[jdschwass]

Hey all,
I am new to this forum, and new to Sig's in fact. I bought my first handgun about a month ago, Sig P226 in 40 S&W.... figured if I am going to buy a pistol, might as well buy exactly what I want the first time!
I also picked up the .22 slide for it for range time.
Overall, I am very happy with it, however i have been having issues since new with light primer strikes with the .22. Currently I have about 1000 rounds of .22 and 200 rounds of 40 through it. The 40 is flawless, 0 issues.
The .22 has had about 5 stovepipes (so what) and about 1 in 12 rounds will be a light primer strike.
The ejected round will be dented, but only lightly. If I pull the trigger again in double action mode or recock, then it will go off 100% of the time. I have played around with ammo and see no change.
Since the 40 works perfectly, Im sure the mainspring and other parts are fine, and the issue seems to be slide related. I really hoped the issue would go away with use and breaking in.
I have soaked the entire slide in white fuel and sprayed out with brake cleaner hoping it would flush some grease or dirt out of the firing pin, but it made no difference. This has been happening since brand new.

I have considered lightening up on the firing pin spring, perhaps firing pin is too short? Not pointy enough? Im not really sure. I dont want to change anything until I know more. Frankly I bought a sig so i wouldnt have to deal with this kind of thing. Everything is stock, no swapped springs etc.
I have heard some people having similar issues, but I have also fired other people's sigs with no issues at all.
Please, if anyone can provide insight or a solution I would be very open to recommendations.
So far I have just narrowed it down to the slide/top end. Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers.

 

[Jre32]

Why don't you call Sig Customer Service and discuss it with them. I suspect they will make it right. I have the p226 Extreme 9mm that I purchased new almost a year ago. No issues at all with it. I also have the Sig p226-22 conversion kit. I suspect I have put about 400-500'rounds of 22 through the gun using the 22 conversion slide. I have used about seven different types of 22 ammo. Some certainly perform better than others - CCI mini mags work 100% every time. I have NEVER seen a light primer strike with any of the 22 ammo that I've tried. The issue with 22 ammo is usually a failure to cycle and eject with lower powered ammo. Check out your problem with Sig - they will most likely have you return the 22 conversion kit(slide) to tHem for their evaluation. If your p226-22 does not work well with CCI mini mags then the problem is the conversion kit.

 

[jtallen83]

had similar issues with mine. Good malfunction training but I ended up trading it off towards a new MK25 , got what I paid so no complaints. If you are set on using it then give Sig a call and have them make it right.

 

[Border Dave]

So what was the cause of the light primer strikes? I have a .22 conversion for my P226 and it seems to be doing the same thing.

 

[bdCanuck]

light strikes with 22 caliber conversion on P229

Hi folks, any updates on these posts? Specifically, what fixed the problem?
I am interested since my several year old P229 22 caliber conversion slide has exact same issue with light strikes, however, the 9mm slide has never had any issue.
I figured I would replace the 22's slide firing pin and spring (but of course, the few people that sell the spring don't have in stock-and worse-Sig doesn't sell on site..) A few other sites say they have spring, but it is the "standard" spring for center fire calibers, so I rather not chance..thanks!

 

[Willard]

Hi folks, any updates on these posts? Specifically, what fixed the problem?
I am interested since my several year old P229 22 caliber conversion slide has exact same issue with light strikes, however, the 9mm slide has never had any issue.
I figured I would replace the 22's slide firing pin and spring (but of course, the few people that sell the spring don't have in stock-and worse-Sig doesn't sell on site..) A few other sites say they have spring, but it is the "standard" spring for center fire calibers, so I rather not chance..thanks!

Unfortunately, sometimes the "remedy" is never posted. Rimfires can be very persnickety about the brands they will function with. Sometimes, if possible, pictures of the strikes on the "dud" rounds can be telling. In some cases of rimfire problems, a simple "narrowing" of the striking surface, can produce better results, as the force of the hammer, is submitted to a "narrower" portion of the primer.

This is a good article, to possibly help diagnose your cases, and possible solutions. How to Prevent Rimfire Misfires - Shooting Times

 

[bumper]

Here's what I found on my P229 22 conversion slide:

The slide was not going fully forward into battery, but almost so. When the hammer fell, it was enough to move the slide forward that last little bit, but that sucked up the energy needed to drive the firing pin. The second trigger pull would fire reliably.

I found that if I manually pushed forward on the back of the slide with my thumb, the slide would move forward a tiny bit and no light primer strikes.

There were two contributing problems. A tight spot in the slide to frame fit - found by putting slide alone (no barrel or recoil spring) on frame.

Also the extractor was not fitting properly in its recess in the barrel - this was the primary problem.

 

[bearone2]

welcome from az

 

[jhnlrs]

I have a 226R, 229R, and 250R with x-change kits for all. (22LR, 9MM, 40, AND 357SIG). Even with all the lightening done to the 22 slides, (aluminum, hollow guide right, light recoil spring) It is still a large mass for a small round to cycle. I shoot nothing but CCI mini-mags thru my guns when set up for 22LR and during every range session there are still enough mis-feeds to say it is "common". None of my guns have EVER had a mis-feed firing any other caliber that wasn't operator caused. i.e. ME. I just use the mis-feeds as training and try to get back on target as quickly as possible (tap, rack, bang). If I ever do have an issue with any other caliber, I'm sure it will be at the most inopportune time, during an SD situation, and reflex will help me clear the jam without having to think about it. A former SEAL we train with several times a year uses Ruger SR22's for all beginners...wait for it...BECAUSE they mis-feed regularly and they get to practice RTB.

 

[KenBry]

Hi folks, any updates on these posts? Specifically, what fixed the problem?
I am interested since my several year old P229 22 caliber conversion slide has exact same issue with light strikes, however, the 9mm slide has never had any issue.
I figured I would replace the 22's slide firing pin and spring (but of course, the few people that sell the spring don't have in stock-and worse-Sig doesn't sell on site..) A few other sites say they have spring, but it is the "standard" spring for center fire calibers, so I rather not chance..thanks!

I have 2 22LR kits on my sigs a 229 and a 226. To get it to cycle smooth I had to exercise the heck out of the slides to smooth them out.
I manually cycled each slide about 200-300 times. Do this till they are smooth and return to battery with a snap. Do this DRY... no oil. It wears things in. Also use only a very light oil when lubing them. The springs in them are very light compared to bigger calibers. So normal grease and heavy gun oils tend to add just enough resistance to cause problems.

Also as suggested it helps to shoot top tier 22 ammo. But with my method I have been able to shoot anything without trouble.

 

[bdCanuck]

thanks for the input, folks, I've checked for slide drag/gunk and those issues seem ok.
several comments back:
First, I strongly concur with JHNLRS on both RTB drill and ammo. My Sig P229 22 cal slide is a pressure hog, as anything under 1400 FPS tends to keep you guessing on stovepipes and RTB drills, with the lower the pressure equating to the higher likelihood of stovepipes....
So, my ammo of choice when I can get it is the CCI Stinger & Velocitor. The sintered copper (CCI copper 22), even though I love its 1850 FPS snappy action, doesn't feed consistently in the P229 due to its odd shaped nose.

Secondly, I have a question for Bumper, as to where the post indicated an "extractor was not fitting properly in its recess in the barrel". Besides the obvious of visually seating and free movement, is there anything to look for specifically?
I've done visual inspection of mine and looks ok, and reasonably ensured no grit/contaminants in recess (between cleaners and high pressure air), but still getting light strikes regardless of ammo brand. I have new firing pin parts and pins coming to remove (I try to never reuse roll pins as history over years shows that is not optimal) so will look at that closely when removing totally...
Thanks all for the input, and as I told a fellow coworker at the range today with its high humidity and 92 degree heat-any safe day at the range is a good day and better than being anywhere else (with the obvious exception....)

 

[JohnGr]

I have a 22LR kit for my M11A1 (P229). I use CCI 40 gr miniMag. Initially it worked fine if I heavily oiled it. Last year, I have been getting light primer strikes, more lately. Had 16 out of 100 that didn't fire on first hit, but OK on second. Sent it to Sig. Got it back last week with note that the mainspring (hammer spring) was a light spring and they replaced it with a "standard" spring. I bought the M11A1 new and never changed that spring. The note indicated that the spring was changed as part of the Action Enhancement Package (AEP) that Sig did a year ago. The AEP description has no mention of spring changes, and they never sent back the original spring. It would have been nice if Sig had told me of the spring change. Plan to test it this week.