SIG P238 warning.

[M2 Carbine]

I bought a SIG P238 last month.
I am a big fan of the 1911 and the P238 is a miniature 1911 in most every way. The gun has replaced my Kel Tec .32 and P3AT and Micro Desert Eagle for pocket carry.
I like the gun. It's been reliable and accurate.
I am not of the carry it a lot but shoot it a little group. I shoot the carry guns a lot. I put a mixed bag of over 300 rounds through the gun the first couple weeks I had it.

The last time I shot it, it appeared to me that the recoil spring was getting weak. I stopped shooting it and called SIG, telling that the spring was deformed and IMO had weakened substantially. Sig offered to send me a new spring. I said since the spring was past worn out in 300 rounds I'd better buy a couple more springs. ($12 each. I don't know what the shipping is)

I got them today.
The first thing I did was compare the old and new spring length. I also used a trigger gage and pulled the slide back to where it contacts the cocked hammer.
The old spring is 5 lb 1.5 oz.
The new spring is 8 lb 5 oz.
Quite a loss of strength in the old spring.

Now some recoil springs will shorten a LITTLE as soon as you use them but I suggest you P238 owners pay close attention to the recoil spring and call SIG for a new one at the first sign of the spring weakening .

BTW, I called Wolff Springs and they aren't making springs for the P238 yet.

 

[dovedescending]

Wow, sounds like they need to upgrade their materials a little.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Yes, hopefully this was just a bad batch of sub contractor springs.

I will keep a close eye on round count and spring length/strenght for the next few hundred rounds.

 

[dovedescending]

Might want to look for similar sized spring for another gun? Maybe Wolff offers something close to compatable.

 

[9mmepiphany]

i doubt you'll ever get the springs to last much longer than 500 rounds. the recoil spring tunnel was too short in the design and the slide mass is too light to control the recoil...that's why your spring is getting over compressed.

to retain as much reliability as the design is capable of, keep a very close eye on your springs and don't hesitate to replace them if you choose to carry the gun

 

[waterhouse]

Let us know how your next spring does. I have family members that own the gun but haven't shot it much yet, so it will be a while before they are carrying them.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Flint Ridge]

Guys are typically using the 12# spring from Wolff. This would be for the Colt Mustang 380, which is "copies". Seems they have had much more success there.

They also have an 11# spring as well. Yes, this seems like the standard round count for nearing failure. If you shoot Buffalo Bore, it could chew them up much faster.

Hope this helps.

 

[Deaf Smith]

M2,

What happend to you is quite common with 'mini' guns.

The Colt Officers Model .45 says to replace the springs after 500 rounds, and yes mine was shorted to like your Sigs.

It's just trying to stuff a strong spring in such a small place to take so much pounding, well they deform rather quickly.

And yes, I'd have bought several springs for my gun if I was going to shoot alot!

Deaf

 

[Tommygunn]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[MachIVshooter]

Wow, I actually had to count the coils on that to believe they started out the same. No bueno. I've never seen a recoil spring shorten like that without the use of dykes. And in so few rounds. Hope they get their act together.

We had a customer who bought one from the local shop I help at come back a week later. The gun was horribly unreliable. It went back to Sig, got "fixed", and returned. Still had reliability issues with one mag, and just plain wouldn't run with the other (they both ran, but with failures, before it got sent in).

At their pricepoint, Sig can't play the "consumer as beta tester" game that Ruger and Kel-Tec did in the beginning.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Wow, I actually had to count the coils on that to believe they started out the same. No bueno. I've never seen a recoil spring shorten like that without the use of dykes. And in so few rounds. Hope they get their act together.

...At their pricepoint, Sig can't play the "consumer as beta tester" game that Ruger and Kel-Tec did in the beginning.

their at is about as together as it's going to get, there are just better designs for a .380 out there. the 238 looks really nice and certainly fills the outcry for a small gun from Sig, but it just isn't exempt from the laws of physics...there isn't enough mass or space for recoil spring travel

they are well pass beta testing. this is the fourth iteration of this design. i think the lineage goes TI, Excam, Colt and Sig...it's never been a very successful design.