Man, am I STUPID!!

[skywarrior]

Let me start out by saying that I have owned firearms since I was fourteen years old. I have taken them apart, cleaned them, and reassembled them with no problems. Today, I received my brand new Sigma SW40VE. As per the instructions, I broke it down, wiped off the excessive factory oil, re-oiled everything and attempted to re-assemble it. That's when thing went horribly wrong! I thought I put everything back together correctly but I obviously did not. When I put the recoil spring and guide rod assembly back on and followed that up by replacing the barrel and slide assembly, things went downhill! What I have now is my slide is forward about 3/4", the recoil spring and plastic guide are sticking out of the hole below the barrel, and I can not get it apart again. I have toyed with it for over an hour with no results. I was sure I did thing correctly but as evidenced, I did not. I am wondering f I placed the recoil spring and rod in backward but I don't think I did. The small pointed end of the rod is forward which looks like that is the only way it could go because the other end has to hook onto the barrel lug. Anyway, if any of you have any ideas, please let me know. I am going to be way embarrassed to take this thing into a shop and have to have them do surgery on it.

 

[arg271]

skywarrior:

How about posting a couple of pictures?
Someone is bound to come up with an idea if we can see it.

Regards,

argon

 

[skywarrior]

pictures

Man, i am gettin stupider by the minute! I have pictures attached in "my pictures" on my hard drive but I don't see how to attach them to a post.

 

[writerinmo]

If your recoil rod is sticking out of the hole, then it is installed in the right direction. This puzzled me enough that I popped the slide off of mine to take a look and see if I could tell what could possibly be causing this.

The only thing that I can see is if the recoil rod popped down off the barrel lug and is jammed down in front of the lip at the front of the channel where it usually runs. That is about 3/4 of an inch in front of where the recoil rod end usually sits. However, I don't see anything that would keep the slide from coming back off. I would say get a small penlight and see if you can look in under the slide and see if you can tell if the recoil rod has slid back and is lodged behind the lip. Not sure how one would pry it up so it would clear... the biggest thing is I cant tell why it is jammed.

 

[writerinmo]

I usually post my pics onto photobucket, then copy the 'IMG" code and paste it into the message.

 

[skywarrior]

I tried to look under the slide with a light. Can't really see enough to tell what the problem is. Man, what a bummer!

 

[leejack]

I would say, that if you can't get it apart just call Smith. I'm sure they'll fix it for you. Try not to feel too bad; this sounds like a fluke mishap.

I try to be careful to hold the rod and spring with my thumb as I slide the slide back on. Sounds like the guide rod and spring jumped out of position at the wrong time. Depending on the position of the barrel, you may not be able to get it apart. I wouldn't use any tools to pry it with any kind of force. Smith will take care of you.

Sorry to hear this and good luck. Let us know how you get it resolved.

Lee

 

[TNDave]

Keep messing with it. Try holding the trigger back, holding it forward, different things. I did almost the same thing with a Glock 19 the other day. I am still not sure what I did that made it let go, but when I put it back together again it was fine. Go figure. Good luck.

 

[skywarrior]

Thanks for the help guys. After looking it over and analyzing things, I really don't think I could have put it back together wrong. What puzzles me is the fact that the recoil spring rod came out through the hole under the barrel. Anyway, I will contact S&W and see what they say. Just hate to think of going through the hassle of shipping it back in for warranty work.

 

[freesoulvw]

I had the same thing happen the very first time I feild stripped my sigma, I was able to get the slide back off after pulling pretty hard, dont worry you wont hurt it, what I did was when I put the guide rod/spring back in the gun I put it on the first "edge", what you need to do is push down on the guide rod till its all the way sitting on top of the barrel. The way the rod goes on the barrel is kind of deciving due to the fact that there looks like two places you can put the rod/spring. But when I did it the first time I thought I broke the gun!!!! then I just install.ed the rod right and now its all good....good luck

 

[FourEyez]

Yeah...if you did it I'm sure others have too. I just never took the spring off the rod while cleaning so that kind of put me off without pictures but freesoulvw got it back together im sure you can too.

 

[freesoulvw]

here are some of the pics on what i did wrong....

pic 1 shows where I put the spring/guide rod the first time,the top "notch" when it should be placed as close to the barrel as it will go.. and by doing that it pushed the assmbly thru the front and got all bound and stuck...thought I was done for...since the guide rod is now at an angle it allowed it to get pushed through, I thought it jacked up the spring due to how much it got compressed....the book dosnt show a good example on how to put this piece in for all us newbies!!!

pic 2 shows where you need to put the spring/rod assm when putting back together.....by putting the rod so it is as straight as the barrel will stop it from angleing out of the hole in the front....if that makes sense....the barrel and rod/spring should look perfectly parralel to each other

look at the pics and you will see the spring/rod on the first "notch", and where it needs to be as close to the barrel as possible- hope that helps.....the rod is pretty flexible so dont be scared to really work it off....you will/should get it...if you were close I would do it for you!!!

 

[skywarrior]

gun repaired

Thanks for all the help guys. I finally wrestled it around enough to get it back apart. It was like you said, the recoil spring rod was up on the TOP slot instead of down along the barrel. They should say something about that in the owners manual because it is kind of vague about reassembly.

 

[leejack]

Glad you got it fixed my friend! Great job!

Lee

 

[CajunBass]

Ok, Ok. Nobody feel like the Lone Ranger.

I did exactly the same thing the first time, and I've been taking apart Glocks and XD's for a few years now.

I just "fiddled with it" (that's a technical term) until I got it apart.

 

[skywarrior]

I got it apart finally and that was the issue. Man, they should put something in the owners manual about placing the recoil spring rod in the proper position. Thanks to all of you for the help!

 

[ih8suvz]

I got it apart finally and that was the issue. Man, they should put something in the owners manual about placing the recoil spring rod in the proper position. Thanks to all of you for the help!

They do. Page 23 in the instruction manual.