck. SIG will NOT work with you on fixing the issue unless you're the original buyer of the pistol.

I had a huge issue with SIG Sauer last year that left me with little to no desire to be their dedicated customer. I have since moved all my chips to Heckler and Koch. I own one SIG pistol, the P229 Elite Dark and might, might, might get another P226. Why? Shot them for 10 years and love the way they shoot. But their customer service and fessing up to making a bad product or two leaves little to be desired. Even when you have one of the best gun smiths in the country in your corner.


So, try to send it back to them if you're the first buyer. If not, do the dance I did.
 
Oh man. By saying it was made in 2010, I'm going to assume that you're not original owner.

As Constantine said, you have zero warranty on the gun. They may be willing to look at it, but you will have to pay shipping and also $55 just for them to inspect it. Then you will have to pay for any potential corrections necessary.

After their poor customer service experiences, I also dumped all of my Sigs. I was a huge fan of the P229 and the P320 Compact.... but I just couldn't stand behind a company that won't stand behind their products or their customers.

I wish you the best of luck in getting your issue resolved. If it were up to me, I'd probably try to sell the gun for what you can get and move to something like a P30L or USP.

If you are the original owner, you should have better luck. For future reference, never buy a used Sig unless you have thoroughly tested it yourself and/or are confident that you can work on the gun to resolve any issues yourself.
 
Before you send it back to Sig, take it to a competent gunsmith and have him go through it. It sounds like a problem with one of the fire control parts, but I would just be guessing. I have had guns fail to fire (fail to drop the hammer on trigger pull) for reasons stemming from a chipped/worn sear to hidden gunk that can only be found on a complete tear-down.

The last gun I experienced the occasional failure to fire on a trigger pull was my STI custom 2011. The gunsmith charged me something like $120 to replace a worn sear, which included the price of a good quality sear. It functions perfectly and is smooth as glass. Money well spent.
 
If you are thinking about putting an SRT in it you might go ahead and do that. There is a decent chance that the issue could be with one of the parts you are replacing with the SRT and you could kill two birds with one stone. There is no guarantee that will fix it though.
 
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