SIG P238 Review

[photoman12001]

I've had the P238 for a while now. I've carried it a lot and fired several hundred rounds through it. In short, it's the best all around pistol that I've found for concealed carry. You can view photos and the full review at my website, http://digitalperspective.org/SIGSauerP238.aspx.

I highly recommend the P238 if you need a highly concealable gun but don't want to sacrifice accuracy. Of course, as with any gun, your mileage may vary.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

How does it handle in rapid fire? Can you wipe off the safety easily without shifting or losing your grip? I looked at one casually in a gun show, but it is hard to get a feel for it when it is tethered to the table.

 

[G27RR]

IMO, the safety is very easy to disengage from a firing grip. It is harder to engage it from the same grip for me, though.

For a small gun, it's very good in rapid fire - controllable and with good shot placement. I also find it to be very accurate in slower aimed fire within self defense ranges. I haven't really tried going out too much further than that though.

The sights are the best I've seen and/or used in person on a pocket sized gun. I do kind of wish I'd gotten the night sights on mine though.
If you get one, I recommend a good cleaning and lube with the included grease before use. I had some minor problems with mine until I did so, but it's been great since then.

 

[photoman12001]

Recoil is light so rapid fire it very manageable. The sights really are outstanding for this class of pistol (pocket-sized). Mine are tritium. I agree about the safety. It's very easy and natural to disengage, in a good way. It's not going to get flipped off by accident very easily. It is difficult to flip on with a shooting grip sweeping up the thumb, but that's not really important. You can take all the time you need engaging the safety.

G27RR: Thanks for reminding me of the initial cleaning. SIG saturates their pistols in oil so I did clean mine well before shooting. Also, mine would not feed a round when I racked the slide out of the box. The round would just nose dive into the feedramp. I just polished the ramp for a few seconds with my Dremel and a felt polishing wheel. Now the ramp is slick as glass and never misfeeds.

 

[Tommygunn]

Thanks for the post. Aside from the infor I obtained great info on where to get a good holster -- which is good -- 'cause about two weeks ago I bought a P238!!!
I don't know why the reviewer had a problem getting a mag loaded with 6 rnds. in his gun because my P238 has not evidenced this strange problem.

Wish I knew about the Colt mustang mags working at a cheaper price than the Sigs -- because I ordered 2 more from Sig a few days ago. But hey ....so what; live & learn.

 

[photoman12001]

Thanks for the post. Aside from the infor I obtained great info on where to get a good holster -- which is good -- 'cause about two weeks ago I bought a P238!!!
I don't know why the reviewer had a problem getting a mag loaded with 6 rnds. in his gun because my P238 has not evidenced this strange problem.

Wish I knew about the Colt mustang mags working at a cheaper price than the Sigs -- because I ordered 2 more from Sig a few days ago. But hey ....so what; live & learn.

I don't know what the issue was with loading 6 rounds. I could load 6 in the magazine but could not pull the slide back fully to chamber a round. I read online of others having similar issues and SIG swapping magazines to fix the issue. I don't know what they did to mine but they sent the same magazine back with the pistol and it works fine now. The Colts also work now and they didn't before I sent the pistol in.

Those Colt mags are definitely where it's at for this gun. I highly recommend them.

 

[KBintheSLC]

This is the first gun that has really grabbed my attention in a while. I'm not really a "1911 guy", but I may have to make an exception for one of these.

 

[Guns and more]

IMO, the safety is very easy to disengage from a firing grip. It is harder to engage it from the same grip for me, though.

For a small gun, it's very good in rapid fire - controllable and with good shot placement. I also find it to be very accurate in slower aimed fire within self defense ranges. I haven't really tried going out too much further than that though.

The sights are the best I've seen and/or used in person on a pocket sized gun. I do kind of wish I'd gotten the night sights on mine though.

He's exactly right. The safety is in a natural location for your right thumb to snap off. (It's very positive.) Flipping it on is more difficult because it's not a natural motion for your thumb. (Lifting)
Recoil is minimal, it's actually fun to shoot. The slide is easy to rack.
I have the night sights and they are bright (otherwise mine is just like the photos.)
The Nitron finish on mine is perfect.
I'll use a IWB holster. I got the "City Slicker" from R. Grizzle, and it's a nice fit.
Make sure your magazines are the rounded type follower, not the "ski slope" shape.
I got two more from Top Gun Supply and they are identical to the stocker.
I have loaded 6 rounds, loaded from the slide stop and racking, and had no failures.
I even topped off, putting one in the chamber, then adding to the magazine, and it worked fine.
I did notice that if you top off, the magazine needs a firm shove the last 1/8" to lock in.


In addition, I ordered a tuckable holster from Bullard, and although the workmanship is good, I couldn't get the gun to draw.
My belt is tight, and the whole rig tries to turn upside down before letting go. That's why I got the City Slicker that has two clips.
I did order another from Bullard though, the Bodyguard. OWB. I ordered mine lined so it has smooth leather inside and out. Very nice.
I'll use it around the house and if I have a covering garment like a sweater.
I also got a Desantis Nemisis for pocket carry. It's the one for the Sig 232 and others. It does not cover the safety so I haven't used it.
I'm still looking for the perfect pocket holster.

 

[IdahoLT1]

Didnt SIG release a recall in July because of the safety on these guns?

 

[Guns and more]

Didnt SIG release a recall in July because of the safety on these guns?

Yes, old news.
Mine was made in August and it has the new more positive safety. I can't imagine it accidentally flipping off.
Any Sig 238 will be a post recall if you buy it new.

 

[sidheshooter]

I'm still looking for the perfect pocket holster.

Say no more: This guy is both a fellow THR member, and a craftsman; I can personally vouch for his pocket rig, FWIW.

Scroll down, and become a believer:

http://www.rkbaholsters.com/

 

[Guns and more]

I'm still looking for the perfect pocket holster.

Say no more: This guy is both a fellow THR member, and a craftsman; I can personally vouch for his pocket rig, FWIW.

Scroll down, and become a believer:

http://www.rkbaholsters.com/

It doesn't cover the safety.

 

[srv656s]

Looks like it covers the safety more than other holsters I've seen. I ordered one, hopefully I like it!

 

[M2 Carbine]

Nothing but trouble with mine.

Funny thing was it didn't go to pot until after 300 rounds.

It's been back to SIG once and jammed on the second round when I got it back.
It's on the 4th recoil spring.
It jams extracting/ejecting about every other magazine. This is a very common problem that I didn't find about until after buying the gun.

Two days ago I ran another 60 rounds through it before calling SIG again. That makes almost 500 rounds through the gun.

I have the Kel Tec .32, P3AT, MicroDesert Eagle, Diamondback and two Ruger LCP's, so I am not new to these small .380 pocket pistols.
Seldom do I say absoutely do not buy a particular gun, but at least do a bit of research before buying this high price SIG P238.

 

[walshdavid66]

Bought Sig P238 Yesterday 11-8-2010

I read a lot of reviews regarding the Sig P238 before I decided to purchase one. The opinions of this little pocket pistol were either very very good or very very bad, so I was a little concerned. After taking the pistol home and shooting it out back in the creek, I am VERY pleased with my purchase. Given I've only burned 1 box of ammo, but the pistol operated flawlessly. No jams and it locked back after the last shot every time. It is also quite accurate. Half my shots were inside the 9 ring at 21 feet. If I were a better shooter all shots would've been inside the 9 ring. The pistol is also quite easy to take apart, clean and reassemble for those familiar with the 1911 style. I will repost after I've burned more ammo, but at this point I would highly recommend the Sig P238.

 

[1911s]

i felt the same way, I bought one and love it. It has never hung up. I have put at least 600 rounds through it. I'm surprised due to it reputation. I did get some VZ grips, they are awesome. Really grippy. Then I made a holster for it.

 

[harmon rabb]

They seem to be hit and miss. A colleague has one and it's been 100% through about 1,000 rounds. So much nicer to fire than my LCP that it's not even funny. Trigger is good, sights are actually visible, and recoil is handled nicely.

 

[RLZIII]

It seems like a lot of the "misses" are from earlier production models. SIG seems to have fixed the problems that this little .380 ACP had when it first came out. While reading reviews, it is always very important to keep an eye on the date that it was posted (whether on a forum or more professional reviews). The mixed reviews kept me from buying one, and I started to look elsewhere and do more research on pocket .380s. However, after much research, I still come back to the P238. After paying more attention to the dates of reviews, I haven't any bad reviews that are actually recent reviews. I'm heavily considering the pistol again.

If I do buy one, I'll focus a lot on the serial number of the specific one that I choose to buy, and make sure it isn't an early model. And it seems like SIG has been good to some people about fixing the firearm.