.380 last shot hold open problems?

greener · Post by **greener** » Sun May 30, 2010 10:24 am

I got a close look at the Sig P238 yesterday. Darned nice pistol and it seems to be reasonably accurate. The pistol was giving the owner fits with the last round hold open feature, which was locking the slide back randomly and often with rounds in the mag. I had the same problem with my Taurus PT738 until I tweaked the mags a bit. Is this a problem generic to the little pistols with last round automatic hold open features?

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Sun May 30, 2010 12:16 pm

well, my cheap KelTec p32 doesn't have that issue, so probably not endemic to mouseguns in general.

Caliber isn't the issue here. The mechanism for an empty magazine engaging the slide is. You night want to edit your title to a model rather than a caliber.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sun May 30, 2010 1:00 pm

It's not an issue that I'm aware of. I run on the Sig forum and once in awhile one comes through. Most of the complaints are not locking it back on the last round.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun May 30, 2010 3:23 pm

I have heard of a few of this type of failures with the new Sig 238 model. One was consistently locking the slide with one round remaining in the magazine. The solution is likely with the mag activating the mag latch. It could be that the mag body is moving upward and forcing up the catch. Another cause could be with the slide stop spring. Either the stop is not seated properly under the spring or the spring is bent and allowing the latch to move upward under the forces of recoil.

R,
Bullseye

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Sun May 30, 2010 4:22 pm

Not sure on the SIG internal layout, but could the bullet be contacting the latch?

I do like the mini 1911 look of the gun, and they feel like a real gun in the hand (the KT doesn't )

If I had any use for the. 380 cartridge I'd be very interested in one.

bgreenea3 · Post by **bgreenea3** » Mon May 31, 2010 4:15 pm

One problem with little guns is that the shooters thumb can inadvertantly hit the slide stop and cause it to engage, i would venture to say that is why many do not have an external slide stop lever (like the ppk). especially if the shooter has large hands, which you have greener

In the police academy we shot glock 17's and when I started my 1st police job we carried Sig p226's, It took me a little while to figure out why the mag kept dropping out when I fired the Sig until it was pointed out that I was hitting the mag release because of how I held the gun...

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Mon May 31, 2010 5:32 pm

Yes, as someone with monster hands I know the importance of only operating one external control at a time on a small handgun. One reason I love my Walther PPS is that it is really hard to accidentally operate the mag release or slide latch.

I still think the OP's issue is possibly the bullet noses bumping up the empty-magazine interlock, see if there's enough side-to-side play in the mags for that to happen before going Danny Dremel on the thing.

Post by **Bullseye** » Mon May 31, 2010 7:20 pm

Having had some experience with this model, inadvertent activation of the slide stop is a very real possibility. This is quite a small framed pistol.

R,
Bullseye