My experience with the new Sig P238

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TheProf

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Here's my range report:

First day of purchase : Firing pin stop falls off... but the gunsmith at the dealer fixed it with no charge. It seems that the greasing process in the factory prevented the firing pin from setting properly in the firing pin stop. I was a little irritated for having to return to the store. (I was going to send it back to the factory.) The armorer said that Sig has notified dealers of this potential problem (hmmm...why didn't they notify the buyers!!!)

Day ONe on the range: 75 shots fired (FMJ) 100% reliable.

Day Two: 75 shots fired (FMJ) 100% reliable. My overall impression was that accuracy was great. The trigger is nice and crisp. Recoil was minimal.

Day Three: 50 Shots fired. One double feed. 2 FTF. 5 FTE. One failure to fire. Not sure what the problem was. I had switched to 95 gr. American Eagle brand. Could this be the problem? Or was it the new Colt magazine (that the dealer swore would work with this pistol)? This was a horrible experience at the range.

Day Four: Replaced the defective magazine. PMC brand works great (90 gr. FMJ). 100 shots fired. 100%. Every shot fired. Now...in two occasions, the shell did not eject on the last round (at slide lock). Any ideas on what would cause this? The failure to eject the spent shell only occurred on the last round...(and I was using the Colt magazines).

At this point...I am considering this to be a "novelty" gun... cute.. a mini 1911...but I don't have confidence in it for carrying purposes.
 
Just use the factory supplied mag as that one works Right So thats you carry mag other range mag. The mags seem to be the problem and the Colt mags seem to lock in but not a 100% reliable I would only use factory $40 mags I only shoot factory Colt mags in my Colt Mustang and Factory Walthers bannered in my PPK/S Bersa seen to require the factory mags to run carry reliable also
 
I haven't had any trouble with the 4 factory mags I've been using. American Eagle FMJ has also been flawless in mine. On the other hand, I tried about 200 rounds or Military Balistics Industries or something close to that name and had numerous FTF despite good looking strikes on the primers.

I did have some early FTF/FTE problems, but I cleaned the gun and used some of the grease Sig included and haven't had any problems in the 300 rounds since then. I want to shoot another 300 just to be sure before carrying it, though, because this is the first handgun I've had any problems with at all. I think it's just ammo and not cleaning it before 1st time use that caused the problems in my case thoughh.
 
The next time you go out, I suggest marking or otherwise keeping track of the magazines, so you can isolate the malfunctions to a particular magazine. I would be willing to bet (figuratively) that the malfunctions are occurring with the Colt magazines and not with the supplied one. I doubt very much if this gun is designed to the exact blueprints of the Colt Mustang, although it is clearly inspired by it.
 
I isolated the problem to FTF to one of the Colt magazines. One Colt mag works, the other I had to return. By the way, I could clearly see that on the problem Colt mag, the bullet would not clear the lip of the magazine. I set the Sig mag and the Colt mag side by the side and you can see the that the bullet sat at different angles.

Now my question is, after firing the last round, (on the new replaced "non-problem" Colt mag) sometimes the spent casing is still in the gun. I suspect that is not a magazine related issue. Am I wrong about this? By the way, I do clean my guns after every use at the range.
 
I have to ask and I mean no disrespect, but...Why would you use a mag that was designed for another gun in the Sig? The Sig is not a Colt Mustang or .380 GM. A Colt mag will not work properly in the Sig. But why would you think it would? Does the manual that came with your Sig suggest that you use a Colt magazine? If not why attempt to use it? I'm stumped.

You do know that because several different guns are made by different manufacturers in the same caliber it does not mean that the magazines are interchangeable. I'm not trying to give you a hard time I'm just stumped.

tipoc
 
The manager at the local gun shop told me that that is the magazine he sells to people that buy the Sig. I have actually had this experience in two different gun shops. They said that since the Sig P238 actually a copy of the Colt Mustang and that the mags would be the same.

Can anyone out there verify if this is true???
 
I com paired to my mustang and its looks almost a perfect clone the slide is more square and the colt mags work. Lots of mags will interchange in similar guns Baby browning mags work in my Bauer 25 Colt 1911 mags in a Llama 1911 but Llama won't work in a Colt and so forth.
 
Sig recommends against the Colt mags. There appear to be some very slight differences between them. They seem to work in some 238s but not in others. I stick to the sig mags. The colt mags have gone up in price anyway since many 238 owners are buying them and driving up the demand, at least at the online retailers I've checked.
 
If the mags do not work or are troublesome or erratic that let's you know something.

What does Sig say? A manual comes with the gun. They provide an 800 number.

Is the Sig a dimensional clone of the Mustang or just close? If the gun was built with the intention of allowing for interchangability of mags that that will be a selling point in the literature, articles, etc.

Internet and gun store rumor start easy and spread quickly. A gun show owner, who wants to make a sale of some old Colt Mustang mags (a gun that has not been made for close to a decade now) can easily say "Hey these will fit". If the Colt magazine fits in the gun but does not work as reliably as the mags intended for the gun that it is not the proper mag and may be unreliable when you need it most.

Does it save a person any money to use the Colt mag? Especially if it don't work?

tipoc
 
I would recommend that you clean/lube it after every use, and stick to the factory mags. I am betting that your troubles will go away.
Click to expand...

I'm confused...

You quoted him saying that he cleans his firearms after every user (range session)...

But then you say the above?!
 
I'm confused...

You quoted him saying that he cleans his firearms after every user (range session)...

But then you say the above?!
Click to expand...

Sorry guys... my dyslexia must have taken over... I read it as "DO I" instead of "I DO".


...
 
So...... what would cause a spent shell not to extract on the last round? Everything seems ok... the slide locks out on the last round...but on two occasions during my range practice the spent shell failed to extract. And this happened both times on the very last round fired.

KBintheSLC... all is forgiven.

Just for the record... I am very anal about using only clean guns. I clean after every use. I clean before use. I even clean them just for fun.

Now for the latest update... I called another dealer about ordering strictly Sig factory produced mags. They tell me that Sig has problems with their factory produced mags (P238) and is replacing the mags that the dealers have on stock. The dealer had six mags on hand, but did not want to sell them to me because he said that those mags had issues of not "locking out" the slide on the last round.

So...
1. Any ideas on my original question.
2. Has anyone heard the same thing with the factory mags?
 
I have heard there were early problems with Sig mags, but I've got 4 factory mags and none have any problems. Mine were purchased within the last couple of months. Not sure how long the shop had them before I bought them. They do sell the P238s very quickly though. The only one I've seen in stock there I bought.

Some people have said they've fixed the problem by making a very slight bend to the follower. If you search, I think there were even some pictures on here recently.
 
If you use the search function, particularly over in the semi-auto section of the forum, you'll find a number of discussions of the P238. Some of them may help.

tipoc
 
I've been selling the Colt Mustang mags since early Fall with not one complaint or return(Knock on wood). My understanding from Sig engineering is that the P238 was so close to the mustang that Sig had to purchase the patent rights from Colt to produce the gun. While SOME parts would interchange, not all of them will. It was recommended by Sig to me that if a mag extension was wanted, " the Colt would work just fine". Personnally, I find the pistol a little too small for me even with the pinky extension. I'm not a SAO fan anyway. Just my two cents.
 
FWIW:

I'm 67.. Been a firearms owner for over half a century..

I'm hardheaded, opinionated, and never let facts or logic impact my thinking..

But.

I did learn, a long, long time ago, that if you can afford to buy a certain pistol, for heavens sake use factory mags.. If you think factory mags are too pricey then don't buy the darn gun until you can afford to buy all the factory mags you think you need for it.

The ONLY time I would deviate from this convoluted thinking is when MecGar mags are available for whatever gun you need a mag for. In my experience MecGar's are equal to factory mags, and in fact often are the mags that come in the darn pistol from the factory.

I've had KelTec's with factory mags that came from MecGar, and Walther's that had the same. MecGars are good stuff.

But even with my respect for MecGar mags I'd STILL prefer a factory mag every time.

Just personal opinion, no offense if you disagree.. Even if you're right.

Best Wishes,

Jesse
 
+1 on the above. Provides a margin for error, seems to me.

tipoc
 
I have a 238 and love it. Many say the Colt mags will fit, but I found they cost just as much and some say they don't fit due to the shape of the follower.
I bought two additional magazines at Top Gun Supply and they are identical to the stock mag. (Rounded follower, not ski slope follower) They were $34.95 each.
All three magazines worked flawlessly. I could load six, and use the slide stop or rack the slide. I could top off, meaning rack one into the chamber, then add a round back in the magazine. All worked 100%. I did find if I topped off, the magazine needed a firm push the last 1/8" for it to click in. It feels like the top round is contacting something in the gun, but it fires fine.

All in all, I'm very happy with the Sig 238. I won't be buying any Colt mags.
 
Sorry guys... my dyslexia must have taken over... I read it as "DO I" instead of "I DO".
Click to expand...

Actually my fault...

Due to lack of coffee.


For I should have figured that out.
 
Just to be fair to Sig company...here's an update:

The problem was a faulty mag. (Colt magazine). My local dealer replaced them with another set of Colt mags...and works just fine.

The lesson: Colt mags work on the Sig P238...but you need to make sure on case by case basis. There is a slight difference between the Colt mags and the Sig mags...and on case by case basis, if that difference is big enough, the Colt mag would not work.

The gun itself...using proper mags (which I plan on exclusively doing, as soon as Sig mags are not on "back order" status) works great. Super accurate. Nice crisp trigger.
I'm pleased.
 
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