Genuine concerns about SIG P-series pistols

[American1776]

I recently dropped a lot of cash on, and traded in my Beretta 92, on a NIB SIG P229 stainless elite. Beautiful pistol. Shoots well, but don't have a lot of rounds yet through it. I'm beginning to have some concerns about the durability of the parts for a defensive pistol.

I've been told by someone I trust that a large PA LEO agency will not be staying with their SIG P-series pistols. Reason? Extractors are breaking. I asked if these are high round count guns, and was told that the broken extractors are occurring on very low round counts. I've done a search for more research, and it seems that the new MIM long extractors on all the SIG P-SERIES pistols are the culprits. Seems like it's very unpredictable; the extractors could break in the first few rounds out of the box, or a couple hundred rounds it will break.

There are still agencies using the SIG P-series: I believe the US secret service and the NJ state police still use these pistols. However, I can't help but wonder if this SIG should be trusted as a carry gun and home defense gun. Should I have kept the Beretta? Go to HK?

Anyone with experience with the newer style P-series SIGS with feedback either way would be appreciated.

[wanneroo]

Is this a verified issue or just rumors?

If extractors are breaking after only a few rounds I am sure it would be quite the public drama.

[American1776]

Is this a verified issue or just rumors?

If extractors are breaking after only a few rounds I am sure it would be quite the public drama.

The person who told me is not a rumor-mill, and is a primary source person when it comes to this particular matter (not a 'I heard from a friend' situation). I don't want to name the agency or the specific model so as to keep things somewhat confidential.

After I had this conversation, I did some research on the web, and there seems to be quite a bit of noise about broken extractors in the past 5 years or so.

[gghbi]

Well we (at least some of us) know that PSP went to the Sig P-227 recently when they had problems with the Glock 21, so it is not hard to speculate about who might be involved. Have any of our folks with ties to that outfit heard anything?

I had previously heard of a limited number of cases, and understood it was a bad batch during manufacture, but that was a while back and I have not checked lately.

[Bang]

PSP just wanted to get away from the .45 GAP from what I understand. Whhat problems did they have with the Glock pistol?

[daschnoz]

Paging bripro. bripro??? Gunsmithing services required in aisle 6.

quite a bit of noise about broken extractors in the past 5 years or so

I haven't had this problem with my 239 or my 220.

Given the 7.5 year endeavor of the best recruiter that anything firearms related could have ever asked for (TOTUS), gun makers are going gangbusters, and barely keeping up with demand. I wouldn't be surprised at all if gun companies are subbing out the production of some of the smaller, easy to produce pieces. Is it possible that Sig got a batch of sub-standard extractors from one of their vendors? If they're not subbed out, Sig could have gotten a bad piece of bar stock. It's hard to know for sure, and Sig may not even know. As was said before - if it was a huge problem, there would be more than a few reports, and Sig would be issuing a recall or service bulletin of some type.

[FUNDAMENTALS]

I am presently looking for a published article on why PA. State Police opted out of Glock and went to Sig Sauer. As I remembered, it was for Safety Reasons due to the number
of Negligent Discharges that have occurred with Glock pistols and the death of Troopers Wife in their home. Pa State Police also suffered another tragedy when a Instructor shot
and killed a young Trooper in a training session at the Montgomery County Training Facility with the Sig Sauer P-227. I believe there is a post on this incident in the archives.

[American1776]

I was told that the newer gen4 G21's had problems with premature slide lock. This was from multiple sources.

[NathanB]

Pasp was using the 45 gap. That's a large reason why

[dkf]

From what I know. After the G37 they went to the G21 and supposibly had some problems which they were not willing to let Glock work out for them.(the Gen4s were still fairly new back then) Then they went to the sigs which certain people probably wanted anyway. They should have never went away from the .40sw. (which they had prior to the G37) Apparently some key people had to have a .45 which ended up costing money that didn't need to be spent. There should not have been such incidents of NDs from such "trained professionals".

MIM parts are ok in certain applications. The manufacturers like MIM because its cheaper but IMO there are many applications where you just can't beat a forged or bar stock part precision machined and properly heat treated.