Stainless Frame Sigs

[John Hearne]

I didn't want to muddle another thread but had some questions that might interest others.

My question revolves around stainless frame Sigs and in particular the 45's. My stainless Sigs have an annoying tendency to beat themselves to death. They seem to break takedown levers and small parts more quickly. This seems to have happened even quicker since I added the 5" Match slide to the guns.

Any ideas?

Also, can you comment on any advantage, performance wise, that the stainless frame did or did not offer.

[WDW]

I tend to shy away from steel framed guns altogether. There is no advantage to them. Aluminum and polymer is lighter, corrosion resistant, and more durable as they have the ability to flex and absorb recoil. The steel framed guns have no such ability and therefore transfer alot of the recoil stress onto the internals such as takedown levers, roll pins, and springs. Alot of people think seel=strength and aluminum=weak, it just ain't the case though.

[ToddG]

Any ideas?

I'm not an engineer and could not comment on the specific causes. Your experiences, however, are commonplace. Even in the 9mm guns, the takedown levers break very early (before 20k) on the steel framed SIGs often enough that I'd consider it a problem.

Remember, all of those internal parts were designed and tested with an aluminum framed gun in mind. Lots of things are happening differently inside the steel frame. Parts are being held more rigidly in place as they absorb energy, etc.


Also, can you comment on any advantage, performance wise, that the stainless frame did or did not offer.

I saw none. In .45, 357, and 9mm I was able to bring an ST, standard P220/P226, and (in the 357 and 9mm) a P229 to the range. Consistently the gun I shot best for everything except slow bullseye was the P229. The difference between the steel and aluminum guns was negligible. I may have to work a little harder to turn in the same performance, but even if the steel guns were helping me shave a quarter second off my FAST I still wouldn't consider that a worthy trade for reduced durability.