Soured on Sigs

[MarkR]

One of the decisions their "new" CEO made starting in 05 or 06 was a move towards Metal Injection Molding (MIM) many of their metal parts. He did the same thing at Kimber. It is less expensive to produce metal parts this way, and it's purely a cost saving move. AND it's an inferior process.
Buy Sig's that are pre 2005 and you've got a fantastic gun. I have several...
P220's, 226's, 239's... in .45, .40, and 9mm. Love them. I do not own any Sig's post 2005. What I've posted here is only what I've learned through reading and other's experience. YMMV.

 

[IndyGunner]

How do you guys feel about the newer sig pro 2022... their take on a polymer pistol. I almost got one, but I feel like its their budget gun.

 

[mrfjones]

i have a newer 2009 or 2010 p226 and I have had no failures with it that were not ammo induced. I will bet my life on it.

I am sorry to hear about the bad qc. I hope you get it figured out or they get it fixed for you. I will still stick with their regular line of pistols myself.

 

[FCSD 23-18]

I have an older SIG 228, and a Sig 226, you can really tell the diffrence in quality.

 

[gunman41mag]

Don't understand why SIG would lower their QUALITY CONTROL

 

[bluto67]

bean counters only care about the bottom line. they know loyal Sig owners won't stray far. bought my p229 back in '96 i believe, my p6/p225 west german police trade in about a year ago. the p6 was made in '83, still has the numbers matching barrel and it shoots every bit as good as the p229. bought a 522 rifle last year too. i have the same problem with the stud pulling out of the gun when you fold and lock the stock. other than that and a heavy trigger its a great little plinker.

 

[deadsquirrel]

Don't understand why SIG would lower their QUALITY CONTROL

$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[U.S. Patriot]

How do you guys feel about the newer sig pro 2022... their take on a polymer pistol. I almost got one, but I feel like its their budget gun.

I have shot one, and it felt good. You have to understand one thing. Polymer frames are molded, and take a lot less time and money to produce. As where a metal frame has machining and a lot more time involved in the process.

 

[turnandshoot4]

Strange. My 226 S has a slide like butter and a trigger like glass. The production date is 2009 I want to say.














Oh yea, It's german though.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Also, everyone makes a lemon, I do not care who the manufacture is. I own other guns, and have read on other forums. About people having issues, where as the majority has had no issues.

 

[blaster2]

P220, two P239's and a P226 without any problems. Have been absolutely perfect. Never one issue.

 

[AzNooB]

If the model number doesn't start with P22X, then it's not really a SIG (unless it's a P210).

All of the crap they put out after the P22X are just their attempts at cutting costs. I would say that the 2022 series was a good gun for the price, my friend's has started having FTEs even when properly lubed if not cleaned after 300-400 rounds. That's unacceptable to me.

 

[SlowPlay]

no issues with my new P250 or my 522 rifle.

 

[marshallartist]

That sucks. I've always liked Sig's but I tend to stick to their classic designs and on my budget I usually wind up buying used so I haven't had any experience with newer production pistols.

 

[Jake46184]

The problems with the P238 & P290 are well-known to those of us who have followed the Sig wagon since the beginning. The move away from German manufacturing has definitely hurt and the arrival of Cohen was the true beginning of the end for Sig. Poor leadership is killing Sig Sauer. So many of these later guns were rushed onto the market, even though Sig knew interally they weren't reliable. Sig has been beaten to market in the exploding "pocket" gun segment by nearly everyone and the solution was to rush the P238 & P290 out the door. It hasn't worked.

The Sig Classic line remains the finest production handguns yet made by man. The newer Sigs, however, reflect the direction the company is moving. Find a good, older Sig and hold on to it. There aren't going to be any more of them.

ETA: Field-strpping the P290 is nearly impossible w/o 3 hands. The easiest way I've found to do it is to place a screwdriver handle on a table, with the slotted blade facing straight up (towards the ceiling), put the pin of the 290 into the slotted driver blade (careful not to scratch the finish), then hold it perfectly there and use your hands to hold the gun and pull the slide back. Once the notches are lined up, use the screwdriver, with the handle still on the table and the blade pointing straight up with the blade in between the pin and the frame, and use the screwdriver as a pry bar. It doesn't take much force to pop the pin out. I've yet to have the popular light strikes but have had a lot of trouble with getting mags to stay in the gun.

 

[shootinghoosier]

My 226 and 232 are great guns...my 250 (.40 S&W) on the other hand cycles without a hitch, but it shoots 12" low at 20 feet (and I am very comfortable shooting double action handguns). Been meaning to ship the 250 back to Sig to see if they can resolve it.

 

[Bluedragon]

That really sucks dude burning have a hear a lot lately from different people Sig's quality control has really gone down hill.

 

[Dave Doehrman]

I got one of the first P290 Sigs as soon as they hit the shelves and my first impression was favorable. The take down is a pain, it almost takes 3 hands to hold the slide back in a position to push out the pin, but I learned to live with that.

On my second trip to the range I started to experience failure to fire. About 1 round out of five had a light or non-existant primer strike. I could pull the trigger again on an unfired round and some would fire on the second or third strike, but others wouldn't fire with 5-6 strikes. I was using S&B range ammo so I got in my range bag and tried some Hornady and Federal defense ammo with the same results. I went home and stripped the pistol looking for obvious problems. I didn't see anything so I called Sig support. I explained the issue and the tech told me that Sig didn't recommend using hollow point ammo until 500 or so rounds had been fired. I explained this wasn't a feed issue, but in some cases a complete failure of the firing pin to hit the primer. He sent me an e-mail with a prepaid shipping label and I returned the pistol to Sig.

I hadn't heard anything back from Sig so I started looking for info on the forums and when I Googled up "P290 Light strike" I was surprised to find pages of results including videos of my exact same issue. It seems this is a common and known issue, but no one has received a P290 back from Sig or had the problem explained.

I went to Sigs website and while I was looking for P290 info, I saw a P238 Safety Warning. Seems the early P238s with a serial number that doesn't start with 27A******* has a safety lever that fails to put the safety in a locked position when engaged and also the pistol may fire when the safety is moved to the fire position. That means my P238 Nitron needs to go back in to Sig. I also saw that the recoil springs on the P238s may need to be replaced. I've got another P238 Rainbow that needs the new spring. The only Sig handgun that I don't have problems with is my 220 Elite.

I bought the 5.56 Sig carbine when it came out and was really disappointed with the quality of the weapon. The folding stock pulls the locking tab apart every time I unfold the stock and the trigger is terrible.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with Sig lately? My 220 Elite is probably one of my favorite handguns and influenced me to purchase more Sig products, but it seems that their quality is suffering lately. Looks like I'll be buying more FN and HK products.

Update: Sent my P290 back in and got it back the second time, but still having the same problems - light or no primer strikes. I found that the P290 would fire Remington green box ammo for range use and Winchester PDX1 Bonded 147 gr round for carry ammo. I carried this as a backup until yesterday, when I went to the range again. On this trip the P290 would fire, but the trigger would not reset. The round would eject and another round would chamber, but the trigger would not reset until I pulled the slide back manually about 1/4 inch and returned to the closed position. I called Sig service again and this time I got connected to a Sales Project Specialist named Scott. After I explained the problem and past history he told me to ship the gun back and they would send me a new P290. Since the serial numbers will change, he will have to ship it to a Dealer and have them do the transfer. He said he couldn't pay for the transfer, but would theow in some spare mags and other goodies to make up for the transfer fee.

So now I'm waiting to see if I just had a lemon or if the new P290 will exhibit some of the same issues. Wish me luck, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for excellent performance.

 

[Hkfiend]

The only Sig I have left is a P229 I bought in 2007. I haven't been too impressed with their line lately, and this whole thing about making 500 variants of one model is getting a little ridiculous

 

[halfmileharry]

GEEZ! Sorry about the bad luck on the Sig. I hope all works out well for you.
I was planning on buying the 1911 XO Sig tomorrow.
I don't like what I'm hearing about the company now.
I guess I'll let my cash collect dust for a while and rethink my next purchase.
My old 220 is a great gun except for the finish. It's an old Police gun and I've always had an issue with a quick rust forming on the slide since I bought it. I have to keep it oiled down constantly. I can't complain for the $250 price I paid for it. It's a hellova shooter and never had an issue with it other than the finish.