P238 Feeding Issues

[chadd925]

I'm the second owner of the gun, less than 250 rounds through it. Will not feed correctly if the magazine has more than 2 rounds in it. I've tried three types of ammo, same issues with all three. Same story with both factory six and seven round sig magazines. I'd like to add I'm capable of properly lubricating a firearm. I bought this gun to use and carry at work, right now i'm looking at it like an expensive paperweight.
Questions:

As a second owner do I have the option of sending it into sig?

I keep reading about polishing the feed ramp, but I don't want to touch it should i have a warranty option.

if a warranty is out of the question, has anyone had success polishing one of these?

anything i'm missing?

[Dano3467]

Don't know if Sig would fix it for you, but also don't see why not.

That said, I see no issue with you polishing the ramp & chamber, just do it right.

Also just a thought, check mags for burr's or other issues as you say your the second owner.

Or borrow a mag somewhere to try out, maybe another CGner can help out with this.

[slomofo]

http://sigtalk.com/sig-sauer-pistols/14938-will-sig-warranty-gun-bought-used.html

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[boomer135]

Do you know someone close that also has a 238? if so try their barrel in yours so you can see if it's a feed ramp issue.

Either way call SIG, but this way you know or can rule out a possible issue.

[Citizen_B]

I haven't heard of Sig honoring the lifetime warranty to a second owner, but maybe worth a try.

Can you describe in more detail what is happening with the feeding issue?

Is the bullet nose hung up on the ramp? HP/FMJ/FN?

Could be a number of things: the ramp, a weak recoil spring, weak mag spring, weird mag, etc etc. I assume it's ejecting properly so not a limp wrist issue. Positive your thumb isn't riding the slide?

[chadd925]

The round does not fully exit the magazine because it seems to get hung up on the feed ramp. I examined the ramp for burrs... Nothing. I did notice the ramp was polished from the factory perpendicular to the travel direction of the round. I'm no engineer but it seems to me these polishing "micro grooves" should travel length wise with the ramp towards the barrel.

I asked the original owner, he did not modify the ramp in any way.

[scoobydo]

Sounds like it could be the mag springs. How old are they?
Have you tried a new mag?
Also, what kind of ammo you trying? JHP or FMJ.
Not all JHP work in all guns.
Have you also tried disassembly of the mags and doing some maintenance?
Could be any number of things like Citizen_B says.

[Wallabing]

Shoot it for real at a range to see if its reliable. Manually racking/releasing the slide at home to see if it will feed is not a reliable way to test the p238's function.

[BoJackUSMC]

Call Sig warranty department and see what they say...

[stix213]

I have a Sig P238 Rainbow, live in San Rafael, and work either in San Francisco or Sunnyvale depending on the day. We could meet up some time and swap barrels, springs, slides, whatever, at a range if you want to try to diagnose the issue.

Original P238's shipped with a main spring that they ended up redesigning. I had to swap mine out as it kept jamming after the 1st 100 rounds. Went with a Wolf spring if I remember (the new factory spring wasn't out yet). I don't know if that is the cause of your problems. Mine has been reliable ever since.

[chadd925]

Shoot it for real at a range to see if its reliable. Manually racking/releasing the slide at home to see if it will feed is not a reliable way to test the p238's function.

Every time I have shot it at the range it has been "for real". And if you cant chamber a round at home or on the range I would call that gun "unreliable".

The first accessory I buy for any gun is a Sh**load of ammo. Then I go and use it like the tool it is.

[RocketRider]

I'm having a similar problem with my P238. It was 100% reliable with everything for the first couple hundred rounds (I am the original owner). Now it won't feed or extract reliably. I get 2 or 3 failures with every 50 rounds. I have 2 magazines and have tried different types of ammo, but I haven't figured out the problem. I guess I need to try a different spring or send it in to Sig.

It's disappointing, because I like the gun so much.

[tonelar]

Check your recoil spring. I'll bet the previous owner had it in backwards.

My first 238 came home from the gun shop installed wrong... so maybe someone demo'd it and didn't know what they were doing.

On my brother's 238, he went with a Wolff spring, but had to trim 1.5 coils as it didn't allow the slide to reach back far enough to engage the catch.

[Barbarosa]

My 238 feeds Hornady Critical Defense great. The 238 went through three iterations of followers in their mags. Gen 1 wasn't shaped quite right and resulted in failure to feed. Gen 2 was supposed to fix Gen 1 but didn't. Gen 3 must have gotten it correctly.

I suggest you call Sig and tell them the trouble and see if they won't send you a new follower. I have been told by several owners of early P238s that Sig sent them a free Gen 3 follower.

[nickel plate]

The round does not fully exit the magazine because it seems to get hung up on the feed ramp. I examined the ramp for burrs... Nothing. I did notice the ramp was polished from the factory perpendicular to the travel direction of the round. I'm no engineer but it seems to me these polishing "micro grooves" should travel length wise with the ramp towards the barrel. I asked the original owner, he did not modify the ramp in any way.

Here's what you do:
To reconfirm the perpendicular grooves on the feed ramp, remove the barrel and use a magnifying glass to really see them if in fact they are there. If so, sig did not polish your feed ramp as the grooves are left over from the next to last step in the shaping of the feed ramp. Think about it-you can't cut an elliptical channel and still maintain a flat plane fore and aft if you don't cut it perpendicular.
This has happened too many times on the P238 (including mine). Being the original owner I did send it back to sig on warranty and was returned to me with a bright and shiny mirror smooth feed ramp. The failure to feed problem was cured and now it takes every brand of ammunition I've fed it without one jamb.
I did however before sending it back experimented with a drill bit (using the uncut top section) that was exactly the same diameter as the feed ramp and a piece of oiled wet sand paper. I didn't actually use it but for a stroke or two and yes indeed there was a very small amount of fines on the sandpaper which measured the full half diameter of the feed ramp. Do continue to use the magnifying glass to check your work if sig won't do it. That was my backup polishing solution if sig were to give me a brush off.
Good luck.