Sigma warranty

[Jim NNN]

Sent my Sigma 9mm back to S&W for warranty work. The gun completely failed on me during my CCW qualifying. I bought it brand new this summer and it only had about 250 rounds through it before it failed.

It wouldn't fire the cartridges regardless of brand. The pin went forward, but not hard enough or far enough (don't know which) to ignite the primer. Did it intemitently at first, then all the time. (Also jammed on hollow points.) Left dimples in the primers.

My confidence in this gun has been pretty much obliterated. Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas as to cause?

Also, is it unreasonable to expect that they send me a brand new gun? I just feel that it's way too soon to be experiencing problems of this magnitude. Jams or failure to ejects are one thing, this is another.

Your thoughts are welcome.

 

[cbr6864]

My confidence in this gun has been pretty much obliterated.

Certain guns dislike certain ammo my friend and I both own Glock 23's his will eat WWB HP all day and I cant get a single round to chamber. ALL firearm makers have problems its a mechanical device.

If you get a flat tire does that mean you will never trust a tire again?

Also, is it unreasonable to expect that they send me a brand new gun? I just feel that it's way too soon to be experiencing problems of this magnitude.

It sounds like a striker spring problem..... no I doubt they well replace the gun. Honestly its not like the gun blew up in your hands its just not striking the primer hard enough to fire.

 

[OKFC05]

This type of failure can be caused by a fault in the gun, but also by putting oil or grease in the striker channel, which quickly gums it up.
The striker channel should be clean and dry.

 

[Jim NNN]

Honestly its not like the gun blew up in your hands its just not striking the primer hard enough to fire.

The instructor of the CCW class (an LEO) was quite frustrated with the failure of my gun, especially when he found out it was brand new. He eventually was philosophical about it and said that it was better to have all of this happen on the range than on the street. I agree.

If it was a choice between having the gun completely refuse to fire when a villain is shooting at me or having my gun blow up in my hands, I might prefer the latter. BUT don't read too much into my original statement. When I say I don't have confidence in this gun, I mean this specific gun, not Sigmas in general.

If they opt not to send me a new Sigma and repair the original instead, I'll accept that. I have many other guns. But it'll take 1000 trouble free rounds at the range before I even think about considering this particular gun for CCW again.

I chose it over all of my other guns for the training class because of basic simplicity of function, accuracy, capacity and feel - so I hope I can again use it for it's intended purpose.

 

[Erich]

I'm with OKFCO5: it sounds like crud up the striker channel. I've had it happen with one early Glock in .357 SIG, back before the ammo makers figured out how to make primer sealant that wouldn't blow up the channel during firing.

Most of the time I run across a light-strike problem on a striker-fired pistol, it's because someone has decided it would be handy to lube up the striker channel. Easy fix - pull the slide apart and de-grease the striker channel - and don't ever let oil get up there again. Without pulling your gun apart, it's impossible to say, though.

I wish I were surprised to hear that the CCW instructor didn't know the easy fix for the probable problem, but I'm not. I've been amazed and more than a little disheartened at the mean quality of the cottage industry of "expert" instructors who've popped up with the proliferation of shall-issue laws over the last 25 years.

 

[Jim H]

...It wouldn't fire the cartridges regardless of brand. The pin went forward, but not hard enough or far enough (don't know which) to ignite the primer. Did it intermittently at first, then all the time. (Also jammed on hollow points.) Left dimples in the primers.

My SW40F did the same thing when it as new. At first, I thought it was just a 'hard' primer, but later it refused to fire anything with any regularity. I called S&W, who instructed me to send it in.

My confidence in this gun has been pretty much obliterated.

Your brand-new and untested gun failed, so this is understandable. Have S&W repair it, then go shoot it a lot. You may find your confidence returns after a few boxes of ammo. If it fails again, call S&W and have them repair it again.

Has anyone else had this happen? Any ideas as to cause?

On mine, they replaced a broken striker and cleaned it up. I think the striker tip is what broke. Anyhow, they replaced something defective and hundreds of rounds later mine still works fine.

Also, is it unreasonable to expect that they send me a brand new gun? I just feel that it's way too soon to be experiencing problems of this magnitude. Jams or failure to ejects are one thing, this is another.

In my opinion it is too soon to expect a replacement gun, and a new gun is not always the answer. Remember, your 'new' gun failed almost out of the box... Instead, try to have patience and let S&W bring your gun up to their standards. It should then act and behave like a new gun.

If you have to send it back again, and again, S&W may then elect to do a full replacement, but only if they can't figure out what is going wrong, or if they find something so out of tolerance that they can't repair it.

Jams, fail-to-eject and complete fail-to-fire are all serious defects that warrant a good look-over and repair or replacement of defective parts. Fortunately, S&W is willing to do this for us free of charge as long as we own the gun. Keep working with S&W until you should receive your gun back in 'new' condition and it functions flawlessly, as it should, or they finally give up and replace it.

 

[Jim NNN]

Thanks for the input and perspective Erich and Jim. I'm in love with old S&W revolvers so it would be very hard for me to hate the S&W company, whatever their transgression. Also, before the thing broke, I really prefered it to my Ruger P95...better feel, more accurate, extra capacity, a bit thinner and easier to use.

I liked that Sigma was the classic story of redemption - a bad reputation put right by diligence and design improvements - which is why I felt good about buying the gun, so it was disappointing when the failure seemed to give the negative opinions out there some cred.

The Sigma will be a target gun for a while after I get it back. It's features are appealing, so I really hope it can prove itself to be reliable again.

Yeah, the ccw was not a fun experience, but I guess dealing with setbacks under pressure is what ccw is all about.

 

[growr]

Anything man made can and will fail regardless of who made it. This comes from having broken more guns than you can imagine. I once had three 1911's break in one day shooting USPSA. If there is a weak spot on a gun I seem to find it!

Get it to S&W...have them put it in the "Get Well Soon" corner and life is good. They will take VERY good care of you if you let them.

As far as not trusting it after repair, go shoot it and let it prove itself. Although I liken it to not trusting your car again after you have had a flat tire repaired. Just MY opinion however........
Randy

 

[rlpos1]

Life is good with you S&W so chill and let them drive. Here is something to help:
A little old lady was driving down the road when a cop pulled her over for speeding. As he took her information, he noticed that she had a concealed weapons permit.

The police office...r asked her "Ma'am, do you have any concealed weapons in your car?"

The lady smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. I have a .45 in glove compartment, a 9mm in the console and a .38 under my seat."

The cop looked at her in surprise and said "What are you afraid of ma'am?"

She just laughed and said "Absolutely nothing."

 

[26Ford]

Life is good with you S&W so chill and let them drive. Here is something to help:
A little old lady was driving down the road when a cop pulled her over for speeding. As he took her information, he noticed that she had a concealed weapons permit.

The police office...r asked her "Ma'am, do you have any concealed weapons in your car?"

The lady smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. I have a .45 in glove compartment, a 9mm in the console and a .38 under my seat."

The cop looked at her in surprise and said "What are you afraid of ma'am?"

She just laughed and said "Absolutely nothing."

Thanks for that one, I'm sending it to my mother in law right now!!

 

[Chuck1217]

I understand wanting a replacement gun but think about this- you get a new one, and have to break it in again- another 250 rounds? Or send it back, and know YOUR gun has been fixed. That's what I did- different gun, but same idea. Hated being without my pistol- especially since BOTH my 9mm's were in the shop at the same time. But they did me no good on my hip...