Mysterious failure to feed with SIG522

[Odd Job]

Enjoy!
The ammunition totals per day/per mag will auto add but you have to manually update the ammunition totals per brand up top. I do this as a check, because the two totals should match afterwards.

 

[JRWhit]

Hmmm. Far be it for me to let facts get in the way of a good theory, but your above post does suggest something funky is going on with the extractor. Let me completely reverse what I said above and suggest that maybe there is now borderline too much extractor tension (due to dirt on the spring or detent) that is occasionally preventing the round from being able to fully slide up along the bolt face.

This would cause sporadic failures to feed--in those situations the round is being pushed forward from the magazine before it is aligned with the chamber. But, it would allow very positive extraction for rounds that do make it into the chamber.

I think he's on to something. The round held by the extractor is so tight it's angled. I looks to be a slight gap under the rim opposite the extractor. It is angling it in the direction that it is hanging up. I believe the extractor is worn and holding with too much tension. Possibly wore the pin hole in the extractor letting it ride further in the breach face.

 

[Odd Job]

So far the rifle seems okay, and the extractor hasn't been changed (not unless Garlands did it on the sly).
Might be interesting to see if Chris has the same features on his bolt/extractor...

 

[wally]

If I push up on the base of the mag and operate the rifle then all rounds and all brands chamber and fire fine, with little or no damage to the lead bullets, and no lead shavings deposited around the chamber entrance.

Chris101,

While dry cycling rarely tells you anything worth the risk of chambering rounds you never intend to fire, if up ward pressure on the bottom of the magazine cures it, to me it means the mag is sitting a bit too low in the gun. Look for wear in the area of the mag catch notch on the magazine, or try replacing the magazine catch itself.

 

[chris1001]

Hi,

Mag catch seems nice and tight, the mag catch recess in the mag is nice and square, its new so no wear. I drove all over the place today to collect a variety of ammo that other people have had good results with.

Made sure the rifle was clean, no grease, no excessive oil, bore dry.

First 25 round mag was CCI mini-mags. 10 rounds fired, then I had my first failure to fully chamber (I was gutted!), bolt needed a forward assist. The rest of the mag emptied fine. At this point I'm getting worried that the rifle just isn't right.

Tried another mag, this time it stopped on round 16.

Swapped ammo, tried some Winchester T22's as I've heard good things about these in the Sig. First stoppage after 5 rounds, then another 3 before the mag was empty.

Went back to the CCI, this time 2 stoppages, round 22 and 24.

At this point I gave up, I'm wasting ammo.

Now I'm not happy at all. Only had the rifle just over 3 weeks, most of that time I've been waiting to find some ammo it'll digest. So its going back to the shop tomorrow. Refund or replacement. I bought the Sig as everyone I know that owns one tells me it'll accept almost any ammo, and can do several hundred rounds when dirty before stoppages occur.

Will keep you updated!

 

[Odd Job]

Agree, as it is only 3 weeks old I would not try to trouble-shoot it further. As a matter of curiosity, is it possible you took pictures of the failures? I would like to see where the round hangs up exactly.

Also, before you take the rifle back, strip it down and clean it and take as many detailed photos of the components as you can, particularly the bolt. You need to watch out for them giving you a different receiver with that same bolt (I don't trust them one bit, as you may well gather).

 

[chris1001]

I don't have any pics of the stoppages, but in nearly every occurrence the round was only seated about halfway into the chamber, the remainder didn't actually make it into the chamber, but were central, unlike yours which were offset.

Had a chat with someone today who was involved in the initial import into the UK of the SIG522 rifles, he is very much aware of a problem with recent imports that have defective lower receivers, too much lateral play. I managed to convince a club member to let me try his older (2010?) lower, and guess what - no lateral play, feeds 100%.

As such its gone back to the shop. I'm requesting a refund or credit note to put towards something that works as intended.

Out of interest how old is your rifle?

 

[Odd Job]

I bought mine in February 2011, the serial number is XA0179**

 

[Red Eye Fred]

Failure to feed

I had a similar FTF problem and finally found that the slide lock that should only be activated when an empty mag is present. Was partially activated and delaying the return of the slide causing the round to miss feed in the same way that was illustrated. (A different brand of gun)