Plastic guide rod Sig P229

wacky_doug

wacky_doug

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Took advantage of the Four Seasons sale to pick up a P229. Much to my surprise the guide rod is polymer instead of metal.

So is Sig just getting cheaper, or is there some good reason for this? Perhaps the recoil spring compresses better on the polymer rod. On my older 229, the recoil spring is very tight on the metal rod and it looks deformed.

I'll probably just swap it out for a metal one.
 
wacky_doug said:
Took advantage of the Four Seasons sale to pick up a P229. Much to my surprise the guide rod is polymer instead of metal.

So is Sig just getting cheaper, or is there some good reason for this? Perhaps the recoil spring compresses better on the polymer rod. On my older 229, the recoil spring is very tight on the metal rod and it looks deformed.

I'll probably just swap it out for a metal one.
Click to expand...

I suspect the former rather than the latter - that and weight savings. The rod on my 239 is plastic. Haven't noticed any issues with it.
 
This comes up a lot. All the rod does is guide the spring (hence the name) and keep it from popping out. It takes very little load in any direction and really doesn't need to be metal.
 
Thanks all. I'll leave it alone for a while and see how it does. Guess I'm just old school with plastic and guns. (Cue Glock jokes in 3...2...1...)

Anyway, I can't complain with Carl's awesome Sig prices right now. It was hard to buy just one.
 
wacky_doug said:
...So is Sig just getting cheaper, or is there some good reason for this?
Click to expand...

Sig has been playing cheap with their pistols for a little while now. For a short time they were shipping guns with only one magazine (I believe they're back to two now), also the plastic guide rods, as well as poor QC on some internal areas of the finish. Overall the quality of their guns IMO is still very good, just aggravating when you're paying the same or more for a product and somehow getting a little less. [thinking]
 
Yeah, they're back to 2 mags now. That had stupid penny pinching written all over it.

I noticed that this newest p229 doesn't have "frame made in Germany" written on it like my other Sigs. Not sure that makes a difference, but I was surprised.
 
wacky_doug said:
Yeah, they're back to 2 mags now. That had stupid penny pinching written all over it.

I noticed that this newest p229 doesn't have "frame made in Germany" written on it like my other Sigs. Not sure that makes a difference, but I was surprised.
Click to expand...

That's because thy make the frames in NH now. The stamped frames were made in Germany, the milled ones are made in the US.
 
Topgunsupply.com bought up a bunch of the old style SIG guide rods (hollow metal tube) or you can get a solid stainless one from Grayguns.
 
Bob P said:
That's because thy make the frames in NH now. The stamped frames were made in Germany, the milled ones are made in the US.
Click to expand...

Must have missed that. I guess it's been a little while since I bought a new one.

PaulD said:
Topgunsupply.com bought up a bunch of the old style SIG guide rods (hollow metal tube) or you can get a solid stainless one from Grayguns.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I happen to have an extra from TGS. TGS is an awesome place to get parts.
 
It's a guide rod for crying out loud.

BTW, Sig has used them on and off over the years, so this isn't "new" just different. I had a late 90s P239 that had a plastic guide rod. I don't know who had owned it before me, but that gun probably had many thousands of rounds of 9mm poured through it.

The only reason to go steel is because it adds weight to the front end of the gun, and because "it looks cool".

-Mike
 
Bob P said:
That's because thy make the frames in NH now. The stamped frames were made in Germany, the milled ones are made in the US.
Click to expand...

All sig frames are milled/machined. You must be thinking of the slides- and yes, only folded slides came from Germany.

Further, If you go into most MA gun stores and you look at a new P series sig on the shelf, it probably has a German frame. My guess is they can't keep up with production or they are having some QC problems on the US produced frames. There was a long phase where all you would see was US frames, but now its back to German frames with what is probably US slides.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
All sig frames are milled/machined. You must be thinking of the slides- and yes, only folded slides came from Germany.

Further, If you go into most MA gun stores and you look at a new P series sig on the shelf, it probably has a German frame. My guess is they can't keep up with production or they are having some QC problems on the US produced frames. There was a long phase where all you would see was US frames, but now its back to German frames with what is probably US slides.

-Mike
Click to expand...

Yah, was a typo on my part. Brain fart.
 
Big Joe said:
Sig has been playing cheap with their pistols for a little while now. For a short time they were shipping guns with only one magazine (I believe they're back to two now), also the plastic guide rods, as well as poor QC on some internal areas of the finish. Overall the quality of their guns IMO is still very good, just aggravating when you're paying the same or more for a product and somehow getting a little less. [thinking]
Click to expand...

I bought my P229 brand new and the barrel already had a bunch of wear marks on it, presumably from people racking it in the shop. The inside of the slide around where the barrel goes (on the flat part that the top of the barrel would slide against) has a finish issue too. It looks like they got to the inside and just... stopped finishing it. Everything functions fine though, and the gun otherwise looks great.
 
exodious said:
I bought my P229 brand new and the barrel already had a bunch of wear marks on it, presumably from people racking it in the shop. The inside of the slide around where the barrel goes (on the flat part that the top of the barrel would slide against) has a finish issue too. It looks like they got to the inside and just... stopped finishing it. Everything functions fine though, and the gun otherwise looks great.
Click to expand...

I have the same issue on my SAS, I called Sig to ask them about it and they said that's from the jig the slides are now held in to apply the finish to the slide.
 
Get a steel one. I bought one for my Glock 26 here http://btguiderods.com/ Great quality product!! If you have a pistol with telescopic springs and want top notch reliability a steel guide rod is a must. If you shoot a lot there is a chance the outer spring will expand over the inner one do to a guide rod failure.
 
radioman said:
Get a steel one. I bought one for my Glock 26 here http://btguiderods.com/ Great quality product!! If you have a pistol with telescopic springs and want top notch reliability a steel guide rod is a must. If you shoot a lot there is a chance the outer spring will expand over the inner one do to a guide rod failure.
Click to expand...

Sig P229s do not have a dual recoil spring system. The guide rod is not a load-bearing part in a Sig. You could probably make due with a wooden or cardboard rod.

My advice? Be cool and replace it with an exotic metal, like tungsten (EDIT: Unless you want to shoot a competition where this is illegal). Or just leave it and spend the money on more ammo. I've done the second, and am perfectly happy.
 
Last edited:
radioman said:
Get a steel one. I bought one for my Glock 26 here http://btguiderods.com/ Great quality product!! If you have a pistol with telescopic springs and want top notch reliability a steel guide rod is a must. If you shoot a lot there is a chance the outer spring will expand over the inner one do to a guide rod failure.
Click to expand...

I've owned a bunch of guns that had dual springs and have never had this problem, even with the plastic ones.

This is a $54.00 solution to a problem that (largely) doesn't exist. I've seen one guy on here that had a P99c spring fail like that, though....

A far more common problem in Glock pistols is springs that are simply worn out. This can cause all kinds of serious function issues, the worst of
which is a failure to fire because the gun won't fully go into battery if the spring is too weak.


-Mike
 
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