Yeah, Sig...they reworked the whole gun...P238

[IMTHDUKE]

Some of you may have seen my post reguarding my mystery why the new flat recoil spring would not fit on an early model P238. I took it to two smith and they could not get it to fit...only after 30 min did they get it on. And told me jokeingly not to take it off again.

Long story short....Send it to Sig. Sig sent it back. Problem was that the early models came with a plastic guide rod and that is why the spring would not fix...mismatch to guide rod.

Sig replaced with new alum guide rod, new flat recoil spring, upgraded the extractor, also the ejector, the sear spring and gave me a new magazine.
Polished the feed ramp and test fired 30 rounds with zero malfuctions.
They essentially put new guts in the gun.

I am posting this for any that have an early model of the Sig P238....it need upgrading and Sig will do it free.

I am a happy camper even though this is my wifes gun.

 

[1KPerDay]

Good to hear.

 

[Tommygunn]

Huh? What?
I hate to tell you this, but I have the older Sig P-238 and I had no problem at all fitting the new flat spring in without any alteration -- and the gun works fine.
The old round wire spring got "scrunched" and that's what prompted the change. No doubt the early spring WAS a bad design. But the new flat ones are the cat's meow ....IMHO.

 

[maddy345]

Sig customer service is top notch. I sent my P229 in to get the SRT installed and the slide bead blasted.

They sent it back to me with a free SCT mag ($50 value) new night sights ($100 value) and the bead blasting done for free ($90 value).

It took them a week longer than quoted because the SRT took some extra fitting.

 

[IMTHDUKE]

I hate to tell you this, but I have the older Sig P-238 and I had no problem at all fitting the new flat spring in without any alteration -- and the gun works fine.
The old round wire spring got "scrunched" and that's what prompted the change. No doubt the early spring WAS a bad design. But the new flat ones are the cat's meow ....IMHO.

Did your gun have a plastic guide rod?

 

[Tommygunn]

Did your gun have a plastic guide rod?

No, it appears to be aluminum or steel....don't know which offhand, but definatly not plastic. Why? Did original P238s have a plastic guide rod?

 

[IMTHDUKE]

Yes....that is the source of the problem....the plastic guide rod that is a mismatch to the flat spring.

Here is what the early models came with:

 

[Tommygunn]

That's very odd.
The original coil spring was a "mismatch" too in some way; as I said mine "scrunched" in the small end -- the end that end that would point toward the trigger when assembled. From what I know a lot of people had this problem with this spring so it was just a bad design for this gun.
Sig must have gradually changed some parts as production moved along. My gun came with a "new" rod but an "old" spring.
Glad to know your wife's gun is now working smoothly .... wish Sig would stop using us end users as Beta Testers though.

 

[IMTHDUKE]

It was partly my fault....I wanted a P238 so badly that I bought probably a first run or close. I know better, but all is well, Sig as I said, put almost new guts in the gun.

 

[jpcortese]

Early P238

A plastic guide rod is very odd indeed. Mine is even an earlier production gun and my guide rod is metal. The new flat spring goes in easily and the gun shoot fine. Why would they have used a plastic guide rod? I've never seen that on any semi-auto.

 

[2wheels]

A plastic guide rod is very odd indeed. Mine is even an earlier production gun and my guide rod is metal. The new flat spring goes in easily and the gun shoot fine. Why would they have used a plastic guide rod? I've never seen that on any semi-auto.

Plenty of autos have plastic guide rods, many Glocks for example, that's why there's a big market for aftermarket steel guide rods for Glocks.

 

[Tommygunn]

I should note I have a Sig SP 2022 and a CZ P-07 Duty and both have plastic guide rods. Also I have a Glock with a plastic guide rod.
There's nothing really wrong with them per se, but they do have to be designed right. I suspect the P-238's plastic rod might have been slightly off in one dimension or another if it was causing problems. All they do is "guide" the recoil spring.
It would be really nice if ALL rods were metal, but in the world of today's plastic guns I think they're going to be commonplace. Neither my CZ, Glock or Sig SP-2022 have given me any problems at all.

 

[IMTHDUKE]

I measure the plastic guide rod and the updated medal one....the plastic one is about a mm longer thus preventing it to be placed back between the barrel and the front of the slide...