UPDATE 3: Sig Sauer P238 Range Report

[TLynnHughes]

Used my "Lady Liberty" at the Ladies Drills for Skills clinic at Forum Day. I was very thrilled with how it shot, the groupings and over all performance of the "P-Shooter" as CompVest called it was great! Put another 85 rounds through it, and nary a hiccup! Thanks again TLynn, and I am sorry I missed you at forum day, I was hoping to meet you.

I'm sorry I missed you too! I think I figured out who you were and by the time I was gonna snag you and introduce myself, you were headed in a different direction to a seminar, I think.

I'm sure we'll have another chance to meet. Glad you had a great time and glad the gun performed well. Isn't CompVest wonderful? I'm her biggest groupie!

T.

[CompVest]

Aw, shucks.

[Divided Attention]

WE should start a CV fan club! I have learned so much and am sharing with my teens as fast as I can without them rolling their eyes too much! I am looking forward to the next ladies class in Conroe!

[Shasta]

Four of us (me, along with my husband, son, and nephew) put the first 100 rounds through my P238 on Wednesday. Not a hiccough. It was great. Mr. Shasta was very excited about going to the range, once I gave him his birthday present (a new Kimber CDP II with CT that I bought from DaveT a couple of months ago.) No problems with the Kimber, either.

We managed to keep all of the shots from the P238 on the core of the target while shooting from self defense range.

I shot a couple of magazines through the Kimber. I kept them all on target, but I had had enough after the 2 magazines, my shoulder was starting to feel it.

The biggest surprise of the evening was that the Kimber had been hidden in plain view since September. My husband was extremely surprised, to say the least. I guess that the back of the rifle cabinet with a rag thrown over it is a good hiding place for a pistol case.

[Shadow]

I began having problems with my Sig 238 Rainbow yesterday with failure to load and the Slide Stop popping out. This was after a recent clean. This P238 is new in the box from Academy and never fired. I search Google for the problem and found this forum and found out I was not the only person having this problem. After messing around for some time, I noticed that the Slide Spring was out of the housing and not seated during disassembly. I pressed the Spring back into the housing and reassembled and it appears, for now, that the problem has gone away. Load function work great and the Slide Stop stays in....so far so good. I still plan to call Sig on Monday to see if they can do something to prevent this in the future.

[XinTX]

The wife's rainbow edition has been nigh on flawless since new a few months ago. Always clean it after each range session and use grease on the slide and barrel OD. Had a couple of FTE's early on, but those have cleared up. I have heard horror stories from some of the earlier 238's. But so far this one has worked well.

[TLynnHughes]

I began having problems with my Sig 238 Rainbow yesterday with failure to load and the Slide Stop popping out. This was after a recent clean. This P238 is new in the box from Academy and never fired. I search Google for the problem and found this forum and found out I was not the only person having this problem. After messing around for some time, I noticed that the Slide Spring was out of the housing and not seated during disassembly. I pressed the Spring back into the housing and reassembled and it appears, for now, that the problem has gone away. Load function work great and the Slide Stop stays in....so far so good. I still plan to call Sig on Monday to see if they can do something to prevent this in the future.

I hope you have as good an experience with Sig customer service as I did. They sent me a new Slide Stop, a new magazine and a new recoil spring. The combination of all three solved the problem. The Slide Stop/Slide spring problem that I had kept happening even after I reseated the Slide Spring. Not sure what kept causing the Slide Spring to unseat. But every time the Slide Stop would pop out, the Slide Spring would be unseated. When I received the parts from Sig, I tried to change them out one at a time to troubleshoot the exact problem. I never did get the right combination, but once all the new parts were in place, it works like a champ! Good luck!

T.

[XinTX]

The cheesiest thing about the 238 is the recoil spring. Looks like somthing someone pulled out of an oversized Bic Click pen. But I've heard that they've come out with an upgraded new spring which is a flat wire coil (like in the 239 and others) that seems a bit better. Did they send you one like that as a replacement?

[Shadow]

I called Sig Sauer on Monday about the popping Slide Stop and they sent a No Charge Sales Order for a Slide Stop, Slide Stop Spring and Recoil Spring (Flat Wire). On Tuesday they sent a Shipping Notification for only the Recoil Spring... I guess the other parts are backordered. I will update as soon as all the replacement parts are received and checked out.

Also, I ordered the new Sig Sauer 7 Round w/Extension Magazine ($54.00) from sigsauerguns.com on Monday and received it USPS on Wednesday. It has what appears to be a new design (Receiver / Follower) that is different from the Std 6 Round Mag. I just checked the sigsauerguns.com and they are out of stock on this item. This was the first place I found that had the 7 Rd Magazine sold separate. It was was available with the new Two Tone P238.

[XinTX]

Is there a part number on that flat wire spring?

[Shadow]

The Sig Sauer Item Numbers on the Shipping Order are:

1201321 RECOIL SPRING,238, FLATWIRE
1200751 SLIDE STOP SPRING, 238
1200981 SLIDE STOP, 238, RBT (note: The RBT indicates the Rainbow Titanium model and the Item Number may be different on the Two Tone, HD and
other models)

[Divided Attention]

When I got my 238, it was one of my first SA weapons, so I am very anal about how I take it apart for cleaning. I put everything on my little mat in the exact order and direction it came from the weapon. I came up with little "sayings" to help me remember how it goes back together as the manual pictures weren't all that. The first time I cleaned and lube it i noted that the recoil guide went in the recoil spring like an icecream cone, not like a skirt... the round wire spring had a small and large end... this is just a glimpse of my mind working...works for me.

I put the weapon back together the same way every time. I have likely 400 - 500 rounds through my Liberty, and it has been about 75 - 100 since I had cleaned it last. With the heat and it being my most common carry I decided to clean it because of sweat - yes I am a girl and I sweat, I do not "glisten". When I went to remove the guide and spring, the spring was over the guide end plate with about 1/2 coil. When I removed the spring the coil was creased and broke off. I was SICK! Of course this is Friday night before my upcoming class Saturday morning. I wasn't planning to use it for class, but I use it at least 5 days a week for carry. I couldn't call Sig until today.

I would just like to give them kudos for great customer service. I explained what happened and they are sending me a new flatwire screen that cannot go in backwards. Seems mine came from the factory backwards, ooops! The gentleman that took my call was great, we even discussed revolvers for a while. I have been very pleased with my Liberty, very few hiccoughs, and nary a one with the spring wrapped around the guide! It is just a fun little gun to shoot. The spring should ship in the morning! In the meantime the Colt will get some time out of the safe.

[Divided Attention]

Got my new flatwire spring! For those that have this spring for their P238, is it about 12 feet long? Seriously it is a good 1.5 inches longer than the original round wire spring. I got it in there, boy was that fun! Can't wait to clean it next time - I will be wearing eye protection, LOL!

Now I need to run to the range soon and run some practice/test rounds through her!

While I enjoy my Colt, it will be nice to have my little friend back!

[tanker1983]

I have theP238 with Nitron Finish and Rosewood grips. I have put 700 rounds through her. Approx. 500 rounds of Speer ammo for practice. And Hornady Critical Defense to ensure reliability for carry. I have never had a single problem with the pistol. I am now confident enough in her to make her my summer carry with 2 addtional mags of the Hornady Critical Defense.

[Divided Attention]

Tanker, What type of spring do you have? Is it a LONG flatwire or a spring basically as long as the guide pin that is smaller on one end than the other?

I have had only the rarest of "hiccoughs" with my P238, and because I wear scrubs it is my daily companion. The issues I have had could go right back to my grip - I love my Liberty!