Sig P220 Problem?

[mikey]

While at the range yesterday, with Pennsy, SBaker, DC, Tootie, their son (sorry, I forgot his name already ), I encountered a problem that I had been told about, but had not yet experienced.

Shooting with one in the chamber, and a full magazine, the first round fired normally, but the next round did not chamber. I have shot this way many, many times before, because I had been told of the chance of this occuring, but I just kind of blew it off, since it had not yet happened to me.

Well, now it bothers me alot, to the point of me being highly unlikely to carry with the full mag and one in the pipe. Has anyone else had a similar problem with a Sig, or any other gun, for that matter. This is the only gun of mine that has done this so far. I tried it several more times after it happened, but I could not get it to repeat the problem.

Is there any way to fix such a problem, or is it just the way they are? Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.


ETA: I was told to tell everyone that this did not happen with Pennsy's P220, so I'm sure he must have gotten a "Better" one.

[renegadephoenix]

i've owned my one sig P220 since 2001 and have not had this problem at all in over 15,000 rounds. i always load that "cheater round" everytime at the range and when i carry.

[CHEMICAL]

Originally Posted by mikey

While at the range yesterday, with Pennsy, SBaker, DC, Tootie, their son (sorry, I forgot his name already ), I encountered a problem that I had been told about, but had not yet experienced.

Shooting with one in the chamber, and a full magazine, the first round fired normally, but the next round did not chamber. I have shot this way many, many times before, because I had been told of the chance of this occuring, but I just kind of blew it off, since it had not yet happened to me.

Well, now it bothers me alot, to the point of me being highly unlikely to carry with the full mag and one in the pipe. Has anyone else had a similar problem with a Sig, or any other gun, for that matter. This is the only gun of mine that has done this so far. I tried it several more times after it happened, but I could not get it to repeat the problem.

Is there any way to fix such a problem, or is it just the way they are? Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.


ETA: I was told to tell everyone that this did not happen with Pennsy's P220, so I'm sure he must have gotten a "Better" one.

is the gun new?...ive never had a sig jam on me, ive had a few. maybe this one just needs broken in, or maybe it has a weird lip on the feed ramp. even tight production at some point kicks out a bastard child.

seems a little weird to me.

[CHEMICAL]

heres some new info i found:http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/i.../t-292224.html

scroll down to "fastbolt"'s post, (its rather lengthy), but it sounds like he knows wtf hes talkin about.

check your spring in your mag / mags, make sure theyre not backwards.

[TonyF]

Originally Posted by mikey

Shooting with one in the chamber, and a full magazine, the first round fired normally, but the next round did not chamber. I have shot this way many, many times before, because I had been told of the chance of this occuring, but I just kind of blew it off, since it had not yet happened to me.

Is there any way to fix such a problem, or is it just the way they are? Any help with this matter would be greatly appreciated.

ETA: I was told to tell everyone that this did not happen with Pennsy's P220, so I'm sure he must have gotten a "Better" one.

When a particular specimen exhibits odd behavior it's typically the "tolerance stack" of that specific pistol. In this case I would say it's tolerance stack and a weak magazine spring.

The way the pistol was designed to work was insert a fully loaded magazine and then manually cycle the slide to chamber the first round. At that point there is a relationship between magazine spring tension at -1 capacity and slide velocity.

It would seem to me that with full slide velocity from a cartridge discharging and the magazine at full spring tension with 7 rounds instead of 6 (or 8 instead of 7 if it's an 8 rd mag), the magazine spring is probably wearing out and not pushing the bullet "up" in time for the slide to strip it out of the magazine. IOW the spring isn't strong enough to push 7 (or 8) rounds "up" fast enough.

IOW, the inertial dynamics of your pistol are screwed up because of a weak mag spring or it simply can't accommodate a full mag + 1 because of it's tolerance stack.

Stop shooting it +1 for awhile and see if the problem abates. Or, change the magazine spring.

Magazines: Don't fall in love with them. They are disposable. Springs can be replaced but mag bodies swell as do feed lips. There's a very delicate balance between the geometry of the magazine, mag capacity, spring tension and the slide velocity of a given pistol.

[mbott]

This is an issue that I haven't heard about but will be following closely. I'll be picking up my P220 (220R-45-BSS-G) on Tuesday.

--
Mike

[cgbudde]

I,ve had my 220 for several months and have never had that problem with it.

[mikey]

I bought the gun from a member here who never shot it, back in February. Here is the thread (New SIG (lots of pics))

I have probably 600 rounds through it so far and have not done anything to the mags, such as cleaned or lubed them. I will check them for sure when I clean the gun tomorrow. I have always cleaned the gun after use, and lubed it good before putting it away. It may just be that it is still not broken-in yet. I am very leary about carrying it with the extra round in the mag until I know it is good to go. I will number both mags to see if it only happens with one mag or both. After it did not feed, I switched to the other mag, and it fired fine.

Thanks for all the tips and ideas. This is a great plase to get answers.

[1911shooter]

I have had SIG's and lot of them, the only one i ever had this problem with was a P229, i would load a round out of the chamber and then top it off with an extra. when i fired the first round it wouldnt pick up the next. search it out, and found it was the mag replaced them and never had it happen again, and i have put over 15,000rds through it, since.
mikey change your mags and it should clear up.
Besides pennsy was probably talking to loud and his acoustic tone was throwing the precision macanics of a well refined machine out of wack. maybe he was looking to get more then $70.00 out of someone.

[Steve in PA]

What do you mean, the next round did not chamber?

Did the slide come back far enough to pick up the next round?

Did the round not chamber because it jammed? Nose of fresh round pushed against something?

I have two P-220's and always load them +1 and never had any issues.

Worn springs, bad magazine are a few of the things that could be wrong.