Yep I got my cheap digi cam out and made some video's concerning my Sigma 9mm. There is nothing earth shattering in these vid's. A lot of stuff many have seen before. And maybe something not seen before. Along with my cometary.

So far I have 4 segments in the can. I will be posting links to the vid's in this thread as they upload.

Hope you enjoy them.

Jeff

Part 1, Field Striping and cometary.
YouTube - Sigma 9mm, Part 1, Turning a pigs ear into a silk purse

Part 2, Breaking down the slide and cometary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoxiJ...eature=channel

Part 3, Trigger job as it stands right now and cometary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwM5J...eature=channel

Part 4, Main trigger assemble and cometary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16FcY...eature=channel

Part 5, Putting the Sigma back together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWRUxjJOlFI

Good job on the video's!

I agree, I hope they post the other segments soon, I am looking forward to them... 1magi

nice videos my friend. thanks for taking the time to do them.

Thank you for posting your videos.
They answered a lot of questions.

Here are some iphone pics. My first range target and my last shot target as of tonight with the Sigma.

The day I bought the pistol.

I was all over the place and pulling high right,,,, damn trigger from hell!

Today's effort's at a local range in Little Rock. Yes I'm on the road for work.

There are 4 mag's on target. 2 are Rem. Sure Shot and 2 Win. White Box. 3 mags two hand. 1 mag single hand. Low left is single hand.

The RM ran one mag of his ammo through it on his target and proclaimed it was the best Sigma he had ever shot! He ripped a 16 shot 3" group with 2 fliers at 10 yards and loved the trigger. All my shooting tonight was also at 10 yards. With less than 6 hours sleep since Sunday.

It's coming along nicely. I think you can see the double and triple taps.

Jeff

good stuff jeff!!!! your the sigma man.

Not really. Basic Smithing and caring for a firearm is easy. Lets face firearms advance tech wise about as fast as the hammer has. While it's easy to make a hammer or even mod it for your use. It can be very tricky learning to use one. And if you don't use one often you will have black and blue fingers or pecker tracks all over your work.

I'm real rusty at using a firearm. And thats more important than anything.

true but your the only guy (that I know of) to post a complete video set about removal and some of your ideas about the sigma upgrades. For that you get a big thumbs up froim me on that.
Hopefully your videos can lay to rest so many questions about the sigma.

I'm posting this UPDATE for everyone to read!


Regarding Frank Smith, the Texas S&W Authorized Factory Service Center Gunsmith doing the free trigger clean-up jobs.

As of TODAY, 11/13/09, he IS NOT doing them! Apparently, someone posted his or S&W's FEDEX account number (S&W paid for the roundtrip express shipping) on some gun forums and they had to shut down the account! He said today that it would be approx 2 weeks until he has the new account info. He is UNSURE if he can continue doing what he's been doing due to this!

I called Bolsa Gunsmithing (another S&W Authorized Service Center) which happens to be 4 miles from where I live in So. Cal. They said it WAS NOT covered under warranty, and that they charged $65 for a "trigger job" on a Sigma with a 2 week turnaround time. I brought up Frank and they said that they heard he and S&W were doing them under warranty.

So, I called S&W Factory - they said, "NO WAY" is an "action job" covered under warranty! The Sigma comes with a 10 lb. trigger pull - that's how it's designed! And IF Frank is doing "action jobs" as a warranty repair, then we may have to have a little talk with him!

So, it looks as though someone really screwed things up for Sigma owners wanting to get that FREE "factory trigger job"!

I hate to hear this! Real or not concerning the Sigma. With just a tad of tuning.... And I mean just a tad. I feel its the bargin of the decade....

I don't have a over all issue with a 10 lb. trigger.... I do have a big concern over the grit! But while you are there cleaning up the lack luster production,,, why not lighten up the trigger a tad and improve on its reset?

Let us be frank here. If S&W had spent no more than 15 sec's more in mass production on finishing the pistol out. And put 10 cents more into it's matrial cost over all. It would be the best mass market pistol of the decade and push twords best ever in its market segment. Hell lets put a floating barrel bushing in it. Got a lathe?

There is a bunch of good in this firearm.

I absolutely agree!

I was an "early adopter" to Sigmas, as I bought my Model SW40F when they first came out, for around $250. I like the looks of the 1st generation better than the 2nd generation (although, I'd love to have the mounting rail). I hate the side grip checkering and the bi(sexual)-tone look! Call me "Old School", because I like my guns ALL STAINLESS or ALL BLUED!

I remember reading all the gun mag articles about how much money and research S&W spent on R&D regarding men's hand size, natural point angle, etc., to design their ergonomic grip. Glock's were just starting to get very popular in the early-to-mid 90's and so was the "new" .40 cal. S&W round. I shot the .40 Glock at the range and I hated the boxy feel of the grip. When I first held the Sigma in my hand, I knew it was the gun for me! It felt PERFECT!

I also read about the heavy trigger pull; however, I was pleasantly surprised when I first shot it! It was much lighter than I had expected, based upon what I had read! Yes, it had a heavy pull compared to a "match gun", but it was smooth, although long, with a crisp break. Mine was never gritty!

It seems that lately, there have been alot more postings about Sigmas- probably because the newbies are looking for the cheapest defensive handgun they can find, (and, I don't blame them!) This gun is the designed for accurate and reliable self-defense! ... ie. for KILLING BAD GUYS! (both foreign and domestic) Point. Period. It is NOT a "match gun". Just like a 4X4 is NOT a 2 door sports coupe! Everything has it's purposeful design!

Most of my guns have had the actions polished and had trigger jobs, etc... so, this is no different! I have 2.5 to 3 lb. pulls on my 9mm EAA Silver Team Match Race Gun, on my .45 cal. Colt Stainless Gold Cup Commander and on my 44 mag. S&W Stainless, Magna-Ported Model 29, ... so, I'm used to a light trigger pull! Yet, I had no problem adjusting to the heavier pull of the Sigma.

In my opinion, I bought a better looking, better feeling "Glock" at HALF THE PRICE! And, I supported "MADE IN USA"!

Plus, with the 15 round (.40 cal) preban hi-capacity and living in the "Republic of Kalifornia", I will never get rid of it!

Just look at this beauty - much nicer than a Glock!

" So, I called S&W Factory - they said, "NO WAY" is an "action job" covered under warranty! The Sigma comes with a 10 lb. trigger pull - that's how it's designed! And IF Frank is doing "action jobs" as a warranty repair, then we may have to have a little talk with him!

So, it looks as though someone really screwed things up for Sigma owners wanting to get that FREE "factory trigger job"! "

It sounds like you contributed to the "screwed things up" situation with your call to S&W . . .

Nope, I came along "after-the-fact".

Frank told me HE was UNSURE if HE could continue doing what he's been doing due to this! That was BEFORE I called S&W. The proverbial "cat was already out-of-the-bag" based upon his statement!

That is a dang burn Shame! I am glad I got mine done while it lasted.

__________________
Protected by Sigma 40VE

This is bad news!! I just bought a sigma 9mm after reading MANY times that this was an option if I didn't like the trigger. Loved the look and feel of the gun but the trigger talk was turning me off. Heard of this and decided to give it a shot. Haven't shot it yet and already this is not an option. Really hopeing that I'm not wishing I would have bought the ruger p95.

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M&P 15-22
Sigma 9mm

Just came back from watching all of them after being sent there on my question of how to get the slide end cap off with out marring it. Just decided to watch all of them and ... awesome. Thank you for putting them up they are great.

Alex

and if i do...?

how does a floating barrel bushing work, like the p2000 h&k? let's talk

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*dan

I was just kidding on that one.

Damn that sucks about Frank and the free trigger jobs. I should have sent mine to him last April when my striker broke. I ended up sending it to S&W instead.

I will say again Awesome videos. I dont know about shortening any springs or replacing with lighter ones. I am a pretty good revolver shooter and I like the heavy trigger in a carry gun. I know all about keeping your finger out of the trigger and all the rest but .. shirts get caught in there and what have you. To each his own

Now back to the video. I unloaded my gun and slowly pulled the trigger. Oh man what a sound! Crunch aint the word. I should also tell you that the only hand guns I have ever taken all the way down have been 1911's. I am by no means a gunsmith.

So I take it down to its little parts and first thing is the sear running in the channel feels like metal against sandpaper when you manipulate it with your fingers. Nasty catch in spots feel. Little fine emery board and it was solved .. now on to the trigger. Took out the pigtail spring and as he stated it was already eating through the plastic housing..

Warning .. after putting the gun back together th trigger did not feel one tiny bit lighter so pulling out that little spring is a preference. I figure if I don't need an extra part might as well not have it and I left it out when I reassembled.

The thing that was killing the trigger feel was the inside of that "s" like piece. this thing look like it had been cut using an angry beaver on a stick. the striations were incredible and deep. Striations doesn't seem like a good enough description. They were grooves!

As it dragged across the plastic it was amazing how bad it had been machined.

Took progressively finer emery boards to it. The grooves were so bad this took about an hour. I didn't want to remove to much material and the grooves were really deep. After I got it to where I wanted it I used a dremel with some rouge.

While the task took some time .. it really was very easy for anyone to do if they are the least bit handy. I was having trouble before keeping that front sight from moving before doing this and now it doesnt budge.

So if the only thing that bothers you is the crunchy trigger just do it yourself and dont bother being without your gun for a week.
Alex

I took out my pigtail spring as well. It lightened up my trigger. My accuracy was greatly improved being able to hit 3 out of 5 bullseyes at 21 feet. I will dissamble my trigger once again to remove these groves. The trigger is a small amount gritty. The trigger pull will still be heavy enough for daily carry. The safety mechanism still stands as to not worry about accidentally discharging the firearm. I'm really tired of hearing the horror stories about modified weapons and court. If your justified, your justified. If your not, your not. I'm going to make my gun be all that it can be, just like the army!

I'm liking my Sigma more and more. I am not a target shooter. Makes me madder than hell. But I can plink with the best of them. and my Sigma has turned into a wonderful plinker.

I took the Sigma out the other day with my new to me CZ-52. The CZ was a blast to shoot. Will be a war machine when I get it reworked. Hope to be ordering parts and finish for it real soon.

I had a blast with the Sigma. Once again I could not do paper justice be it 7, 10, 15 or 25 yards. Frustrated I went into plinking mode at this outdoor range. There was a gent. shooting a Sigma .40, and he was pretty good on paper with it. I let him shoot my 9mm and he fell in love. I had enough of my small tools in my range bag to do a quick job on his pistol. Just a fast clean up. He was a very happy camper!

We were the only people at the range that day so in plinking mode I started tagging small rocks, bouncing debris down range. Once wormed up I started putting pop cans out about 10 yards. I would pop them up in the air. Wait for them to fall below the berm then tag them again driving them down range. Best I could do was two air shots. Always missed on the third attempt.

There is soooo much to like about this pistol. What baffles me so much is the sorry attention to very basic detail and machine setup / production. The grooves on the cam side of the sear are insane! Any machine operator work there salt would refuse to run such sorry production. Same applies to the sear holder. There is no call for such sorry production. I come from a tool and die family. Spent my youth running production, die setup and other facets of the trade.

Really saddens my heart to see just how bad most American production is now days. Work ethic is in the tank, bean counters have screwed things up really bad. And most of our engineering talent is very sub-par. I see this every single day in my work life in the pump, boiler and chiller world. Also in the automotive, motorcycle and other production areas.

I went to buy a new motorcycle last year. Hell yeah! I'm going to go get me a new Harley. No,, not so fast cowboy. The welds on every bike I looked at were as bad if not worse than those done by Honda, Yamaha and others in the late 50's through the 60's. Weld splatter left on swing arms and just painted over. Chrome that would not polish to a nice luster and paint so orange peeled it made a golf ball look good. Yamaha got my money!

Same with cars. If it's not built in Japan. It's not in my driveway. I gave up on GM and Mopar years ago. I've even given up on Honda's and Toyota's built in America. There J-Vin cousins are far better cars. It shows,,, they are built by people that care. The product is better in every way! Less rattles and squeaks, far better fitment of parts and panels, better paint. It's unreal when you really start to look and live with them.

I'm sorry for the rant folks. I've been very upset with the over all lack of quality concerning our work ethic and production for years. And it even shows up in something as bone idle simple as a trigger sear. Really is a shame.

Not to be "That Guy", but what do you expect for $300 ?

If all those things you mentioned were taken care of at the factory, it would probably add $150-200 to the price tag.

Well you are that guy. lolololololol

What do you not understand about sub-par 3rd world class production? From a so called leader,,, not.

Have you ever setup a CNC Machine, water or abrasiveness cutting and finishing machine? Or ran punch press production or done die work? The diff. between junk and good concerning the sear and other parts in a Sigma is about 15 sec's production time per 100 lot if the program and correct cutting tools are used. The only fool that thinks the pistol done right in this 3rd world mode is the greedy and those that don't care. There was a time in America when this kind of work would have ruined a country of our status. Well I be damned it is ruining our country. Look no farther than GM, Ford, Mopar, Nasa, ITT and other producers.

Now does this mean it is worthy or should be built as good as a custom pistol? No of course not. But just look at the machine work! It's 3rd world ****!

And lets face it. Firearms tech has advance about as fast and as much as the development of the hammer. The only thing left to do with production tech is to make them faster, better and cheaper. If computers followed development and production like a firearms path. We would still be using a slide-rule and paper. And in current America half the slide-rules would be built wrong to start with.

Why don't you call smith and tell them that one of thier best selling pistols does not meet your approval and that they should take better pride in their work concerning the trigger group. If the trigger is that bad, just don't buy one.

I think you need to ditch the rose tinted glasses and take a hard look at the american "quality" you remember.

I have called them to let them know how bad the machining is concerning a few parts in a other wise good pistol. I also thanked them for at least making the parts of concern in a way they could be finished.

No rose colored glass's here my good person. I work with USA produced products every day in a industry that has advance at about the same pace as the firearms industry. I rep ITT Bell & Gossett Pumps and other ITT company's like Hoffman, McDonald Miller and other US major's in the Hvac, process and steam game. Quality has done nothing but gone down hill.

I think I'm going to go shoot my wonderful reworked Sigma today. And make some fire balls and put some bullets down range at 1700 fps with my CZ-52. Then do some work on my loading bench.

Just got back from the range and very happy. Removed the pigtail spring, big improvement. Trigger pull is better but still need to do alittle more polishing. Thanks for the great Vids.

enjoyed the videos...I am a revolver user but am looking into getting into a 9mm semi...your videos were helpful.....I am a novice

ok so i tore my sw40ve down and removed the pigtail spring. i felt a slight difference in the trigger pull. i checked the sear and didnt find any grooves anywhere. but i am not the first owner of this weapon so that issue may have already been taken care of. i did have one small wrinkle though. when i was re assembling the two stacked springs on the sear the longer inner spring shot off into oblivion. i broke out the surefire and searched the carpet but the spring is still MIA. i put the weapon back together and dry fired a few times. i notice a discernible difference in the trigger pull but it seemed to be functioning normally. my question is do i need to be worried about that missing spring or will it be ok without it? thanks in advance.

Removing the sear spring(s) causes the sear to reset slower, which may cause reset failure (think single shot) and the hotter the ammo, the more likely the failure.
The gun should not be relied on for defense until repaired.
No amount of testing with low-power range ammo wil reveal the problem, which is most likely to occur with hot defense ammo.

great. so anybody know where i can get another one of those springs? all i need is the inner one. the outer (shorter) one is still there.

S&W or Brownells sells S&W parts.
S&W customer service might give you one.
Parts Lists - Smith & Wesson

ok one more question. anybody know what that spring is called? brownells has like 20+ listings of springs for my sigma. thanks for the help OKFC. your a life saver!

Nice work...

I've never done any smithing.....but plan to polish the trigger parts as outline on this thread. Will emery boards be all I need? And which emery boards? Thanks