Ammo question for an old P6.

[CSW]

I own a 3/'82 Sig P6 that runs like a charm when fed ball ammo. I've tried at least 4 different types of HP, to no avail...the bullet always gets jammed on the feed ramp.
Knowing that this is a common condition with the P6, I was wondering if anyone who owns one has ever tried Critical Defense ammo in theirs, and what the results were? It appears that it would work, as the nose of the CD is sorta 'ball like'.
Gold dot won't feed. The G2 version.
Hydras won't.
HST won't.
Cheap Remington HP won't.

So It won't feed HP.
The second question/comment is, there used to be a company or smith that could change the feed ramp angle to allow these fine guns to feed anything. Anyone remember who?

[fatdog]

No longer have that gun, but dropping a P225 barrel into mine completely solved that problem for me.

The only jhp round I recall that it fed before the barrel swap was Federal 9BP 115gr.

[revchuck38]

I've run ~150 rounds of 124-grain +P HST through mine (dated 11/78) and it was flawless. I will note that that was with magazines from probably the last production run of 225 mags. I don't remember if I tried it with the original magazines.

One thing you might try would be replacing the original magazine springs with Wolff extra-power ones. I did that with the two original magazines and the one Pro Mag I bought because it was the only one I could find at the time and they've been 100% with ball ammo.

As noted above, Federal's 9BP round was designed to run in guns that only run on ball. It's not as good as HST or Gold Dot, but it had a good reputation back in the day.

[OlongJohnson]

The second question/comment is, there used to be a company or smith that could change the feed ramp angle to allow these fine guns to feed anything. Anyone remember who?

That's the kind of question I would search on over at the green and blue forums.

[MattyD380]

I remember taking my P6 to the range along with a Springfield EMP. I was vetting the EMP with HPs—it failed miserably.

Then, knowing the P6’s rep for not feeding HPs, I tried the same ammo in the P6. It went through a full mag, no problems. Weird. Though I didn’t shoot any more than that.

I can’t for sure remember what brand of JHPs I was using… but I think they were Hydrashoks. Which I think you said you already tried? So, yeah, I realize that’s like zero help. Mine’s an ‘82 P6, which (I think) is well before the P225 feed ramp change. Maybe the mags do have something to do with it, as Revchuck said. My mags def don’t seem beat up and janky… so maybe they’re newer than the actual gun?

Also, mine was a BKA issue P6. Most I’ve seen are NW (Northrhine Westphalen… I think?). I wouldn’t think there’d be any difference, but who knows. Maybe the BKA ordered different specs with the feedramps vs. other agencies.

Edit: I checked my post (about the EMP) from 2019. I was using hydrashoks.

[DaBigBR]

Maybe Robert Burke for somebody that could modify the existing barrel, but sourcing and dropping in a 225 barrel would likely be cheaper and faster.

[Hambo]

As noted above, Federal's 9BP round was designed to run in guns that only run on ball. It's not as good as HST or Gold Dot, but it had a good reputation back in the day.

We issued 9BP and 9BPLE for at least a decade. New designs are better, but I wouldn't lose sleep if I had to carry either of those now.

[CSW]

That's the kind of question I would search on over at the green and blue forums.

'scuse please, I don't get the color reference???

One thing you might try would be replacing the original magazine springs with Wolff extra-power ones. I did that with the two original magazines and the one Pro Mag I bought because it was the only one I could find at the time and they've been 100% with ball ammo.

ALL of the springs in the pistol and mags were changed when I got the pistol back from my father in '20.

9BPLE

This ammo is +P+. Would an early 80's Sig be rated for such?

Thanks so far fellas.

[OlongJohnson]

'scuse please, I don't get the color reference???

Blue.

Green.

[revchuck38]

This ammo is +P+. Would an early 80's Sig be rated for such?

I'm pretty sure no pistols are certified for +P+ since there are no specs for it except "hotter than +P". That said, I don't think running enough to vet it would hurt it, the P6s were designed to run on NATO-spec ball.

Federal shows their current version of the 9BP load here, though they don't call it that anymore. They actually have it in stock, too.