jashoffa

I have a Sig P220 .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol. I am a reserve officer for the town that I live in and the other day I had to go out and qualify on my sidearm for the year.

It must have been sometime late summer since I last fired the gun. During my qualification courses I had a double feed malfunction several times.[:@] Mostly when I was in the prone position. [&:]

My question is what do you guys think is the problem? I have talked to several different people and have gotten the following possibilities:

Ammunition
Magazine problem
Weak or limp wristed shooter
Dirty firearm [](not cleaned recently but cleaned after last time I fired it)

The list does go on but the others don't merit posting.

Please keep in mind this is not a failure to extract like some people first thought when I told them it is a double feed of 2 live rounds of amunition from the magazine on the same cycle.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks guys!

luckypunk

I don't have a Sig but I have had a spent round jam up a live round feed before in a Glock 20

Going through the list of possibilities:

I assume you have shot similar ammo through this gun before? it would be an easy fix to try...unless new/ different rounds duplicate problem in prone.
my money would be on the magazine... no facts, just guessing.
limp wristed...not likely a problem unless you ONLY masterbate with one hand. HA!
you'd think dirty would cause a fail to feed WAY before it grabbed two.

bigbulls

That sounds like there is a problem with your magazine.

Could be a weak spring not keeping enough tension on the cartridges to keep them firmly on place against the feed lips.

Or it could be that the feed lips have been spread out too wide somehow allowing multiple cartridges to feed. Try pressing them in slightly and see if that helps.

jashoffa

You know I have been thinking it might be the magazine as well. Because I use them for duty I keep the mags loaded and on my belt/in the gun. I have however compared them to spare mags I keep unloaded and they seem to be the same width at the top opening. I also pulled the mags apart and left the springs out for a few days and when I put them back together I have left them unloaded to try to releave some of the tension on the spring.

bigbulls

Since you leave them loaded all the time and rarely shoot this gun you should contact Sig and see about getting some extra power springs for your 220. This should help solve your problem.

I looked in Brownells but they do not have them for the 220. Only for the 226, 228, & 229.

Also might want to try Wolff springs.... http://www.gunsprings.com

Mark whiz

I agree with the consensus here that it is probably a magazine problem.

I'm assuming that you've shot this ammo before without any problems?? If so, then the mag is the 1st thing to consider. If you haven't tried this ammo before, then switch to a known type & try again. I have a little Beretta Tomcat .32ACP that double-fed ALL the time with most factory ammo. Once I started reloading, I found that my hotter loads with JHPs cured the problem.

Nomercy

Big Bulls, one thing I've noticed about "extra power" magazine springs...if you're getting double feeds, putting in extra power springs only has a 50/50 chance of helping. It's funny, but too strong of spring, or too weak of spring will cause the same problem. A weak spring is helped by extra power springs because the extra power is needed to keep the cartridges properly pressured against the mag lips.

However, a magazine that is loaded all the time and already double feeds is usually hurt by extra power springs. Basically, the previous spring is too strong (when fully compressed especially) so it flares the mag lips by pushing the rounds up too much...putting in a strong spring only makes things worse.

Personally, I'd try a new magazine before assuming anything is wrong with the gun. If you keep the gun loaded ALL THE TIME, then it's pretty likely that you've flared the feed lips, you can try bending them back, but you'd be better off to buy a new mag, especially when your life is on the line.

Not to tell you how to do your job, especially since I don't know how "reserved" the reserve officers are in your area, but I've never really trusted a cop that hasn't shot his gun this month. Qualifying or not, I'd rather know that you've used it a time or two in recent history.

bigbulls

My thinking was that since he keeps his magazines loaded all the time the spring will take a set and actually not be as strong as it should be if he were shooting it on a regular basis.

He also said that he checked the feed lips and they were not flared which let me to suggesting stronger springs.

I would be worth trying before he started messing with his gun.

I do see where you are coming from too though.


At least we both agree that it is the magazine and he should get new ones or at least new springs.[8D]

jashoffa

Thanks for all the help guys...I I have cleaned my gun and talked to a sig armor about the problem. I never really got a straight answer from him but he said I can bring it to him and he will take a look at the mags and gun for me.

My plan is to take it out again and see if I can duplicate the problem...if so then I will consider purchasing new mags or extra power springs.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

jashoffa

Just a little update.

I went to the range today and shot my gun using the mags that I was having the problem with. All I had time for was loading each Mag and firing each mag off. I had no malfunctions but as I said I only had time to try out each of the 3 mags one time.

I am still not sure the problem is resolved but last time I was having a double feed regularly, this time no problems to report!