Sig Sauer STL-900L Tactical Light/Laser - Major Failure

[CTGunner]

For the last 8 months I have had the Sig STL-900L Tactical Light/Laser affixed to my Sig P226. The gun/light combination is for home defense and sits primarily in a quick access handgun safe inside the house.

Tonight I went to pull the gun out of the safe when I noticed that the rail on the light looked cracked and severely degraded. I pulled the light off the gun and as I did so the rail on the left side of the light actual crumbled and broke off. It was as if the plastic had been overheated (which it had not) or had been exposed to some corrosive chemical. The only chemical that it might have been exposed to was gun oil. This gun and light have not been abused at all. In fact, they have hardly been used.

Now my home defense gun has no light. I will call Sig tomorrow to see what they can do. Even if they send me a new light I will not use it. I have absolutely zero confidence in this product. I will try to get a picture of it tomorrow. If anyone is carrying this light on a full-time self defense weapon I would look into an alternative.

 

[Lonestar49]

Ouch

Tonight I went to pull the gun out of the safe when I noticed that the rail on the light looked cracked and severely degraded. I pulled the light off the gun and as I did so the rail on the left side of the light actual crumbled and broke off. It was as if the plastic had been overheated (which it had not) or had been exposed to some corrosive chemical.

...

Hmmm, hope it wasn't a case of over-tightening the clamp-screw in the middle.

Too tightly screwed on, along with, shock-value, possible minuscule twisting of the frame, while shooting the gun, could cause the left side to sheer stress and, finally, the entire left rail just let go, completely, under a too-tight-of-load.

Plastic, like aluminum, is unforgiving of too tight screw pressures, or rivets, or other type on-going load pressures, when it is compressed, pulled, or clamped, too hard and fails, rather, quickly.

Just snug tight is the rule of thumb, not twist-stop hand held screwdriver max tight.

Luck,


Ls

 

[CTGunner]

Thanks for the reply. What you are saying is possible. I tightened it but certainly didn't wrench it down. I only shot it one time with the light attached.

I called Sig. Explained what happened. Ten seconds into the conversation the customer service rep said they would just send me a new light. I don't know if that's just the way Sig operates or if they have had this problem before. In any case I respect the way they handled the situation and expect to buy many more SIG products in the future.

 

[Dr_2_B]

thanks for the info

 

[CTGunner]

A picture

 

[CTGunner]

Update

SIG Replaced the light very very promptly. I sent it back on Wednesday and had a new one on my doorstep Monday afternoon. Thank you Sig for your excellent customer service.

 

[RedAlert]

I wonder if you might have had a problem with overheating lithium battery/s? There have been several reports of fires associated with lithium batteries.

From what I could see in your photo the rest of the light doesn't look distorted, just the mount area.

Be interesting to know if Sig has problems with other lights for similar reasons.

 

[cchris]

Some of the CR123A batteries apparently have an operating range of up to 185 deg F, which, depending on the plastic that the light casing is made out of, can cause it to become brittle when it cools. Moreso if the light is tightened too tight on the rail, but I can't find out what plastic the light is made out of. Depends on what battery it was using, but constant operation at the highest operating temperature might've caused it to become brittle. It's hard to really pin it on that without knowing what the materials were.

 

[CTGunner]

The new light that Sig sent is mounted. It works well but the overall quality just isn't what I would expect from Sig. I barely tighten it down now for fear that the plastic will break again. If you want to know what kind of plastic it's made from you will probably have to have that conversation with someone in China. I highly doubt that Sig actually had much to do with the production of this light. Sig makes a great gun. They do not make a great light.

 

[9mm+]

I don't own a Sig, but I had heard that their customer service is excellent. They certainly did the right thing here.

I recently mounted a LaserLyte V.2 on my Springfield XD40 and then fired 200 rounds with it on. Everything has checked out fine, but the base is all metal and quite sturdy. I do recommend that you TIGHTEN your Sig light as much as possible without overdoing it. If it's even slightly loose, the recoil and slide action could damage the light from the vibration.

 

[Lonestar49]

Don't over-tighten your thinking.. key

...

I agree with above statement, snug is tight.. just don't fully hand tighten it using a screwdriver like tightening a screw into wood. IF in doubt, just use 2 fingers and tighten until you feel the residence getting slowed up noticeably thru the screwdriver.. it's then snug tight..

You will know, (either by noting the position of the slot ( --- ) where the slit is (when snug) and after any shooting, if it has loosened, which it will, over continuous use, and just re-tighten to known, workable tightness thru, say 100 - 200 rounds. That way, IF ever the need during HD/SD duty, it will be rock steady, accurate, IF you fall into a war zone and need that many shots, which will never occur..

Having a rail-mounted LaserMax on my Px4 40, it takes about 200 rounds for it to get to the point of being too lose and my shots are way off the mark of the red beam..

Here's my clue: --- means its snug tight, when it gets here / I know it has loosened up too much..

Very simple really,

Now:

The new light that Sig sent is mounted. It works well but the overall quality just isn't what I would expect from Sig. I barely tighten it down now for fear that the plastic will break again. If you want to know what kind of plastic it's made from you will probably have to have that conversation with someone in China. I highly doubt that Sig actually had much to do with the production of this light. Sig makes a great gun. They do not make a great light.

I'm miffed, as, with the first one, the original one, you loved it, up until either you over-tightened it or, as mentioned, a possible battery heat up, overload, melting occurred.

Give it a chance, find what snug-tightness (does) work, and for how long, either thru observation or when your shots start to be way off (laser) mark, as there is an easy method of check and balance's to keep it working at 100% all the time, anytime..

Buyer's remorse is a wicked falsehood at work, a lot, with many things.

Don't let it work its wicked magic on ya..

Enjoy,


Ls

 

[cabopc]

The same thing happen to mine about a week ago but it happened while shooting at the range when it fell off the gun. I did have it clamped on really tight but that's because every time I've ever shot with it on it's fallen off. Sig customer service was outstanding and they are promptly sending me a replacement but this was the last straw and I'm not going to use it on my 9mm anymore. It still makes a nice flashlight though and I might put it on a .22.