There are few things I like more than firearms, and one thing I LOVE to do is strip my firearms down to pieces and reassemble it. It's a cross between the love I have for firearms, a love to know how things work, a love to make things work better, and just damn curiosity. So it is no surprise that the second I get home from the gun shop with my Sig Mosquito (it was on sale, I've wanted a Sig for a long time, and I love rimfires. I was (and still am) hoping the rumors are just that or that I can modify mine enough to make it function properly; kind of like how some have had to do with their P22s. So I am taking it apart, paying close attention to where things go, how they go, etc. When I finally get the metal frame from the Poylmer frame I had just a few steps left to go before it was all in pieces. I get it down to basically the hammer assembly and a single pin holding in a latch/lever of some kind (most likely a safety, or possibly part of the decocking mechanism). I figure the hammer is under tension of the hammer spring, so I'll get the pin first. As soon as I drift it out about 10% of the way, the whole thing comes apart in two, rocketing my hammer spring and bushings across the room (I found them, no worries). The ENTIRE frame is two freaking pieces of metal. Not a solid frame, but two pieces of metal. Now I don't own many handguns, but I find this unaccetable. The only thing that is stopping the recoiling slide and exploding shell from shooting out the rear and hitting me is a metal frame that is held together by two, count them TWO, metal nipples that are .095" in diameter and .065" deep?! Holy hell, I'm not even sure I want to trust this thing as a paperweight, let alone as a handgun.

Please tell me I am being absurd or unreasonable, because I have serious doubts about the safety of this thing now. Sure many people have fired them with no problems, but what happens if you got a spot of bad metal, machining, heat treating, etc. on that spot or if you run across a weak rimmed rimfire (ever since the .17HM2 this has been happing more and more) or both at the same time? Sure a .22 isn't that strong, but will .01235 cubic inches of metal really be able to stop it reliably ALL the time?



I'll try and get some good pictures of the nipples. I'm having a hard time getting them to come out, but when I get some good ones, I'll post them.

ETA:


As you can see in this picture, the nipples are very small. This is the nipple on the rear bottom of the magazine well, near where the hammer spring rests. The other is forward of the trigger pin. If you look closely in the original picture you can see them. I know it looks kind of like there are nipples on both side of the frame, but there is only one nipple and one detent where the nipples rests.

Can't say I really like the design,But those metal pieces have absolutely no relationship to the safety of the pistol!The cartridge pressures are contained by the barrel and breechface,even if the slide rails failed(which I do not think are part of the frame that concerns you)The most damage that would probably happen to your person ,would more than likely be a bruised toe when the slide lands on it.

The P22 is a similarly cheap POS. It has a 2-piece internal frame just like that, made of zinc or some other cast pot metal no doubt.

I've heard that the P22 and Mosquito are made by the same company in German, but I can't confirm it.

I finally got the whole thing back together. Not sure if it was me, or the pistol, but I learned my lesson: Don't take the internal frame apart unless you have ~3 hours to fiddlephuck with it to get the frame mounted sear, safety pin, and hammer pin aligned with their opposite holes, while keeping the safety tilted forward in it's proper slot, while keeping the hammer pressed forward against the sear without loosing the notch of the return spring, all the while depressing the hammer spring onto the hammer strut and slip the hammer spring centering ball up in between the two frames without opening it too much (or else you loose the sear and have to start all over again) and then squeeze it all together and snap it in place.

That alone took me 2.5 hours, but now that I know the trick I bet it would take like 10 minutes now

I've heard that the P22 and Mosquito are made by the same company in German, but I can't confirm it

I have both and that thought crossed my mind when cleaning them. They have some things in common when you look at them.

That said, I've never had a lick of trouble with either. I got the P22 when they first came out, and its now got a bunch (thousands) of rounds through it. My SIG is approaching a thousand rounds and so far, so good. Both are fun little guns.

The only thing I've had happen, is an occasional fail to fire with both, but they always went on the second strike and were also from the same lot of ammo. Both guns have fed everything I've put in them so far, and I mostly use Winchester Super X HV that I have a bunch of on hand.

Quoted: Please tell me I am being absurd or unreasonable,

In my honest opinion, yes, you are being absurd and unreasonable... The MIM slide I can see as being less than desireable. This "problem" seems like a non-issue to me... Just my $.02 though....

Quoted: Please tell me I am being absurd or unreasonable,

I can tell by the way you write you must be a kid, maybe 20 y/o?  I don't mean it as an insult but don't seem to have much experience with things like this.  I think you are making a big deal out of nothing.

If it breaks and pokes you in the face you can sue Sigarms and pay off your school loans. Otherwise shoot and enjoy and try not to intellectualize it so much.

(Shells don't explode - the powder burns)

While there have been numerous problems with the Mosquito posted in the gun nets recently. I see nothing wrong with the design - just the material used in the construction... especially at the price thay are charging for it. My advice dump it - get a nice used Ruger Mk II for about $100 less.......and stop stripping down your guns like that.... Beleive it or not your can put alot of wear and tear on them by doing so.

By observation the "nipples" are designed to correctly hold the hammer sub assembly aligned in the frame/grip - nothing wrong with that -.--- it's a .22lr... now if the same design were incorporated into say a Desert Eagle 44 mag - I would have a problem with that