45ACP help please......

[J-cat]

I will look into the recoil spring issue. I bought this P220 used, so the spring could be something other than the factory standard. I had not really thought of this, and I thank you for the heads up. I am going to order one of the "calibration" kits from Wolff. The pistol has worked flawlessly with any factory ammo I've used to date, including factory "reloads' from the gunshows here in San Diego.

I was not limp wristing. I am not a new shooter by any means. My shooting/grip is not the issue here. I shot a box of factory ammo the same range session with zero issues from the pistol or me.

I'm not saying you are incompetent by any means. I've been shooting and reloading for 18 years, but just recently discovered my bench technique doesn't work for Glocks. And yes, it was due to limp wristing. Whenever you are shooting "high performance firearms" as Speer puts it, you need all the recoil you can get, otherwise any relaxation of the wrist will induce a malfunction. In Sigs with sheetmetal slides, the most common is failure to lock the slide on the last shot. With my Glock it was multiple stovepipes. The funny thing was it ran fine when I was standing up, but jammed almost every shot as soon as I sat down and rested my arms. I ended up resting the gun, locking my wrist and elbows, while keeping my arms suspended off the bench. The load was a 147 @ 900 FPS.

I used to have several sheet metal and milled P220s and P226s and know exactly how they behave with light loads. You really have to concentrate on your grip.

Btw, I just looked it up and your factory spring is 20lbs.

[huckberry668]

P220 factory spring is a little on the heavy side. Green spring is 20 to 22lbs. Red is 16lbs. When I shoot reduced loads in my p220 I switch to the red spring. Them triple wound springs last forever... my P220 is more than 10 years old and the recoil spring is still around 20lbs.

Try this Wolff calibration pack to tailor to your loads.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=26256/avs|Make~~Model_1=Sig%20Sauer__226/Product/SIG-SAUER-RECOIL-CALIBRATION-PAK

[scotty99]

I've never had any luck with that bullet at anything other than max loads. In my XD45 tactical, 5.9grs of 231 got it working well and it has proven to be a very accurate load. Chronos right around 900fps out of the 5" barrel.

[sjg1966]

Spring weights....

P220 factory spring is a little on the heavy side. Green spring is 20 to 22lbs. Red is 16lbs. When I shoot reduced loads in my p220 I switch to the red spring. Them triple wound springs last forever... my P220 is more than 10 years old and the recoil spring is still around 20lbs.

Try this Wolff calibration pack to tailor to your loads.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=2...ALIBRATION-PAK

My P220 is from 1989, did they have 20LB springs during that time? I am finding info that they came with 15LB springs then. I did order that set of springs on Monday and hopefully they will be here by Friday.

[SID45]

maybe your brass is long? use a chamber gage before putting it on the mag, and if they don't fit on the gage then don't use them. check the length of your brass....

[XDRoX]

maybe your brass is long? use a chamber gage before putting it on the mag, and if they don't fit on the gage then don't use them. check the length of your brass....

Pistol case gauges don't measure the length of brass or OAL. They will tell you if everything else is within spec, but not length.

To see if your OAL will work you must drop the round in your barrel. To see if your brass is within resonable length you must use calipers.

In addition, if his rounds were too long, they wouldn't be causing the issues he's having. He'd be getting feeding issues, not cyclying ones.

[EmmaGoldman]

Is the powder old? Are your loads noticeably lighter in recoil than factory loads?

[huckberry668]

My P220 is from 1989, did they have 20LB springs during that time? I am finding info that they came with 15LB springs then. I did order that set of springs on Monday and hopefully they will be here by Friday.

I didn't know they were 15lbs. Mine has the green spring and green springs are 20lbs. I'd say if it's green it's 20lbs.

[sjg1966]

Springs..

I didn't know they were 15lbs. Mine has the green spring and green springs are 20lbs. I'd say if it's green it's 20lbs.

From what I have read the older Sigs (like mine) came with 15LB springs, while newer production Sigs have these green colored springs at 20LB

I have a calibration set coming from Wolff. Meanwhile I am going to work up more test loads, starting again at 5.8gr and up to 6.2 in .1 increments and test them out this weekend. I'll keep y'all posted.....

Thanks for reading....Steve

[sjg1966]

Powder and recoil

Is the powder old? Are your loads noticeably lighter in recoil than factory loads?

The powder is not old and has been stored properly. The lighters of my loads were much lighter in recoil, the 5.8 was cycling reliably, but still light. I only had some Win white box 230gr factory with me to compare. Those cycled fine and had the expected amount of recoil......

Steve

[JagerDog]

I haven't loaded plated bullets, but if you crimp too tight you can break through the plating, resulting in an undersized slug. Just a though. You really don't need to go beyond taking the bell out.

[sjg1966]

Crimp....

I haven't loaded plated bullets, but if you crimp too tight you can break through the plating, resulting in an undersized slug. Just a though. You really don't need to go beyond taking the bell out.

Roger that...I have the crimp die set for a very light crimp, but I've seen the result from too much crimp on the plated bullets.

Thanks....Steve

[sjg1966]

Update: Not knowing what weight that recoil spring I had in my P220, I ordered a calibration set from Wolff. I made more test loads with W231 starting at 5.8 (where I left off last) and up to 6.3. They all cycled my P220 with an 18# spring, 20# spring did not work until I hit the 6.0gr. I settled on the 18# spring and liked the 6.3gr round the best, all seemed to be equally accurate. The 5.8 had a nice light/soft recoil and the 6.3 was less than any factory ammo, and felt good to me.

Thanks for reading....Steve

[ExtremeX]

Would adding a little extra crimp help increase pressure a little to help with the issue?

Im asking since I am also new to reloading...

[zfields]

Update: Not knowing what weight that recoil spring I had in my P220, I ordered a calibration set from Wolff. I made more test loads with W231 starting at 5.8 (where I left off last) and up to 6.3. They all cycled my P220 with an 18# spring, 20# spring did not work until I hit the 6.0gr. I settled on the 18# spring and liked the 6.3gr round the best, all seemed to be equally accurate. The 5.8 had a nice light/soft recoil and the 6.3 was less than any factory ammo, and felt good to me.

Thanks for reading....Steve

Holy crap

I run 5.0 in my xd and it functions fine.

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