Slim Pickens
Member
I recently bought a used Sig 229 chambered for 357 sig. I really like the gun, but the first time I shot it I noticed it was damaging the rim on every case it fired. I shot the gun maybe 150 times with no failures of any kind. Accuracy was fair, but not really what I’d hoped for.
I saw the same type of case head damage with WWB 125gr, DoubleTap 125gr, and my 115gr reloads with different brass types. The rim is pushed forward on two sides of the fired cases, 180 degrees apart. The center of the cartridge head is OK, but the primers are slightly flattened around the edges. I first noticed the flattened primers after shooting 125 grain Winchester white box, so I loaded some cases with minimum charge 115gr reloads to see if this was a pressure problem. Light loads seem to damage the case heads just as much as DoubleTap loads, so I started suspecting excessive headspace
After inspecting the slide I noticed that the breech face is not flat, it is slightly concave with more headspace in the center than on either side. The breech face does not look like it was damaged by overpressure, and still has (original?) tool marks on it. The gun overall is in very good condition, with no visible wear on the frame or the slide. The barrel is an original Sig Sauer part with a little wear on the finish. The contact points on the barrel lugs don't show any wear.
So far I've only talked to one other owner of a 229 in 357 sig, he said that his gun also does quite a bit of damage to case rims but it had never once failed to extract. The first picture below shows my once-fired WWB cases on the right; on the left is some miscellaneous 357 sig brass that I picked up at the range for comparison. The second picture is a close-up of a once-fired WWB brass. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the slide and I don’t have it with me.
Does anyone know who sells a 357 sig no-go headspace gauge?
Has anyone else had this problem, or seen a bad breech face on one of these? I’m wondering if the gun was made like this originally or if it was damaged by an amateur gunsmith. I suppose the breech face could have been damaged at some point, and the owner may have cleaned it up with a file in order to sell it. It just seems unlikely to me that a breech face could be damaged in the course of shooting without tearing up another major part.
I saw the same type of case head damage with WWB 125gr, DoubleTap 125gr, and my 115gr reloads with different brass types. The rim is pushed forward on two sides of the fired cases, 180 degrees apart. The center of the cartridge head is OK, but the primers are slightly flattened around the edges. I first noticed the flattened primers after shooting 125 grain Winchester white box, so I loaded some cases with minimum charge 115gr reloads to see if this was a pressure problem. Light loads seem to damage the case heads just as much as DoubleTap loads, so I started suspecting excessive headspace
After inspecting the slide I noticed that the breech face is not flat, it is slightly concave with more headspace in the center than on either side. The breech face does not look like it was damaged by overpressure, and still has (original?) tool marks on it. The gun overall is in very good condition, with no visible wear on the frame or the slide. The barrel is an original Sig Sauer part with a little wear on the finish. The contact points on the barrel lugs don't show any wear.
So far I've only talked to one other owner of a 229 in 357 sig, he said that his gun also does quite a bit of damage to case rims but it had never once failed to extract. The first picture below shows my once-fired WWB cases on the right; on the left is some miscellaneous 357 sig brass that I picked up at the range for comparison. The second picture is a close-up of a once-fired WWB brass. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the slide and I don’t have it with me.
Does anyone know who sells a 357 sig no-go headspace gauge?
Has anyone else had this problem, or seen a bad breech face on one of these? I’m wondering if the gun was made like this originally or if it was damaged by an amateur gunsmith. I suppose the breech face could have been damaged at some point, and the owner may have cleaned it up with a file in order to sell it. It just seems unlikely to me that a breech face could be damaged in the course of shooting without tearing up another major part.
