Gunsmithing Jams

[jkkfam89]

I have a SIG P220 that is pretty much new. The other day hearing sounds in my house I grabbed it and went to chamber a round, but the bullett won't chamber. The bullett goes in partially but then jams. Please let me know what I should look for and what I need to do to fix it! Thanks

 

[bohem]

Re: Jams

We're gonna need more information than that.

Ammo, bullet type, was the mag inserted properly, was the action dry or oiled

 

[jkkfam89]

Re: Jams

First thinks for taking time to help....

I put reloads and Hollow points (Factory) and the gun jammed both ways. .45 cal.

I used two seperate Factory Mags.

here is a picture

 

[HotIce]

Re: Jams

Never owned a SIG so I can't help you with any technical info, but ...
I suggest you to try the reliability of a firearm with a given round, if you're using it for personal/home defense.
You sure don't want to find out the gun does not cycle correctly at 0300, and with someone inside your house.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Jams

Any firearm an individual intends as a personal defense weapon should be thoroughly checked out and familiarized, with the intended ammo, at a range far in advance of any expected need.

Fail you at the range, shame on it; fail you in time of need, shame on you.

The one type of round you should always be able to count on functioning best is .45ACP 230gr roundnose hardball. If that doesn't feed and function, your gun's screwed. Anybody who keeps coming after a reasonably accurate doubletap with 230gr hardball is superhuman.

Greg

 

[jkkfam89]

Re: Jams

These are the same rounds in-which I did use at range. They are ball. Not everyone wants to use ball ammo in a home with kids. Hence hollow points. I highly dought the gun is "screwed", I am seeing if anyone has jammed like this and what they did as a remidy. I have shot my p220, just not very frequent. It is like a new gun.

 

[Kells81]

Re: Jams

So wait, let me get this straight, you heard a noise in your house and you decided to use a gun that is not only pretty much unfired but completely untested. Have you ever fired this weapon? or just picked it up at the shop along with a box of bullets and decide that is good enough?

Start with the slide locked open, insert mag, and hit the slide release. If you are riding the slide forward this may be your problem.

I would suggest getting a glock and at least 500 rounds of ammo, when your done shooting said ammo then you will more than likely have a gun you can grab if you hear a noise in the house.

 

[jkkfam89]

Re: Jams

"These are the same rounds in-which I did use at range"

OK, let me get everything clear so everyone can help instead of wonder how much I shoot this weapon. I have shot this p220. I have it in a seperate spot then my P245 which is in my bedroom. I was not in my bedroom, the p220 was closest, and YES it was locked in a safe. It has been tested. I actually used this specific weapon for CFL or CCW license. No, I did not just pick it up and grab a box of bulletts and that is good enough. But if I did, this doesn't answer my question. So, if this were the only gun I own and I bought it yesterday. Going off of your comments, I shouldn't use it right? Come on.


Glock, nice.. I have 4 sigs and this is the only time something has happened and I need to ask something. Then this is the answer I get. So buy a Glock.. That is just stupid....


POKE: "I would suggest getting a glock and at least 500 rounds of ammo, when your done shooting said ammo then you will more than likely have a gun you can grab if you hear a noise in the house."
_________________________

Probably the dumbest answer I could have recieved... Please tell me you are no a gunsmith!

 

[Kells81]

Re: Jams

Absolutely not stupid, I have 1 glock and I would bet my entire family's life on it that it will work when called on. I also have a 220, The 220 Elite, has 400 rounds on it and its a nice piece but shit hits, get the glock out I have fired many many rounds out of it and am very comfortable with it. Just because you used this weapon for your CHL or whatever doesn't make it a "good weapon" hell my CHL class was full of nice pistols that were fresh from the box and jamming all over the damn place going on. They still passed.


" if this were the only gun I own and I bought it yesterday. Going off of your comments, I shouldn't use it right? Come on.
"

So you get it out and it fucks up on you and your thinking I am out of my mind for saying you shouldn't use it? The only good it would have done you is for a little extra weight on the swing.

Honest answer would be take it/send it to a qualified smith to do a reliability job on it. Let them work the kinks out of it.

But hey at least you have pics of the problem.

 

[Powder_Burns]

Re: Jams

Check the feed ramps and magazine feed lips. If the round is nosediving into the top of the chamber it is either from the feed ramps or the magazine feed lips. A gunsmith can get the pistol to feed reliably, may require a little polishing of the feed ramps or some tweaking of the magazine.

Do you leave ammunition in the magazine, under tension, for a long period of time? Its possible the magazine follower spring has taken a set and isn't pushing the rounds up against the feed lips very well. I'm not suggesting that the recoil spring alone is the culprit, but it could help facilitate better feeding.

 

[bohem]

Re: Jams

Here's what I'd check.


1) Get out the sharpie and color the entire round blue.

2) Load 2 rounds in the mag, blue one on top. Drop the slide and let it load.

3) Drop the mag, carefully eject the round into your hand and look at the ammo, this is especially good to see if it's done on a hardball round so that it's easy to see it's contact path

You should be able to see if it's feeding on the nose or farther back on the ogive.

There's a reasonable chance that it's hung up on the feed ramp, especially if you didn't let the recoil spring slap the thing into batter but were controlling the feeding by controlling how fast the slide was moving forward.

Note the marks on the round. Set it aside. Cleaning the oil off the feed ramp, feed lips, etc on the actual gun, color them blue as well. You want to see where the round is interacting with the gun.

If you find burrs on anything, make them smooth.

You might have to polish the feedramp. I'm not familiar with the P220, so forgive me on this, but a common problem I see with pistols is the feed ramp appears to have been gnawed to shape by a mouse. It needs a decent polish job.

Is it possible this magazine is an aftermarket manufacturer or was it dropped hard onto the feed lips by accident at any point? I do my best not to drop my mags out unless it's a damn good reason because this has a tendency to beat them up and screw things up.

I'm also assuming that these loads are factory, not reloads. If they're reloads, can you verify them in a chamber checker die?

If they're functioning for you well at the range, then them just might be BARELY functioning.

So there's some stuff to try out, when you get it done maybe you can post some pics of the feedramp (in focus) and the marker'd up contact points.

 

[jkkfam89]

Re: Jams

Q:Is it possible this magazine is an aftermarket manufacturer or was it dropped hard onto the feed lips by accident at any point? I do my best not to drop my mags out unless it's a damn good reason because this has a tendency to beat them up and screw things up.
A: No, they are the factory mags that came with the gun. I used both and same result.


Q:I'm also assuming that these loads are factory, not reloads. If they're reloads, can you verify them in a chamber checker die?

A: Some factory and some were reloads!




Doing the sharpie trick now, will post picks

 

[jkkfam89]

Re: Jams

Here is a mark from the extractor

 

[Joe-n-TX]

Re: Jams

OK, what the anal guys at work do with every new box of duty ammo(I'm one of them). Field strip the pistol. Now take the barrel by itself and drop every round from the duty box one by one into the chamber. Thus making sure that every round will chamber without issue.

Do that with your rounds. If they pass then you know your problem lies with the mag. Bent lips or spring problem.

I have a Glock 22. I'd take the P220 over it anytime.

 

[dj70]

Re: Jams

Make sure your magazines are clean too.

 

[desertrat1979]

Re: Jams

When the round jams will it go into battery with a slap on the back of the slide? Is the extractor itself clean with no build-up? Do a controlled feed holding the slide when its released. Try to see at what point it hangs up. I had a Walther P99 that had lots of issues chambering HP ammo regardless of maker. I sold it due to that and other personal dislikes. It could be a rough spot in the chamber or feed ramp.
Also, I know some guys are pretty anal about mag spring tension being messed up from being in a loaded position. Lots of research has been done on this and all the info I have read points to the actual loading and unloadin of the mag that affects the springs tension. So on that note, either heep it loaded, or unloaded, doesnt matter.
What is the round count on this gun. 100? 500? 2k? Sigs tend to make it to the 10k mark before any failures are noticed. But you also need to put several hundred rounds through to smooth out all the moving parts.
As far as personal defense goes I do not recommend reloads. I know lots of guys can make a better reload than what the ammo makers do but there is too much liability involved. The best piece of advise I can give is use what your local PD uses. The glock vs. sig..hk...ect. debate is a non issue here. Glock are cheap, accurate, reliable. Sigs are expensive, accurate, reliable. But I would rather have a Sig and have a better trigger, grip and overall ergonomics. That is personal preference. Hope this helped.

 

[mrmccoy]

Re: Jams

I have a p220. Did you just let the slide go easy or did you drop it from the open position? I would do as others have said....field strip it make sure a round goes into the chamber then pick up some factory round ball ammo and go to the range. It needs to be "broken in"!

 

[Mech45]

Re: Jams

My p220 will feed Speer gold dot 230's even if I hold the slide and chamber a round without making any noise. My next question is the same as MM above did you ease a round in or drop the slide from slide lock? If it wil chamber a round from slide lock I wouldn't worry about it. Some of my 1911's that will do that are built to very tight tolerances will jam like that when they get dry. Keep it lubed, it will keep getting better the more you shoot it.

Chris

 

[jkkfam89]

Re: Jams

dropped slide. Still jams. I will take it in.