could use some thoughts on FTFire in sig p228

[silverlance]

2000rnds never a hiccup until yesterday - two ftfires in a box of fifty, fiocchi 115gr. (this is plinking ammo, and I'm pretty sure that fiocchi is not likely to blame).

recovered both undetonated rounds, both a firing pin indents, both indents were black from soot, etc.

gun had been cleaned only very recently.

my guess is that i had used breakfree clp to clean the bolt, and in the process had deviated from the norm process and decided to squirt some into the bolt to clean the ejector. the clp may have accumulated and caused a light strike, or a strike not quite deep enough.

do you guys agree with my analysis?

---

if so, i'm thinking of soaking all my p228 parts, with the exception of the grips, in a bucket of hoppes #9 for about half an hour or so, then dry off, and using breakfree powder blast to shoot clean the bolt's insides (i'm not educated in how to dissassemble the gun past field stripping) - then followed by regular cleaning and lubing with clp (but not squirting it into the bolt again).

what do y'all think of my remedial plan?

 

[Pilot]

So your saying you had light primer strikes?

 

[silverlance]

yup

looked like it.
dirty black light primer strikes.

i guess the only way to know for sure would hve been to rechamber the round and smack it up again..

but i wasn't ready to risk my fingers.

 

[PO2Hammer]

I take it you mean slide, not bolt.
The firing pin channel could be cleaned by using gunscrubber and work the firing pin back and forth by pressing the FP safety plunger on the underside of the slide.
I lube my extractor (the ejector is the fixed blade on the frame) by lightly painting grease on it while swinging it out with a small screwdriver.
A buket of Hoppe's might be kinda spendy. There are products made for soaking, look at Midways cleaning products. Nito solvent followed by Gunscrubber should clear up the problem.
If a round fails to fire you can just re-strike with the double action trigger, a nice feature on Sig's.

 

[Navy87Guy]

my guess is that i had used breakfree clp to clean the bolt, and in the process had deviated from the norm process and decided to squirt some into the bolt to clean the ejector. the clp may have accumulated and caused a light strike, or a strike not quite deep enough.

do you guys agree with my analysis?

That depends...were both FTF rounds at the beginning of your session? If it was something accumulated in the firing pin channel, then it would seem logical that it would effect the early rounds but work itself out the more you fired. Otherwise, I'd expect it to cause lots of light strikes.

Did they occur in a double-action or single-action mode? Were the primer strikes visibly lighter than the other rounds you fired?

Have you done anything to the hammer spring - like lightened it up? I'm not familiar with Fiocchi ammo -- does it have hard primers?

I'm just not sure I buy the CLP in the firing pin channel as a likely culprit.

Jim

 

[orangeninja]

Honestly, I think you have some bad ammo. But if you don't believe that to be the case, you either need to detail strip and clean the gun or take it to a smith to have it done. All guns need a detail cleaning every once in a while...the firing pin channel could be gunked up.

 

[ny32182]

I also don't understand why you would rule out the ammo... it is likely the problem.

If it isn't, if I were you, I'd have the slide (there is no bolt in a SIG, not even sure what you are referring to there) detail stripped and cleaned. Lube in firing pin channel is notorious for gunking up and causing light primer strikes. You should avoid getting lube into the firing pin channel.

Also replace your mainspring. It is under the backstrap of the grip panels, and drives the hammer.

Doing both those things should rule out any problem with the pistol as long as it was reliable before.