Sig 226 issues

[toddhawkins]

I recently picked up a Sig226 on consignment and all has been great until today. Now I have to start off saying this is my first Sig and I've had it out 3 times so I am new to how this thing behaves. Anyhow after the last round is fired and the magazine is completely empty the slide is not locking back like it suppose to. I even did a test by putting one round in all 6 magazines and the issue happen every time. Once in awhile today it locked back fine but 9 out of 10 times it would not lock back. This does not seem like a magazine issue considering it happens on all 6 factory Sig Magazines. I know ranges use reloads and I have put reloads through it before without issue so that would not seem like it. Finally I came home and cleaned it and it was a little dirty so I will try again this week. Sounds like I need to have a gunsmith look at it. Any ideas would be helpful because I am not feeling the whole "To Hell and back reliability" line today.

[DrunkSkunk]

did you try other ammo? does it lock back if you rack it manually?

[JTROKS]

OK, when you insert an empty mag in the gun and rack it back does the slide stay locked? If it does try to wiggle it side to side and front and back. Do it to all your mags. If the slide stays locked with all mags tnen the ammo you were using maybe short stroking it, meaning they are not powerful enough to send the slide to catch the stop 100% of the time. Try using factory rounds or install a lighter recoil spring.

[Black Majik]

SIGs are notorious for failures to slidelock, 99.99999999% caused by the user. Check to make sure you're not riding the slidestop, shoot it one handed, or left handed and see if it still fails to slide lock.

You can also test by inserting an empty magazine into the gun and racking the slide. Does it lock back with an empty magazine?

Edit: Jinx to Drunkskunk and JTROKS

[mm1]

Possibly, your thumb blocking the slide catch lever?

-edit-
you guys are fast!

[TBoliv]

In all honesty, the culprit here is probably your right hand thumb. The slide release on the Sig is in a crappy place, especially for people who are used to shooting 1911's with the "high thumb" placement. It does not take a whole lot of pressure on the slide release to overcome the spring tension and prohibit the slide from locking back.

The easiest way to test this, is to shoot it left handed. If you shoot it lefty, and the slide locks back, your thumb is in the way.

The way I've found to keep my thumb out of the way is to rest my right hand thumb on the back of my left thumb joint. This keeps it just over far enough that it's not riding the slide release.

Let us know if this works!

ETA: you're all too fast..


As a second note, in case it's not your thumb, you said the gun was bought on consignment. I'm going to assume then that you have no knowledge of the gun's history. I would strongly suggest (regardless of how the shoot-it-lefty test turns out) that you buy a part's kit. They're about $25, and available from one of my favorite vendors, www.topgunsupply.com or from Sig directly, and contain the parts most commonly worn out/lost/broken on Sigs. It's easy to swap the parts out and is cheap peace of mind for you that you know how many rounds the wear parts have (sorta like changing the oil on a used car purchase...) I also wouldn't suggest starting out by replacing with a lighter spring or changing your ammo. Unless you load your own rounds and are using a tiny amount of powder, or the previous owner installed a super heavy recoil spring (again, good reason to replace them, just in case) most any ammo should be sufficient to cycle a 226.

And lastly, TTIWWOP

[Spyder]

Thumb. I do it, still, sometimes on my 226...

[mds2004]

Another vote for thumb. I am still doing it too often

[rix]

+1 for thumb on the slide stop! This was happening to me with a NEW sig226, I almost gave up, than I figured it out. Limp wristing could also be the problem, I had issues limp wristing my Glock when I bought it new.

[toddhawkins]

I tried all the magazines empty and it locks back fine so it could be my thumb although it was happening to two other people plus the first two times I had it out I never had this issue. I think I may know the issue though. I have a Houge grip on it and that may be the issue because it does seem to make the slide lock and hammer release hard to operate. It could be hanging because of that? Maybe?

[RedDawn]

Sounds reasonable. Put back the regular grips and find out.

[toddhawkins]

I actually just noticed my right thumb may indeed be resting on the slide stop. As a test I held in a firing position with my right thumb just BARLEY touching the slide stop and when I racked the slide it did NOT lock. We'll test this week and see. Damn thumb!

[tonelar]

The gf shoots a 226 and it did this to her a few times. With a more solid grip, the problem seems to have resolved itself.

[leelaw]

I'll bet $10 that you are using a "high ride" grip and your thumb (right) is preventing the slide stop from engaging the slide properly after the final round has been fired.

I started out with a 1911 and still have this same issue on my Sigs for the exact reason described above, because I trained to hold the 1911 differently than I needed to for the Sig.

[Oso]

sig problems

Please try www.sigforum.com and search in the armorer section
Oso