Hello all.. I am an avid gun dude like many of you and recently got back in the game.
I just bought a p229 and figured sweet... this is good to go. I have a number of AGI (American Gunsmithing Institute) videos and they have a number of vids for specific models of gun. I watched the p229 vid and he made very specific mention of the braided spring used in SIGs.
It was interesting because when I bought my first AK years before... it had braided springs and the AK is renowned for reliability. I also felt good about this AGI gunsmith because he really seems to understand design and in his S&W M&P videos... he called out an issue with feeding that indeed was fixed by S&W in later iterations of the magazine. In the SIG series video (this is all before SIG polymer handguns)... he called out the braided spring as a unique part of the design. He said many handguns expect the slide to impact the frame... and in the West... decent quality springs were available. Russia however did not have quality spring stock... so used the braided design. It also has other properties... such as if a single wire in the braid broke... at least in an AK the hammer will still be able to fire rounds.
So.. in the video he said that the SIG was designed so that the spring actually bottoms out... I think he said the coil binds... and this is by design. The spring will absorb the recoil in a way that the slide does not impact the frame.
So... fast-foward to 2020. SIG closes the German factory... which apparently was the source of the braided springs in the world. SIG USA... from various forum posts I have seen... had trouble sourcing these in the US. And a number of braided springs went out that some people in a particular forum (not here) said would fail after 50-200 rounds. I am not sure of the confidence I should have in this... but I decided to put 17 pound single-wire springs from Wolff into my p229 for my first range outing.
So... to the point... I noticed this thread today:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/sig-p229-enhanced-elite-9mm-recoil-spring.622302/
There is a guy named "Bruce" who I imagine runs a range or something. Sounded perhaps a bit more authoritative than this other thread I saw around. Now... in 2022... there is no such thing as a braided spring from SIG... unless it is from what seems to have been a crappy run of springs after the German plant shut down.
Anyone know nowadays what the verdict is? Nowadays the polymer SIGs seem to be the thing. In reddit the sigsauer forum is pretty much exclusively pics of 320s and 365s. But... the p226 line of pistols have a huge place in handgun history. After the 1911... Sig vs. Beretta was a huge thing... and Glock became a thing then too (the 80s). Seems a real shame if the p226/229 are abandoned (assuming round/flat springs are not totally equivalent).
Interestingly... the p320 spring has both a flat spring and a braided spring:
https://www.sigsauer.com/p320-recoil-spring-assembly.html
Somehow they cant source braided for p229 series... but they can for one of the more popular handguns they offer.
Edit: In SIG USA's defence... the 9mm p226 spring is available as braided:
https://www.sigsauer.com/recoil-spring-set-p226-9mm.html
I also noticed there are versions of springs for p320s that have two round springs. Not sure on what the current status is.. but in 2020 people weren't happy about the p229 springs becoming solid wire and no longer having availability of braided. And it seems to be the case now in 2022 as well.
I just bought a p229 and figured sweet... this is good to go. I have a number of AGI (American Gunsmithing Institute) videos and they have a number of vids for specific models of gun. I watched the p229 vid and he made very specific mention of the braided spring used in SIGs.
It was interesting because when I bought my first AK years before... it had braided springs and the AK is renowned for reliability. I also felt good about this AGI gunsmith because he really seems to understand design and in his S&W M&P videos... he called out an issue with feeding that indeed was fixed by S&W in later iterations of the magazine. In the SIG series video (this is all before SIG polymer handguns)... he called out the braided spring as a unique part of the design. He said many handguns expect the slide to impact the frame... and in the West... decent quality springs were available. Russia however did not have quality spring stock... so used the braided design. It also has other properties... such as if a single wire in the braid broke... at least in an AK the hammer will still be able to fire rounds.
So.. in the video he said that the SIG was designed so that the spring actually bottoms out... I think he said the coil binds... and this is by design. The spring will absorb the recoil in a way that the slide does not impact the frame.
So... fast-foward to 2020. SIG closes the German factory... which apparently was the source of the braided springs in the world. SIG USA... from various forum posts I have seen... had trouble sourcing these in the US. And a number of braided springs went out that some people in a particular forum (not here) said would fail after 50-200 rounds. I am not sure of the confidence I should have in this... but I decided to put 17 pound single-wire springs from Wolff into my p229 for my first range outing.
So... to the point... I noticed this thread today:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/sig-p229-enhanced-elite-9mm-recoil-spring.622302/
There is a guy named "Bruce" who I imagine runs a range or something. Sounded perhaps a bit more authoritative than this other thread I saw around. Now... in 2022... there is no such thing as a braided spring from SIG... unless it is from what seems to have been a crappy run of springs after the German plant shut down.
Anyone know nowadays what the verdict is? Nowadays the polymer SIGs seem to be the thing. In reddit the sigsauer forum is pretty much exclusively pics of 320s and 365s. But... the p226 line of pistols have a huge place in handgun history. After the 1911... Sig vs. Beretta was a huge thing... and Glock became a thing then too (the 80s). Seems a real shame if the p226/229 are abandoned (assuming round/flat springs are not totally equivalent).
Interestingly... the p320 spring has both a flat spring and a braided spring:
https://www.sigsauer.com/p320-recoil-spring-assembly.html
Somehow they cant source braided for p229 series... but they can for one of the more popular handguns they offer.
Edit: In SIG USA's defence... the 9mm p226 spring is available as braided:
https://www.sigsauer.com/recoil-spring-set-p226-9mm.html
I also noticed there are versions of springs for p320s that have two round springs. Not sure on what the current status is.. but in 2020 people weren't happy about the p229 springs becoming solid wire and no longer having availability of braided. And it seems to be the case now in 2022 as well.
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