question about SIG 229 trigger in SA

[jobowker]

I'm not good at describing this, so bear with me. I have an older SIG 229 (no rail) that seems to be developing a problem with the trigger. I'm not sure how many rounds I've had through it, but it's somewhere in the 1000's. When shooting in double action, everything is perfect. But when I shoot in sa, it feels like it's binding on something. As you start to squeeze, the pressure slowly starts to increase until the trigger is about 1/3 of the back, making you believe a little more movement and it will fire. It feels like around 3 lbs or so. As you continue to squeeze a little harder, the trigger goes past where it seemed stuck and then travels to where it should have stopped in the first place, and at that point it needs around 4.5 lbs to break and the gun actually goes off.

So in order to shoot it accurately, I have to get past the first hump without squeezing too much harder and have it fire, and then slowly squeeze like you normally would. I took it to my local gun shop and explained it to the guy, (they have a SIG armorer there once a week) and got it back a week later, but it was still doing the same thing. He cleaned it really well and replaced the older grips screws (which was nice) but I'm still having the same problem.

If you take the slide off with the hammer cocked, the trigger easily goes back to where it should.

Any ideas on what I should do next? Should I take it back to the same guy again or take it up to NH? I'd rather not mention the shop, since when I picked it up I didn't have time to shoot it so in his defense the guy doesn't know that I'm still experiencing the same problem.

I'm really attached to this 229 and shoot 40, 357 SIG and 9mm out of it, so I'd really like to get this fixed so I can be happy when shooting it.

Anyone else ever had an issue like this?

 

[Another_David]

do I understand this correctly: the trigger works fine with the slide off but is problematic with the slide on?

If so, I'm thinking the firing pin safety is gummed up or causing a problem somehow. Try pressing the firing pin safety lock in and see if it moves freely.

 

[jobowker]

That's correct. So if I take the slide off and hold it upside down in my hand, is the firing pin safety like a little plunger? Like a 3/4 circle?

 

[johnN]

yes

 

[jobowker]

I appreciate the help guys!
Then that's definitely where the problem lies. With the gun assembled and hammer back, the firing pin only moves a little, because of the firing pin safety. As soon as I feel the first "break", then I can move the firing pin it's full travel length. So it is when the firing pin safety is being pushed up out of the way that I feel the snag on the trigger. I would expect to feel something, but not to the point where I'm concerned about firing before I planned on it.

With the gun field stripped, I can push that firing pin safety lock "circle" (sorry for not using all of the correct terms) up and down freely, so I'm not sure if the problem is in the slide firing pin safety not moving easily enough or in the piece that does the pushing.

It seems like that shouldn't be that hard to push up - the force required on the trigger is just slightly less than the overall amount of pull on my 1911. I have to concentrate to convince my finger to ignore a 3 lb pull but pay attention to a 4.5 lb pull.

So what's the next step?

 

[Another_David]

do you know if the armorer took apart the slide and cleaned that? That's what I would do first--clean the slide internals and inspect for damage. The other issue could be the alignment between the pin safety (swinging lever in the lower) that is pushing the safety lock up. The pin safety (in the lower) should have a pronounced bump that makes contact with the pin lock. Is that pin safety bent or worn away or otherwise damaged?

take a look at the diagram in your manual (or online) and see if the part looks correctly shaped

Hard to say without looking at it.