Sig p238 problems

[CoffeeNut]

What does your magazine look like? P238s were having all sorts of problems that all traced back to the magazine they were shipped with. If it's brand new you should have the latest but you never know. If it looks similar to the Colt Mustang magazine then I bet Sig won't ship you back that one. The new ones have a rounded out follower.

[johncanfield]

He should have the newest magazine, but it would be good to check. Here's a picture of the three magazine generations - the one on the left is the latest. I had zero luck trying to use an extended Colt Mustang style magazine.

[jwine]

I do indeed have the latest gen. mag.

[CoffeeNut]

I do indeed have the latest gen. mag.

Sorry to hear that. Sig will fix you up and once the gun works right you'll love it.

[THX]

With regard to the replacement of the old round wire recoil spring, they no longer replace the old springs as a courtesy. I called today to inquire, and they politely offered me three for $12.00 on their website.

[Pawpaw]

As far as I know, they never replaced the springs "as a courtesy". At least in my case, I had a brand new pistol that would not function properly.

I posted earlier in this thread that I was having ejection problems. I diagnosed it myself as recoil spring stacking. With the spring in, you had to really pull hard on the slide before you could engage the slide stop. It just didn't want to go back that last 1/16". With the pistol fully assembled except for the spring, the slide would easily go back to well past the slide stop notch.

They sent me a replacement spring (round-wire) which did not stack, but collapsed within the first 100 rounds. The pistol would fire and eject just fine, but would not return all the way to battery.

That's when they sent me the flat-wire spring.

I'm not aware of anyone who got their spring replaced for free, just because Sig came out with the new spring.

[UpTheIrons]

FWIW, my wife bought herself the Academy-exclusive P238 for Christmas. It is all black, with night sights, and the green fiber-optic "light pipe" front sight. It also came with the standard SIG pocket holster and one 7-round extended magazine. $500 for the package and she absolutely LOVES it. (It also has the flat recoil spring and newest mag type (left in the picture above))

We ran about 225 rounds through it last weekend with these results:
WWB round nose - no issues
PPU (blue box) round nose - no issues
Monarch (also made by PPU & sold by Academy in a red box) round nose - no issues
WWB flat-point - 1st round in mag hung up on release of slide stop, one empty caught in the ejection port
Monarch flat-point - 1st round in mag hung up on release of slide stop
Monarch hollow point - 1st round in mag hung up on release of slide stop
Win PDX1 hollow point - 1st round in mag hesitated on release of slide stop
Hornady Critical Defense - light primer strike on round 7, no chambering issues, round fired the second time.

With the SD ammo, we ran only one mag (7 rounds) of each through the gun, just to function test it. On some of the flat/HP mags, I dropped the slide stop, on some I pulled back the slide - I don't remember which method for which ammo, though. I suspect this will get better with time. The trigger has definitely lightened up some from the 7.5 pounds that it was pulling out of the box.

I did notice that 2-3 of the empties had a rip or crush at the case mouth, but I'm not sure which ammo type they were from. Also one of the WWB FP rounds did catch in the ejection port - it was laying right on top of the round being chambered. The others were obviously thrown far enough out, though, to not impede rechambering the next round.

Overall, we're both happy with it, and I may get one myself, too, as my gun fund is just about to the right level.

[Pawpaw]

Yours sounds like the slide rails may not be lubed enough. Try running the rails very wet with oil or use some synthetic or silicone grease on the rails.

Also, it is much easier (less wear) on the slide stop & notch to slinghot the slide to load the first round. The only problem is that you must be sure your not "riding" the slide down.

[jwine]

FWIW, my wife bought herself the Academy-exclusive P238 for Christmas. It is all black, with night sights, and the green fiber-optic "light pipe" front sight. It also came with the standard SIG pocket holster and one 7-round extended magazine. $500 for the package and she absolutely LOVES it. (It also has the flat recoil spring and newest mag type (left in the picture above))

We ran about 225 rounds through it last weekend with these results:
WWB round nose - no issues
PPU (blue box) round nose - no issues
Monarch (also made by PPU & sold by Academy in a red box) round nose - no issues
WWB flat-point - 1st round in mag hung up on release of slide stop, one empty caught in the ejection port
Monarch flat-point - 1st round in mag hung up on release of slide stop
Monarch hollow point - 1st round in mag hung up on release of slide stop
Win PDX1 hollow point - 1st round in mag hesitated on release of slide stop
Hornady Critical Defense - light primer strike on round 7, no chambering issues, round fired the second time.

With the SD ammo, we ran only one mag (7 rounds) of each through the gun, just to function test it. On some of the flat/HP mags, I dropped the slide stop, on some I pulled back the slide - I don't remember which method for which ammo, though. I suspect this will get better with time. The trigger has definitely lightened up some from the 7.5 pounds that it was pulling out of the box.

I did notice that 2-3 of the empties had a rip or crush at the case mouth, but I'm not sure which ammo type they were from. Also one of the WWB FP rounds did catch in the ejection port - it was laying right on top of the round being chambered. The others were obviously thrown far enough out, though, to not impede rechambering the next round.

Overall, we're both happy with it, and I may get one myself, too, as my gun fund is just about to the right level.

It seems like most of your issues are with flat point ammo which I have read (true or not I don't know) is not very friendly to this gun as far as feeding goes. Mine fed fine though, it just wouldn't attempt to eject the spent case.

Exact same gun as yours btw.

[UpTheIrons]

A friend has this exact gun, and he said that was his only issue with it - flat-point ammo. I've still got another 180 rounds or so to burn through, though. Guess it'll make for good malfunction drill practice!

[Divided Attention]

Sigs tend to like to run "wet" - well lubed. JMPHO

[jwine]

I have an update on mine.

Got it back from sig today, this coming Monday would have been 2 weeks since shipping it so it came back pretty quick. The paperwork said they replaced the extractor and fired 40 rounds, 0 malfunctions. My wife and I took it to the range today to test it for ourselves and fired 50 rounds with only 1 issue and that issue was a bad round, so the gun was flawless today. Seems they have fixed it up so I am pretty happy, will have to wait until next time though to run more ammo through it. I only had to 1 box and had a couple other guns I wanted to shoot and ammo isn't cheap.

The only part that I can complain about on sigs end is I sent them the gun clean and they sent it back dirty but I kind of expected that so not to big of a deal.

[Shinesintx]

Sig has some of the best CS in the market, so call them at (603) 610-3000 and let them know whats going on. They'll make it right, I'm sure of it. This is the busy time of the year, but you will actually speak with a live human. I only know the direct lines to the guys that RnD scopes, so the CS number above is about the best bet.

Hope it helps!

This!

Sent my 938 in to Sig. Works great now. Give Sig a chance, they will take care of you.