School Me On SIG P-22X Known Issues

[OlongJohnson]

Of the two P229s I’ve had, both long extractor models, only one had an issue with the barrel hood being oversized and it impeded manual slide manipulation (racking the slide for whatever reason). While it never caused a stoppage, I sent it to Sig to fix just in case.

I bought a used P220 that had apparently been a police trade-in. It came with a nicely broken in (burnished rails, etc.) slide and barrel paired with what appeared to be a brand new frame. As I was cleaning it, I realized that the barrel hood was an interference fit in the slide due to a machining defect in the slide, and slide material was galling onto the hood. I was able to clean up both parts and correct the issue. I realized that the interference fit was causing excess force to be required for the slide to go into battery, and that the only place that force could be reacted through was the slide rails. Took extra care fitting everything so the slide could be cycled manually without the recoil spring without undue force - everything just having a nice slip fit as it went into battery. It's a pretty nice pistol now.

I believe that lockup tolerance stack is a likely, if not primary, cause of variation in rate and extent and the oft-reported self-limiting characteristic of initial rail wear on classic Sigs. Once the rails wear enough to relieve the interference out of the system, it stops. It may happen with virtually no wear, it may take a few hundred or a few thousand rounds, it may be that the frame becomes unserviceable/unrepairable before it gets there.

I will check that on any classic Sig pistol I ever put into service, before rounds go through it.

Also, check the rear corners of the slide for burrs on/around the rails. Most of them have some burr that will tear up the very back of the frame if it's not corrected, which is easily accomplished with a wedge/"knife" type stone or jeweler's file. Can be an issue on any brand of pistol with continuous slide rails on the frame, FWIW. Just to beat my usual dead horse, I've seen a NIB S&W semi with such bad burrs on the slide that it had significantly impacted the anodizing the length of the rails.

Someone has reported here previously that an agency in TX had a whole batch of classic Sigs returned because the machined surface on the rails of the slides chewed up the rails on the frames with low round counts.

All that is IMO, based on my own investigation of just a couple of samples and using it to interpret the many and varied reports I've read on the internets. So treat it as if it's worth exactly what you paid me for it.

[KevH]

I am looking at either P226 or P229 of newer vintage, produced in USA. Have heard many complaints about SIG quality being poor across the board but was wondering what the alleged known issues are with them and how to avoid problems if you were to get a used on secondary market.

Thanks in advance

It's hard to "school" anyone on forty years of a product answering a single internet post. There is a plethora of information available on this forum and on others by simply searching.

The short story is that prior to Ron Cohen, Kimber's former CEO, being brought on in 2004 SIG produced an extremely high quality product, but the company itself was losing money. Cohen changed SigArms business model and renamed the company Sig Sauer Inc. Part of helping the company turn a product was globally outsourcing small parts production, finding manufacturing and engineering changes to save money and going from producing a very limited number of variations to having a "model of the month" model similar to Kimber.

The company became profitable which gave room for development of guns like the P250, P320, MPX, and P365. A downside was a substantial decrease in the fit/finish and quality of the end product with regards to the classic P Series.

The newest Classic SIG I have owned was a P226 made in 2009. It's fit/finish was subpar from a long time owner of these guns and I turned around and sold it.

I personally would be leery of any "Classic" SIG produced after about 2006 or so.

[OlongJohnson]

The only make/model of gun I've never seen any issue with is the OG USP and its variants, at least since a few early issues were worked out in the mid '90s. Buy one, clean it, lube it, shoot it, clean it, lube it, shoot it, keep the springs/RSA changed on schedule, clean it, lube it, shoot it...and you'll wear yourself out first. Nothing else I know of has stayed the course the way the USP has. Todd G seemed to suggest that even HK might make unadvertised changes to content from time to time, but didn't specify on which models.

Once again, I find myself questioning why I have all that other stuff...

[HCountyGuy]

If you’re after a hammer-fired Sig there’s a consensus around here that a SP2022 might be a safe bet.

[LockedBreech]

If you’re after a hammer-fired Sig there’s a consensus around here that a SP2022 might be a safe bet.

I just put one of these back on layaway after I sold mine two years ago or so. Ended up really missing it and the basic Nitron version was like $430.

In my experience with my stainless/nightsighted model, it really was a great gun. Awesome fit, finish, function. I've seen it theorized that the extremely large French orders/re-orders/market has Sig leery to Cohen-ize it too much, which makes sense.

My new one, when I pay off the layaway next month, is gonna wear Ameriglo CAPs like the rest of my keeper/serious use guns. I can't see getting rid of it again.

I have no plans to obtain any other Sig any time soon until the quality control of the metal guns stabilizes.

[MGW]

The only make/model of gun I've never seen any issue with is the OG USP and its variants, at least since a few early issues were worked out in the mid '90s. Buy one, clean it, lube it, shoot it, clean it, lube it, shoot it, keep the springs/RSA changed on schedule, clean it, lube it, shoot it...and you'll wear yourself out first. Nothing else I know of has stayed the course the way the USP has. Todd G seemed to suggest that even HK might make unadvertised changes to content from time to time, but didn't specify on which models.

Once again, I find myself questioning why I have all that other stuff...

I’m constantly on the look out for an under priced USP Compact. Love that pistol but have never owned one for some reason.

[MattyD380]

So what does Sig Germany still make? I looked on the .de website and you see most of the same models we’ve got here—including 1911s and Legion series guns. Are the guns being made in NH and shipped over to Deutschland?

I’d guess the X5s and such are still made in Germany. But I wonder if they’re making any “mainline” P2xx Sigs over there. And if they are... I wonder if there’s a shot we’d ever see German-made Sigs over here again.

[OlongJohnson]

Some more good reading in this thread, which for some reason I've never seen before:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....nt-for-the-Sig

[OlongJohnson]

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....und-count-Sigs

[MGW]

The 226 and 220 are still my favorite handguns of all time. I actually prefer shooting and carrying a P220 but gave that pistol up a long time ago because .45 vs 9mm.

If I was buying a used Sig right now I would try to buy one with a short extractor. I think they are a little more reliable than the long extractors and maybe easier to maintain and inspect for wear than the internal extractor pistols. As has been stated previously, you could pick up a current SP2022 and probably not worry about anything. Just clean, lube, shoot the snot out of it, repeat. Heck, the 2022 is on my list to evaluate as a possible Glock replacement. They're cheap, plentiful, and have the sight options I want.

This is probably one of the better guides I've seen on buying a used classic Sig.

https://grayguns.com/guide-to-sig-sa...ol-inspection/