Posted: 8/10/2017 5:28:57 PM EDT
|
At this point in time I have 6,150 rounds through my P226 SAO Legion and have never had a malfunction. I’ve never had a gun, including the Glock’s I’ve owned, go that long without multiple malfunctions. Over the next couple of months I’ll be shooting more than I ever have in preparation for a 6 day class at CSAT (Combat Shooting And Tactics), so it seemed like a good time for a reliability challenge.
I just finished giving my P226 a nice deep clean and it’s ready for action. Covering the rails is Super Lube Synthetic Grease, a PTFE lubricant. Everywhere else has Shooter’s Choice FP-10 oil. From this point forward it will not be cleaned and receive no more grease or oil. The ammo used will consist of Aguila, American Eagle, Browning, and Federal. The challenge stops when the malfunctions start. Along the way I’ll give periodic updates. How many rounds do you think it will take? 
|
|
I have a P226 I got back in 1988 and it has about 20,000 round through it.
In all that time it has never had any parts changed and there was only 1 malfunction. My ex wife (but wife at the time) was using it in a shooting match and had the gun pressed up against a door way. On each shot, the groves on the back of the slide took a small bit of wood off the door way until she pressed the gun so hard against the door that the slide didn't go all the way forward. That was the lone "malfunction". When she removed the gun from the door, the slide closed and the gun was back in action. |
|
Quoted:
I think it will go around 1256 rounds from here before it is too gummed up to continue on. I think your putting excessive wear on it by trying this challenge without cleaning and lube but hey, I aint your momma, Go for it! Mine has malfunctioned with reloads and frankenmags but never with factory mags and factory ammo. |
|
Should go a long time.
The longest for me that I kept track of was a Canadian born Para P14-45. The first mag through the gun I had one failure, I chalk that up to break in. Malf 2&3 were mag spring related in one factory mag at about 2000 in, and malf 4 was the same, about the same count. Those springs were already showing weakness, and I had the Wolff springs already. After replacing the Wolff springs, there were no more mag related malfs. I had also ordered a new recoil spring from Wolff at the same time, and decided to see how long the oem spring would go. It went about 500 more rounds and I had malf 5 due to that. I was at the range when it happened, and replaced the spring there, and put another 150 or so rounds through it. The gun then went from 2500rds to 12,500rds without any other failure, so basically 10,000+ , all but a few boxes were hand loads, of every weight and type imaginable in the 185-230gr lead, plated, fmj, and xtp types. The gun was cleaned every few thousand and the spring replacement schedule was followed. I sold it and bought a cheap RIA single stack in 2011, and it had two malfs in the first factory mag, since then it's not had any malfs of any kind, having gone through the same ammo types as the Para. It's got around 4,000rds on it, fed by Chip McCormick mags as primaries, and factories as backups. I clean it about every 500 to 1000 rounds. Both hand guns were lubed with a mix of Mobile 1 synthetic oil and enough synthetic atf Dextron / Mercron to turn it reddish. I've tried slip EWL and others, but nothing worked nearly as well. That Sig should exceed those guns easily. The little RIA is going to a new home this week, and I'm adopting a H&K P30L, and also one for my son. That old Para is still going strong too, or was last I heard. I think any modern gun should do well though there are obvious models to stay away from and the occasional lemon. |
| Going to that try getting some dirt and water on/in it or this strictly round count? Not trolling but I'm curious about environmental factors. After watching a video about some minimal environmental factors and malfunctions.....I'm curious of what people have found. |
|
Quoted:
Going to that try getting some dirt and water on/in it or this strictly round count? Not trolling but I'm curious about environmental factors. After watching a video about some minimal environmental factors and malfunctions.....I'm curious of what people have found. |
| Just hit 3,000 this morning! https://gunpowdermeditation.com/2017/09/28/sig-sauer-p226-sao-legion-reliability-challenge-3000-round-update/ |
|
Thanks for doing this!
I love my 226. Had it since 2005 and shot it a fair amount. Never a single jam of any kind, but I clean and lube it and stuff. I think your 226 will go longer for you than for some others because you are using my favorite grease on the rails and you changed out the recoil spring. I predict you'll get 6XXX til you have a malfunction of some kind. You should post some of those awesome pix here and liven this thread up a bit. |
|
Quoted:
Thanks for doing this! You should post some of those awesome pix here and liven this thread up a bit. After Photobucket screwed everyone I haven't setup a new service yet and since nearly every forum handles pictures differently it was easiest to post links. I'll setup a new service and throw in some from the next update. |
|
Quoted:
Spring maintenance continues on schedule. It got a new recoil spring when the test started and will get a new one at 5,000 rounds. Recoil Spring - 5k rounds Decocking lever spring - 10k rounds Slide Catch Lever & Spring - 10K rounds Trigger Bar Spring - 10k rounds Extractor & Extractor Spring - 20k rounds Firing pin & Firing Pin Spring - 20k rounds Safety lock spring - 20k rounds Take down lever - 20k rounds |
|
Quoted:
Dont know if you've been to the armorer's class or not, but Sig's part replacement schedule is as follows: Recoil Spring - 5k rounds Decocking lever spring - 10k rounds Slide Catch Lever & Spring - 10K rounds Trigger Bar Spring - 10k rounds Extractor & Extractor Spring - 20k rounds Firing pin & Firing Pin Spring - 20k rounds Safety lock spring - 20k rounds Take down lever - 20k rounds Quoted:
Quoted:
Spring maintenance continues on schedule. It got a new recoil spring when the test started and will get a new one at 5,000 rounds. Recoil Spring - 5k rounds Decocking lever spring - 10k rounds Slide Catch Lever & Spring - 10K rounds Trigger Bar Spring - 10k rounds Extractor & Extractor Spring - 20k rounds Firing pin & Firing Pin Spring - 20k rounds Safety lock spring - 20k rounds Take down lever - 20k rounds |
|
Quoted:
Can the locking insert be replaced? It's stronger than the frame of the gun. I mean if you lost it after doing a full frame breakdown for cleaning, sure. But I cant think of a reason you'd need to that wouldnt also involve purchasing a new gun. I'm just an armorer, not an engineer, so there may be valid reasons to replace it, but I cant think of them. |
|
Quoted:
Yes, but why? It's stronger than the frame of the gun. I mean if you lost it after doing a full frame breakdown for cleaning, sure. But I cant think of a reason you'd need to that wouldnt also involve purchasing a new gun. I'm just an armorer, not an engineer, so there may be valid reasons to replace it, but I cant think of them. Quoted:
Quoted:
Can the locking insert be replaced? It's stronger than the frame of the gun. I mean if you lost it after doing a full frame breakdown for cleaning, sure. But I cant think of a reason you'd need to that wouldnt also involve purchasing a new gun. I'm just an armorer, not an engineer, so there may be valid reasons to replace it, but I cant think of them. |
|
Quoted:
 Next time you will get an account warning for trollingQuoted:
Quoted:
How many drop test will be performed? Next time you will get an account warning for trolling Hot summer day and I slipped coming around a barricade, banged the gun against the barricade as I went down and it went clattering out of my sweaty hand onto the ground in front of me. Gun did what it was supposed to, no bang, just dirty. I had been doing well up to that point but got DQ'd. It happens.
And yeah, my OCD wouldn't let me run a gun that dirty.  I bought it NIB in the 80s and I think it has somewhere around 10,000 rounds through it; I've never changed anything in it including the recoil spring, still runs fine. I've got replacement springs waiting for it but it's like the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going. I take that back, I lost a grip screw at a match and had to replace it. I finished that match with a piece of cloth tape around the grip. I've also got a Sig factory threaded barrel that's boringly reliable as well. It's still my favorite handgun. 
|