.380 auto mis-fires

[Texasscks]

Hi,

I searched and read and read to no real avail, I don't usually post I usually find what I need by doing a search, I googled my problem and was directed to this site.
I have a S&W Sigma .380 auto that mis-fires, I'm lucky to get 2 good rounds out of the clip, the rest are all mis-fires, I tried different ammo, same thing, I have read where slide replacement was the cure to this problem.
About a week ago there was another poster who was having troubles with his .380 auto and the service department at S&W and I was wondering where that thread went so I could ask him what ever came of his troubles with his weapon.
I don't know if slide assy. replacement is the answer or if I could even order that part from S&W without having a FFL to do so.
Anybody have any ideas of why it's mis-firing, I know it's a low end gun but it's light, easy to carry and fits your hand like a glove, when it does shoot it is pretty accurate, very accurate considering the sights are non-existent
Thanks for your time, I know this is my first post but I'm a reader not a poster and the nice thing is that you don't have to join to read

 

[soonerboomer]

Not a clue on that... however, S&W has a "Lifetime Service Policy". I'd think they would fix it. http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...catalogId=11101&content=24817&sectionId=10504
Good luck, and welcome to THR!
By the way... since I'm an obvious Oklahoma Sooners fan, I'm of the opinion that your user name is missing a "U"
- soonerboomer

 

[wditto]

S&W has one of the best service depts. and covers their stuff forever....

 

[Lonestar49]

Get it checked and fixed

...

Send it in, sounds like a broken firing pin, hits once in a while, but mainly not, means it could be in 2 pieces held semi together, still, via the firing pin spring.

How long have you owned it, fired, it? And, how much if any, dry-firing have you done with it, my thinking, with no snap cap inserted in the chamber could have caused this problem, as well.

Luck,


Ls

 

[6Covered]

Sigma 380 gets a big pile of bashing. Most probably deserved.

I have one. Had light strikes. Back to Smith. Fixed it free.
Now after 1000 rounds it still always goes bang. It's small.
Easy to carry. Pretty good Backup. YMMV

Jon

 

[KodeFore]

I had one when they first came out, I found the paint on the corners of the slide wore off quickly but I could live with that. I found the gun accurate and handy and it is probably fine as a carry often seldom shoot gun but one day at the range I noticed the rear take down pin was working its way out after about a 100 rounds, I am sure S&W would have made good on it but I want nothing to do with any gun that tries to disassemble itself during shooting! I traded it off as soon as I could. I am not a big fan of the .380 in general, but I now have a Bersa Thunder .380 I am happy with. Just my .02

 

[Texasscks]

Thanks for the excellent replies, WOW

Now getting back to the .380, I bought it used real cheap, as is, the price was so good I couldn't pass it up.

I called S&W customer service and they are shipping me a pre-paid label to mail it to them to check it out, they said because I am not the original owner the lifetime warranty don't apply to me, they will give me an estimate before repair.

As for dry firing I never do that without snapcaps, and since I don't have a snapcap for this .380 I never dry fired it, I don't know if the original owner did or not, the firing pin sometimes puts a light dimple on the primer and then a deep one, the person at the S&W repair depot asked me if the dimples were deep or light.

I also told them that it stovepipes once in awhile, but not very often, but as it stands now I have two mags for it, I load up 6 rounds each and I'm lucky to get 3 maybe 4 fired rounds out of them total, the rest are misfires, and if I reload the mags with the misfired cartridges they will fire, some times they will misfire again but if I reload them they will fire eventually, reminds me of the .22 rimfire ammo, get a misfire, put it back in 9 times out of 10 it would fire as long as the firing pin hit a different part of the rim

So as long as it don't cost me an arm and a leg to get this auto fixed I'll go for it, they also said that the work they do to it will now be covered with a lifetime warranty, so we'll see, I have heard good and bad about their repair depot but I will find out for myself.

Once again thanks for your replies and to answer soonerboomers question about my handle, nothing to do with sports or anything else like that, I use to live in San Antonio TX in the late 70's and I didn't like it, the girls were pretty but I didn't care for the oppressive heat, so hence my handle

 

[Texasscks]

It's in the Mail

Just an update, S&W sent me a pre-paid Fedex 2nd day delivery label on Friday 7-17 and today 7-20 Fedex came right to my door and picked it up, so far so good, that was easy
I'll keep updating this thread to let you know how my experience went with S&W service.

 

[Texasscks]

S&W answered

Well today 7-30-09 I got a call from S&W saying they could not fix my Sigma .380, it's an obsolete model, no parts, that was the bad news, the good news is they are sending me a replacement: Sigma 9VE it's bigger then the .380 and much more reliable.
So now they send it to a gun dealer of my choice, I do the register garbage then I walk away with a brand new weapon, I have heard that S&W does this but until it happened to me I didn't believe it, what a deal and company
I have heard good and bad about the Sigma 9VE but more good then bad, so we will see what comes of it, at least now I can actually buy ammo, to find .380 acp ammo is next to impossible.
I'm still in shock over this deal, I wasn't even the original owner and they still did this.

 

[Texasscks]

To end this thread seeing as how hot it is, got the pistol, put over 400 rounds thru it, worked perfectly, no mis-fires, or stove pipes, yes it has a heavy trigger but it don't effect my aim.
Too many stories on the web about how bad these are, I now own one and it works great and I have no complaints, S&W came thru and stood by thier product.
Sweet pistol, don't be afraid of buying a Sigma, at least the new ones.

 

[DasFriek]

Im suprised they did that myself.I didnt even know they made a .380 sigma as i just got back into pistols.My only issue would be the size differance if i was intending to have a small carry piece.
I also bought a .22A S&W second hand and wondered how any warrenty issues would be handled if the original owner registered the warrenty info.
The newer VE models ive read are much better than the original Sigma's were.

 

[m2steven]

I sent my new 1911 to Smith to check some abrasions on the barrel, they just replaced the barrel, test fired it, cleaned it and sent it back - in about 7 to 10 days.
A GREAT company! This about a month ago.

 

[Texasscks]

Yea I forgot to add that the size issue, getting this pistol over the much smaller was a big change but S&W warned me that it would be bigger and heavier then the .380 I sent them.

I just can't understand how they can just send you a pistol complete, extra mags, lock, excellent carrying case, even exchange for my old not original owner pistol, S&W is tops in my book, and I too read the the 9VE series is the vastly improved version from the older models, no more zinc metal slide, or whatever metal the .380 was made out of, the pistol they sent me has a S.S slide and barrel.

Just put another 200 rounds thru it yesterday at the range, no issues, my groups at 25 yards vary around 4" to 6", at our range the pistol range is only set up for 25 yards, when no one is there I could probably put up a target at 12 yards, it's a self serve outdoor range so to speak. My groups should get better as I get to know this pistol a bit better. As for ammo used I bought it at Wal-Mart for $19.96 for 100 rounds, it's Winchester 9mm 115 gr. FMJ rounds.

 

[nelson133]

There were a lot of quality and durability problems with that .380 and that is one of the reasons they quit making it. S&W may just be happy to get one of these problem children out of the public's hands.