Sig P320C recoil spring assembly issue/sort of a fail and win

[lwt16]

I was running qualifications for 8 shooters yesterday and had an interesting parts problem.

Shooter closest to me had something fly off his Sig P320C and land 6 feet in front of the firing line. We collected the part and continued the qual and afterwards, figured out the part was the muzzle end of the RSA.

BEFORE anyone starts, this isn’t a rant. The gun still ran so it’s not a super serious thing to us. I was surprised that it was on a copy with less than 1500 rounds on it. I’m an armorer and haven’t heard of a similar failure nor can I Google One up.

Chalking it up to a bad part and another one is on the way to replace it. This makes 8 or 9 “issues” over about 40 pistols. Most have round counts under 1k.

If you own one, might want to keep an eye on it.

Regards.

[psalms144.1]

Spontaneous self destructing RSAs were a major issue for M18s for a while. Allegedly Sig corrected that problem. Maybe they haven't applied the "fix" to civilian version compact pistols?

This might be the next "voluntary upgrade" in the making...

[Texaspoff]

I was running qualifications for 8 shooters yesterday and had an interesting parts problem.

Shooter closest to me had something fly off his Sig P320C and land 6 feet in front of the firing line. We collected the part and continued the qual and afterwards, figured out the part was the muzzle end of the RSA.

BEFORE anyone starts, this isn’t a rant. The gun still ran so it’s not a super serious thing to us. I was surprised that it was on a copy with less than 1500 rounds on it. I’m an armorer and haven’t heard of a similar failure nor can I Google One up.

Chalking it up to a bad part and another one is on the way to replace it. This makes 8 or 9 “issues” over about 40 pistols. Most have round counts under 1k.

If you own one, might want to keep an eye on it.

Regards.

During our armorer course, that was one of the things we were advised to watch for. When the end of the recoil assembly starts protruding from the end of the slide, change it out. I haven't seen one do it yet, but we aren't issued 320's. We have a few officers carrying them, but no failures as of yet.

I have noticed that on a few of them, there are marks on the front of the slide where the recoil assembly sits, (the hole). This is indicative of the slide hitting the backside of the recoil assembly during cycling. This is hitting the cap of the recoil assembly from the rear, which over time could likely cause that type of failure.





TXPO

[claymore504]

Good to know it kept running. This issue pops up every so often with pistols. I have seen it happen with M&P handguns as well.

[JHC]

Spontaneous self destructing RSAs were a major issue for M18s for a while. Allegedly Sig corrected that problem. Maybe they haven't applied the "fix" to civilian version compact pistols?

This might be the next "voluntary upgrade" in the making...

I'm surprised how well such flies in the ointment are kept largely under wraps.

Separately, I had an RSA fail on a G26 where part of the front end protruded out the front of the slide. That was a hard FAIL; no running that pistol. Pulled the back striker plate to clear it.

[lwt16]

During our armorer course, that was one of the things we were advised to watch for. When the end of the recoil assembly starts protruding from the end of the slide, change it out. I haven't seen one do it yet, but we aren't issued 320's. We have a few officers carrying them, but no failures as of yet.

I have noticed that on a few of them, there are marks on the front of the slide where the recoil assembly sits, (the hole). This is indicative of the slide hitting the backside of the recoil assembly during cycling. This is hitting the cap of the recoil assembly from the rear, which over time could likely cause that type of failure.





TXPO

Thanks! I'll look for that in the others I'm overwatching.

The issue wasn't mentioned in my armorer's course. Took it last year in Anniston and a guy named Paul taught it.

Appreciate the tip. Send/post a pic of the marks if you can.

[OlongJohnson]

Good to know it kept running. This issue pops up every so often with pistols. I have seen it happen with M&P handguns as well.

The RSA on my SD9VE self-disassembled while it was out of the gun for cleaning, sitting on my work bench. I have no doubt that such a failure while shooting would deadline the gun. Others on the blue forum report similar. My solution was to cut a G17 RSA rod to length and put up with a non-captured spring when field stripping. Worked perfectly, and it was one piece.

[Ndbbm]

I'm surprised how well such flies in the ointment are kept largely under wraps.

Separately, I had an RSA fail on a G26 where part of the front end protruded out the front of the slide. That was a hard FAIL; no running that pistol. Pulled the back striker plate to clear it.

I don’t know that is kept under wraps, stuff just happens. The duel spring Glock rsa can bind up occasionally and do what your describing. Basically once freed up they run fine in my limited experience (only seen it happen twice maybe.)

Jason