Sig Sauer P938 malfunction help

[Pawpaw]

The pistol is back from Sig. Very quick turn around. The cleaned the firing pin channel, replaced the mainspring, and upgraded the magazine latch. They reported test firing with ball and hollow-point with no malfunctions. Here's hoping my wife and I can get to the range in the next few days and run a 100 rounds or so.

I believe you will find that Sig Customer Service has worked out the bugs quite well.

When I first bought mine (used) it was frustrating. First it was consistently shooting left and I could not get it to group worth beans. In fact, with the gun unloaded and the slide in battery, I could wiggle the muzzle around. My son had it for a while and when he returned it, you could not put the safety on with the hammer cocked unless you pulled the hammer farther back.

I called Sig and since I bought it used, I had to pay. I think I paid about $150 for round trip shipping, plus inspection. They made it very clear that I could be charged for any repairs that might be needed.

It came back just as quickly as yours has. According to the work order, they replaced the sear pin (the safety problem), replaced the barrel , adjusted the sights and fired for function. I was not charged another penny for all that work. It's run like a top ever since.

[FCH]

Finally had the opportunity to take the repaired Sig P938 to the range. Very pleased. Almost 100 rds of Magtech FMJ and 21 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense. Pistol was flawless (can't say that about the shooters).

[FCH]

Here it is two months and 400 rounds later and we are having problems again. The last 3 range trips have each had a problem. May 17, midway through 50 rounds, my wife experienced a failure to extract. For our May 24th trip, I did a thorough cleaning and changed from Magtech to Perfecta. About halfway through 50 rounds, my wife had a failure to fire with no primer strike. My wife always feels like it is something she is doing but short of not getting the magazine seated, I don't know what it could be. Today, I fired two magazines (14 rounds), reloaded the magazines and fired, on the first round of the second magazine, I got a failure to extract.

I guess I'll call Sig again tomorrow and see what they say.

[Flightmare]

That's interesting. I've never tried MagTech ammo. That being said, I've got a case of it arriving tomorrow. Most of what I've put thru mine is Fiocchi and I cannot recall having a failure to extract or fire. The only issue I had originally was my extended mags would occasionally drop out on me when I would fire a shot. After sending it back to Sig, they upgraded the magazine catch. Have not had an issue since and I plan to go to the range in the morning.

[FCH]

I have been feeding my CZ a steady diet of Magtech and I like it. Performance has been consistent. I've also shot a lot of Perfecta and never had any trouble with it either. I prefer the Magtech but the Perfecta won the price challenge. Today was the first time I have fired both at the range in cloudy conditions. The Perfecta has a pronounced muzzle flash! Neither round seemed to help my problems with my Sig.

[rotor]

I looked up this gun in the Guntests magazine and they gave it a D rating. Said among other problems that the firing pin channel got clogged with primer material causing the no strike or light strike primer problems. That was in 2013. I have never owned a Sig and have no firsthand knowledge about them but before I buy something I do read the reviews. They compared the Sig to S&W Shield which they gave an A-. I hope Sig corrects this for you.

[yogihat]

My father-in-law just had the same issue. If you take the left side grip off, you will see a rectangle shaped bar that travels up and down when the slide is pulled back. I believe it is called the Disconnector. That bar is very tight in it's channel. If it is dry, it will bind up and cause what you are seeing. Failure to fire and round has strike mark. He put some oil on it and hasn't had an issue. He passed that info to me because my wife has a P238 and it is pretty much the same gun design wise. Hope it helps, sorry

[Pawpaw]

I looked up this gun in the Guntests magazine and they gave it a D rating. Said among other problems that the firing pin channel got clogged with primer material causing the no strike or light strike primer problems. That was in 2013. I have never owned a Sig and have no firsthand knowledge about them but before I buy something I do read the reviews. They compared the Sig to S&W Shield which they gave an A-. I hope Sig corrects this for you.

This is not the first time I've heard this, but it makes no sense. How could "primer material" get into the channel unless the primer is being pierced, allowing material to blow back into the channel. If that's happening, how is that the pistol's fault? That would be an ammo problem, not the gun's fault.

I call "BULL" on that statement. Not at you, but whoever originally wrote that nonsense.

[rotor]

I looked up this gun in the Guntests magazine and they gave it a D rating. Said among other problems that the firing pin channel got clogged with primer material causing the no strike or light strike primer problems. That was in 2013. I have never owned a Sig and have no firsthand knowledge about them but before I buy something I do read the reviews. They compared the Sig to S&W Shield which they gave an A-. I hope Sig corrects this for you.

This is not the first time I've heard this, but it makes no sense. How could "primer material" get into the channel unless the primer is being pierced, allowing material to blow back into the channel. If that's happening, how is that the pistol's fault? That would be an ammo problem, not the gun's fault.

I call "BULL" on that statement. Not at you, but whoever originally wrote that nonsense.

I don't want to quote the whole article but they said that with Cor-Bon ammo...definitely weird.

"Waiting for the second gun, we closely examined the breech face of the first one. There, we finally found the real problem. The firing-pin hole on the breech face was blocked by a plug of primer material that had been scraped off the bulging fired primer of the Cor-Bon ammo. This little plug was jammed into the firing-pin hole. It spread the force of the firing-pin strike, which didn’t even dent the primer. This, too, was a first for us. Recovered Cor-Bon cases fired in the P938 had their primers blown completely flat. They showed no trace of the firing-pin dent, but they each had a scrape across their face. The scraping action had cut off the protruding primer metal and jammed it into the breech face hole, and that blocked the firing pin."

Wonder if something similar is happening here as author did have "no strike" on some primers. Something is strange when FTF and there is no mark on the primer. Not even a tiny indent. I am only relating the article as I have never even held a Sig.

[Flightmare]

I JUST got back from taking my 938 and 238 for some "group therapy". Neither one had a single malfunction. Very pleased personally. YMMV though.

[Pawpaw]

I looked up this gun in the Guntests magazine and they gave it a D rating. Said among other problems that the firing pin channel got clogged with primer material causing the no strike or light strike primer problems. That was in 2013. I have never owned a Sig and have no firsthand knowledge about them but before I buy something I do read the reviews. They compared the Sig to S&W Shield which they gave an A-. I hope Sig corrects this for you.

This is not the first time I've heard this, but it makes no sense. How could "primer material" get into the channel unless the primer is being pierced, allowing material to blow back into the channel. If that's happening, how is that the pistol's fault? That would be an ammo problem, not the gun's fault.

I call "BULL" on that statement. Not at you, but whoever originally wrote that nonsense.

I don't want to quote the whole article but they said that with Cor-Bon ammo...definitely weird.

"Waiting for the second gun, we closely examined the breech face of the first one. There, we finally found the real problem. The firing-pin hole on the breech face was blocked by a plug of primer material that had been scraped off the bulging fired primer of the Cor-Bon ammo. This little plug was jammed into the firing-pin hole. It spread the force of the firing-pin strike, which didn’t even dent the primer. This, too, was a first for us. Recovered Cor-Bon cases fired in the P938 had their primers blown completely flat. They showed no trace of the firing-pin dent, but they each had a scrape across their face. The scraping action had cut off the protruding primer metal and jammed it into the breech face hole, and that blocked the firing pin."

Wonder if something similar is happening here as author did have "no strike" on some primers. Something is strange when FTF and there is no mark on the primer. Not even a tiny indent. I am only relating the article as I have never even held a Sig.

Like I said, that's an ammo problem, not a pistol problem.

How can any manufacturer engineer a pistol that won't be affected by any defect in the ammo? That's like blaming the pistol for a squib round.

[rotor]

Pawpaw, no argument from me and I personally have no experience with Sig firearms. The author's gun has FTF problems with no indentation on the primer. When he sent it back they cleaned the firing pin channel and apparently it worked for awhile. For an unfired cartridge to have no indentation on the primer there has to be either an exceptionally hard primer or for whatever reason the firing pin is not hitting the primer to fire the cartridge. Why this is happening I do not know. Since the ammo used did not show a primer strike on the unfired cartridge I would assume it's the firearm at fault.

[Pawpaw]

No argument there. My comments were solely about that article, not the OP's issue.

[311696]

In the process of purchasing either a new Sig P938 or the P238 for pocket carry/self-defense purposes. (Am a big Sig fan) But based on all the research I've done, it really concerns me that the 9mm has an apparent history of either FTE or FTF problems, even dating back to when the gun first came out. Also gotten the impression that the P238 is practically "trouble free". Because of the muzzle velocity/"lack of stopping power"/horror stories Iv'e read about the lack of punch any 380, I would prefer to the 9 over the 380. On the other hand, I like the size of the P238 better. Any comments/guidance would be appreciated.

[FCH]

I should have followed up on this back in June. Talked to Sig and they suspected the magazine not being fully seated. Since they upgraded the magazine latch, you definitely have to pop the magazine into place with a little extra force. This solved our problem. Together, we have run at least 1,000 rounds through this P938. We have had one FTF with a clear detent in the primer so this was an ammo problem. We have also had one FTE not sure why. Not perfect but 1 out of 1000 unexplained failures is acceptable to us.

My wife fired a P238 before buying this P938. She didn't notice much difference although the 9 mm is a bit snappier. The only complaint she has with the gun is the trigger tends to pinch her finger. I have fat hands. The trigger doesn't bother me at all but I get a callus on the web between my thumb and forefinger from where the hammer hits.

BTW, for a short barrel, this is an amazingly accurate gun.