Sig Elite Fieldstrip-Why decock?

[forcedfedsti]

Just purchased my first Sig Elite, a P220 Stainless Elite. I own other Sigs, so I am used to field stripping them where I don't have to decock it prior to sliding off the slide.

So I field strip my Sig Elite, like I do to my other non elite Sigs. At that time, I didn't know I was suppose to decock prior to sliding off the slide. So I've noticed that there was some resistance when sliding off the slide for disassemble, and sliding it back on for reassemble.

So after reading through the manual that Sig provides, it says you are suppose to decock when doing a field strip. So now I am paranoid that I've damaged it, in some way when I had to apply force to the slide to disassemble and reassemble.

My question is, why do I have to decock it during field strip? And how much damage would, or could I have done, to my new Sig.

And because I know this thread, is worthless without pics, here are some quick shots I took of the Sig.

[fullrearview]

There is no amount of force that you can apply without the use of some tool that will hurt your sig.

The only thing I can think of, is when in single action, the safety lever doesn't have force (spring tension) applied to it. If you turn the gun upside down or anything other than horizontal and upright while removing the slide, it may get hung up until it drops free.

From here on out, just decock your sig and go that route. You should always decock it unless your in the middle of a string of shots anyways.

[82SC]

yup...what he said.

I had the same problem...posted here:

http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/430601935/m/5900031192

also an email response I got from Sig Marine (a super helpful member at sigforum):

I read your thread and see the safety lever is causing you some issues. This can also occur with weapons that have the SRT (short reset trigger). To remedy this issue, I decock all of my weapons when removing the slide by doing the following:

Lock the slide to rear
Rotate the takedown lever to the downward position
Pull back the slide to disengage the slide catch lever and while holding the slide firmly in your grasp, slowly allow the slide to move forward
When the slide reaches its closed (normal) position, decock the weapon before removing the slide. This allows the safety lever to fully retract so the slide can be removed easily
When reassembling, use care when the slide reaches the safety lever and check that it is full retracted before continuing past it with the slide

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions...Doug

[Sig Marine]

To add to your inquiry and the email I sent to 82SC, the SRT safety lever is a different configuration than the standard ones. The fact that you may have failed to decock your weapon a few times and did not use excessive force to remove the slide, most likely did not do damage.

As for putting the slide back on and finding some resistance, this can be caused by the slide catch lever which also serves as the ejector on P220s. When putting the slide back on, just be aware that the ejector portion of the slide catch lever must fit into a channel at the rear of the slide. You can see this as you bring the slide back and it starts to contact the ejector. A little movement to the slide catch lever will adjust the ejector and get things lined up allowing the slide to travel without resistance.

Hope this helps...Sig Marine (Certified Sig Armorer)

[forcedfedsti]

Thanks for the helpful and insightful advice, 82sc and Sig Marine.

[Sturnovik]

To add to your inquiry and the email I sent to 82SC, the SRT safety lever is a different configuration than the standard ones. The fact that you may have failed to decock your weapon a few times and did not use excessive force to remove the slide, most likely did not do damage.

As for putting the slide back on and finding some resistance, this can be caused by the slide catch lever which also serves as the extractor on P220s. When putting the slide back on, just be aware that the extractor portion of the slide catch lever must fit into a channel at the rear of the slide. You can see this as you bring the slide back and it starts to contact the extractor. A little movement to the slide catch lever will adjust the extractor and get things lined up allowing the slide to travel without resistance.

Hope this helps...Sig Marine (Certified Sig Armorer)

+1, insightful as usual .

Good info on the P220!

[Sig Marine]

It's been a long day and my mind is not what it should be. My above post has been corrected to clarify that on the P220s, the ejector is part of the slide catch lever, not the extractor.

Sorry for any confusion...Sig Marine

[Paperchasin]

Good info in this thread...thanks guys!