Posted: 12/26/2009 8:22:04 PM EDT
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I purchased a W. German P226 a couple weeks ago without nightsights. I ordered some meprolight nightsights and took my gun to the local gunshop to have their smith install them. When I got the gun back the slide seems stiff to move like it was too tight on the frame. I figured it was probably the new spring I had installed, so I took it shooting today. The damn thing would eject the shells up and backwards. The slide would eject the shell out aright but the new cartridge would get stuck or jam. It would usually jam every time. I took it apart, inspected it and there is definitely much more resistance in the slide going back and forth than there should be. My other 226's aren't nearly as tight.
The gun was fine before the sight install. Could the gunsmith have tightened the vise too tight so that it bent the slide? |
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I purchased a W. German P226 a couple weeks ago without nightsights. I ordered some meprolight nightsights and took my gun to the local gunshop to have their smith install them. When I got the gun back the slide seems stiff to move like it was too tight on the frame. I figured it was probably the new spring I had installed, so I took it shooting today. The damn thing would eject the shells up and backwards. The slide would eject the shell out aright but the new cartridge would get stuck or jam. It would usually jam every time. I took it apart, inspected it and there is definitely much more resistance in the slide going back and forth than there should be. My other 226's aren't nearly as tight. The gun was fine before the sight install. Could the gunsmith have tightened the vise too tight so that it bent the slide? Certainly a a possibilty, espaecially if he did not use a sight pusher. That sucks |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. I put the slide on without the barrel or spring just to eliminate this and its still got way to much resistance...WAY more resistance my other P226 slide. Most P226 slides will rattle a good bit on the frame from side to side...mine is tight as a ducks ass... Can this slide be repaired? |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. I put the slide on without the barrel or spring just to eliminate this and its still got way to much resistance...WAY more resistance my other P226 slide. Most P226 slides will rattle a good bit on the frame from side to side...mine is tight as a ducks ass... Can this slide be repaired? I have a Sig sight pusher I can lend you in the future if you need it. |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. I put the slide on without the barrel or spring just to eliminate this and its still got way to much resistance...WAY more resistance my other P226 slide. Most P226 slides will rattle a good bit on the frame from side to side...mine is tight as a ducks ass... Can this slide be repaired? Ah, got it. I thought you said it moved freely but I mis-read what you said. I would call Sig first thing Monday morning to find out what they recommend. You could take back to the smith, but if he can't even install sights correctly, I wouldn't expect him to be able to repair it. If he just tries to expand the rails/side it may be out of spec and cause wear/reliability issues. Sounds like he probably owes you a P226 and based on my experience you'd probably have to sue him to get it. |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. I put the slide on without the barrel or spring just to eliminate this and its still got way to much resistance...WAY more resistance my other P226 slide. Most P226 slides will rattle a good bit on the frame from side to side...mine is tight as a ducks ass... Can this slide be repaired? Ah, got it. I thought you said it moved freely but I mis-read what you said. I would call Sig first thing Monday morning to find out what they recommend. You could take back to the smith, but if he can't even install sights correctly, I wouldn't expect him to be able to repair it. If he just tries to expand the rails/side it may be out of spec and cause wear/reliability issues. Sounds like he probably owes you a P226 and based on my experience you'd probably have to sue him to get it. This will be fun. 
I'm going to also put some pressure on the shop that he works for as well... |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. I put the slide on without the barrel or spring just to eliminate this and its still got way to much resistance...WAY more resistance my other P226 slide. Most P226 slides will rattle a good bit on the frame from side to side...mine is tight as a ducks ass... Can this slide be repaired? Ah, got it. I thought you said it moved freely but I mis-read what you said. I would call Sig first thing Monday morning to find out what they recommend. You could take back to the smith, but if he can't even install sights correctly, I wouldn't expect him to be able to repair it. If he just tries to expand the rails/side it may be out of spec and cause wear/reliability issues. Sounds like he probably owes you a P226 and based on my experience you'd probably have to sue him to get it. This will be fun.
I'm going to also put some pressure on the shop that he works for as well... Try being polite first... |
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your slide is most likely damaged from putting it in a vice and not supporting the rails causing it to bend. Can this be repaired or do I need a new slide? ETA: I pulled the slide off my other P226 and put on the gun that is damaged. The slide went on just fine and moves freely, eliminating any frame issues. I have also notice that their are circular scratch marks on the side of my new sights down to the bare metal in some places. The scratches are on the left side of both the front and rear sights. WTF???? That is evidence the smith used a punch instead of a pusher. WTF indeed. Pushing your own sights is pretty easy. I have this little guy and it works great on my P226s. I am wondering about your recoil spring though––this sounds like your problem. If your P226 is a 9MM and you have a .40SW/.357SIG spring, that could be the problem. The Sig factory 9MM springs should have an orange/redish painted end. The .40SW spring has a green end. I put the slide on without the barrel or spring just to eliminate this and its still got way to much resistance...WAY more resistance my other P226 slide. Most P226 slides will rattle a good bit on the frame from side to side...mine is tight as a ducks ass... Can this slide be repaired? Ah, got it. I thought you said it moved freely but I mis-read what you said. I would call Sig first thing Monday morning to find out what they recommend. You could take back to the smith, but if he can't even install sights correctly, I wouldn't expect him to be able to repair it. If he just tries to expand the rails/side it may be out of spec and cause wear/reliability issues. Sounds like he probably owes you a P226 and based on my experience you'd probably have to sue him to get it. This will be fun.
I'm going to also put some pressure on the shop that he works for as well... Try being polite first... Yes, indeed. 
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I talked to the gunsmith and he said he used a Power Customs sight pusher and didn't put the slide in a vise. He said there is no way he could have damaged it.
I called Power Cusoms and they said they don't make a sight pusher for a sig, only for AKs and ARs. I also talked to sig this morning and they said they were unsure if the slide could be bent back or not.
I guess I'm fucked... |
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I talked to the gunsmith and he said he used a Power Customs sight pusher and didn't put the slide in a vise. He said there is no way he could have damaged it. I called Power Cusoms and they said they don't make a sight pusher for a sig, only for AKs and ARs. I also talked to sig this morning and they said they were unsure if the slide could be bent back or not.
I guess I'm fucked... If you were to take this to small claims, you would have a pretty good case. If you can prove you bought the sights new (no marks), paid the smith to install them, and now have punch marks it's pretty obvious what happened. The smith would have to bring the non-existant tool and demo what he did. He might even settle with you. A NIB P226 is $700/800. You have other options as well. |
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I talked to the gunsmith and he said he used a Power Customs sight pusher and didn't put the slide in a vise. He said there is no way he could have damaged it. I called Power Cusoms and they said they don't make a sight pusher for a sig, only for AKs and ARs. I also talked to sig this morning and they said they were unsure if the slide could be bent back or not.
I guess I'm fucked... No. He is. You now have, in my mind, tried the "nice guy" approach. Now it is time to call a lawyer friend if you have one, and get a phone-call/letter in the works, or if you don't have a lawyer friend, take him to court yourself. As stated, he just put himself between a rock and a hard place claiming to use vaporware. In the future, I would figure out a few things you want done, and ship it to Bruce Gray at GGI (if it's a SIG, he also does some nice things with HK and 1911's, but he made his name on SIG's). Make it worth the trip by having action-work or QPQ re-finishing or something done, but the point here is that time and time again I have seen posted on here where some local 'smith jacks up hundreds (or thousands) of dollars worth of equipment, the poster ends up venting over 5-10+ pages on the forum, and in the end reaches a half-ass agreement, usually involving services instead of money/material, and noone leaves happy. Even IF the "big boys" mess up, the bad-press they would get for NOT fixing it almost always outweighs their cost of fixing it. Consider the $100 shipping cost to be a near fool-proof insurance policy based on reputation and experience of the 'smith(s) doing the work. |