“The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department talked with the manufacturer and decided to replace 300 guns that were less than a year old,” kcra.com reports. “The type of gun in question is the Sig Sauer 226, a .40-caliber handgun. The problem is a tiny pin that anchors a spring in place that helps reload the gun. Twice in recent weeks on the department’s range, the pin failed and the guns wouldn’t reload. Officials don’t think all of the 300 guns they recently bought have a malfunctioning pin, but after talking with the gun maker, the department didn’t want to take any chances.'” SIG says the cause of the problem is/was/might be . . .
What we have been told by Sig Sauer today is that (the pins) may have been replaced with the wrong pin or part,’ [Sheriff’s spokesman Les] Garcia said.
The manufacturer is flying in a company representative to fix all the guns, Garcia added.
But to switch out 300 guns, the sheriff’s office had to call on the police departments from half a dozen other cities to cover its emergency calls on Thursday, while most of the officers made that switch.
The mutual-aid call lasted about three hours.
UPDATE: SIG SAUER tells TTAG they’ve sent someone to San Joaquin replace the pin as a preventative measure. “The existing pin does not affect function and only presents any issue when gun is broken down on an armorers level.”
It’s a question of a tapered vs non-tapered pin, apparently. In any case, SIG has not issued a recall. “We are assessing the situation and, if required, we will take any necessary action.”
RF, I don’t buy their explanation. If the pin falls out while the user is operating the pistol, it quits working.
What happened to the earlier comments!?! Unless I’m hallucinating LOL
I think when RF posted the Sig update, it became a new post and the old comments went away with the old post.
USCG is having lots of issues with .40 Sigs as well.
They own a lot of SIGs.
What sort of problems were they having?
Slides cracking/shearing off by the guide rod.
Wow, that’s crazy. I thought maybe they were using the SP2022, but the 229? My 229 .40 is built like a tank, wtf is SIG up to these days?
Well. I guess I’ll repost.
Cue the Glock fans in 3. 2. 1.
I prefer Glock pragmatist. But that’s ok. I won’t hurt the feelings of Sig fans who pay a premium for reliability less than Glock.
More .40 related issues. 10mm FBI gives same performance, usually in a heavier gun, so less recoil, and lower pressure is more polite to those around you.
No, this little pin performs no other function than to trap one end of the sear spring to provide spring tension for the sear. It doesn’t really directly absorb pressure from the round.
…and here I thought maybe it was my ‘See, that why God uses Glock as his EDC!’ comment that forced a full thread-wipe.
…or the funny follow up about lightning bolts in 40 watt range.
Well sooner or later all gun makers are going to have an issue that crops up. Sounds like it was the armors more than the gun itself. Either way Sig Saur was on the ball.
No, it is not an armorer issue. The sear spring pin is inserted into a hole inside the frame on the left side forward of the sear at the factory with a significant amount of force. It is meant to be permanently attached and should not fall out during operation. This is a manufacturing issue. I do not believe sig even recommends replacement of this pin at any interval of use. If they do, the pistol would have to be returned to sig to be done or a sig technician would have to perform this on site. It would not be done by an agency armorer.
Shows SiG makes major mistakes too. Should replace them with a better Glock or Beretta, anyway.
When actually and exhaustively tested by the military the P226 and 92F were so close in performance that the only thing that made the difference was a few dollars per unit lower cost on the 92F. The Glock did not make the tests, I’m sure it would have done well and I am equally sure the Army would have found some reason to reject a polymer-frame pistol in 1985.
Old-school Sigs are just fine, as are Berettas and Glocks. We should count ourselves fortunate to live in a time when so many good options are available, it’s a unique time in history when you can walk to the gun counter, put down $550 and say, “Give me whatever in a full-size semi-auto” and you have a hard time walking out with a malfunctioning, inaccurate or unreliable pistol out of the box.
Unless you buy a Remington 51, of course.
No thanks. I’ll keep my Sig P229 Elite .40
The gun fails to reload, or fails to chamber a subsequent cartridge?
I only have one sig and that’s enough for me, there are better pistols that I care about.
“What we have been told by Sig Sauer today is that (the pins) may have been replaced with the wrong pin or part” In Police work that’s what we call a clue that the way Sig pushes frequent inspection and parts replacement in their Armorer training shtick might be a contributing factor. The marketing and parts peddling motives of Sig encourages Armorers to completely break down and disassemble pistols more often than they need to be and replace parts that shouldn’t be. Most large Departments wise up after the new wears off the Armorer course and it sets in that unnecessary and frequent complete disassembly usually leads to more malfunctions not less. The Sig P226 is a proven solid workhouse that requires only a basic annual routine inspection, not annual or semi-annual tear downs and overhauls by Armorers in their zeal to replace parts that Sig loves to sell.
Sig recommends an annual grips off inspection and every three years a complete disassembly, cleaning, inspection, and frame re-lube by a certified armorer.
Having seen the same problem with a brand new P226 with less than 300 rounds run through it, I can say the failure mode is a major issue…the slide freezes and the gun won’t fire. I’ve seen a new P229 do the same thing…new gun with only 500 or so rounds run through it. There is a problem that is bigger than just San Joaquin County.
+1
My m&p has been used for 7 years never tore down other then adding apex kit, has been shot 5-6000 times with zero problems
I wonder why the tear down so often
Had a glock once and never had issue
This would have been an excellent opportunity for an LEO vote on citizen carry. Why have a “mutual aid” call, or whatever, just check for officers who don’t think citizens should be armed, and send them on out with empty holsters! Wouldn’t that be fun to see?
sigs were the best option when agencys were switching from revolvers to semi automatics in the mid 80’s,but now days there is the glock gen4 and smith m&p’s that have fewer parts to mess with.
They weren’t the best then either. Pinned-in breech block was a serious weak point for durability. The SS slide is more durable, but now the component quality is crap.
my new (bought april2014) p226 in 9mm had this failure while at the range. DEAD mans gun. pin lodged itself in the magwell so tight the mag could not be removed or seated. tools were required to remove the lodged pin and magazine. sent to sig for sear spring replacement and obviously a new sear pin