Why did my sig 229 do this?

[squeeze]

I bought this 229 a couple of years ago and probably have less that 100-200 rounds thru it. I cleaned and lubed it before I took it to the range last week.

Shot well with the 1st mag but the extracted casings were hiring me in the face; not good! 2nd mag same thing. 3rd mag each of the first few rounds produced a large fireball that was about the size of a basket ball and it completely surrounded the gun and my hands and completely blocked my view down range. It was not like the occasional flashes from a muzzle. These were large and my gun and hands were in the middle of it. Took that mag out to see what brand of ammo was in there and to put another mag in. The next mag shot well (no fireballs and the casings were going over my right side. Put the suspected mag back in and all was well; no more fireballs or casings to the face.

Why the fireballs and casings into my face??r

[Pugster]

Perhaps this is ammo related? Are you trying a brand new type of ammo that you have never tried before? Or are you handloading?

[j1133s]

Hard to tell from your description. Are you asking about the "large fireball"? or the ejected cases hitting your head?

For the large fireball issue, are there and burnt powder on your hand? If so, check that the chambered is closed during the firing. Your hand should hurt and may even bleed. Check recoil spring weight.

For brass hitting your head, wear a cap.

You should also mention the ammo used. Was it factory?
And the gun, was it stock?

[rlewpolar]

[SkyHawk]

The first red flag is you apparently have no idea what ammo you were running

[squeeze]

Hard to tell from your description. Are you asking about the "large fireball"? or the ejected cases hitting your head?

For the large fireball issue, are there and burnt powder on your hand? If so, check that the chambered is closed during the firing. Your hand should hurt and may even bleed. Check recoil spring weight.

For brass hitting your head, wear a cap.

You should also mention the ammo used. Was it factory?
And the gun, was it stock?

I was asking why does a pistol eject straight back (none of my other 8 do this) AND was asking why the fireball?

No burns or powder on my gun or hands. Just a big fireball flash. The mag contained a couple of brands of 9's so I was not able to determine what brand caused the fireballs. Plus the last few in the mag did not produce a fireball. They were all factory rounds. I did not look at the chamber to see if it was closed. All of my semi-autos will not fire if they are even the slightest bit 'not closed'. But I gotta admit that idea sure sounds plausible.

"wear a cap." Oh, I learned this alooonnnnng time ago; AND to wear a zip-up to-the-neck, jacket after a redhot 45 went down the inside of my T-shirt.

[sigstroker]

This was a used 229 that you bought?

[unusedusername]

That’s an ammo issue. Large fireballs without damaging the gun itself indicate that the powder is burning in the air after it leaves the barrel..

There is nothing in the gun itself that could cause that.

Excessive gunpowder can also cause the cases to extract in strange directions. There are other things that can cause that also, but my guess is the ammo.

My recommendation: don’t shoot unknown ammo. Get quality ammunition. The ammunition is what goes down range. The gun is just the thing that launches it. Cheap ammo saves a few bucks, but as you found out, it can risk damaging the expensive firearm. Take it as a lesson and feel lucky nothing got damaged.

Discard the rest of your unknown ammo. Most ranges can take it. Mark “bad” on the package and they can get rid of it. Do not sell the ammo now that you know it isn’t good, as that would be super scummy.

Disclaimer: I have not seen your gun, nor am I a licensed gunsmith. This advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

[squeeze]

It is a two year old, purchased NEW, gun. I only shoot factory brand name ammo. They did not appear to be blasts coming out of the barrel. I have seen those many times with many firearms. Only happened for about 3 or 4 rounds. The rest of the range shooting with the Sig was normal.

I appreciate everyones insight.

[mycrstuff]

I have a Sig 220 thst I replaced all the springs on. After I replaced them the gun ejects straight up and bounces the shell of of the ceiling. I actually started wearing a cap due to this. Before I started wearing the csp I had one shell hit the ceiling and landed between my glasses and my eye. I had a nice burn mark on my eye for about a month.

[divingin]

The mag contained a couple of brands of 9's so I was not able to determine what brand caused the fireballs.

There's your problem.

Different brand (and sometimes different lots of the same brand) have different load recipes. They will act differently both in terms of muzzle flash and ejection direction.

Ejection is also magazine sensitive. Ejected cases will go in different directions due to upwards pressure from the magazine on the case being extracted, for example. My target 38 and 45 eject largely to the side, except for the last round which gets flung over my head. And as mentioned above, different charges will go different places.

Don't mix ammo and see if your problems continue.

[boopiejones]

As others have said, the fireball is definitely an ammo issue. I did some tests with various defensive ammo a few years ago, and the results between different brands, or even different bullet weights and velocities within the same brand, was very noticeable.

[CWL]

If you're experiencing different effects from the same box of ammo, then it definitely is something with the ammo. That is why they print lot numbers on each box, in case something like this happens.

[tdp113530]

I had one shell hit the ceiling and landed between my glasses and my eye. I had a nice burn mark on my eye for about a month.

I had a similar incident with my P220. My casing ejected and landed just below my eye on the cheek. I had a perfect outline of a .45 ago case for about a month.

It hurt like a mother but not nearly as bad as a bee sting to the thumb.

[Barang]

I had a similar incident with my P220. My casing ejected and landed just below my eye on the cheek. I had a perfect outline of a .45 ago case for about a month.

It hurt like a mother but not nearly as bad as a bee sting to the thumb.

don't forget to pee on it.


i'll have to go with the others, ammo.