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Problems with Sig Nitron

116K views 235 replies 52 participants last post by  gumbee 
#1 ·
So I've had a Sig Nitron (the standard base model) for awhile now. When I first bought it-the gun had serious reliability issues, numerous failures to feed, failures to eject, the works.

I sent it back to Sig and they polished the feed ramp and throated the barrel. The gun ran much better...only have a few rare hiccups, but it was much improved so I was fairly happy with it.

Due to the ammo shortages I've pretty much been using only Winchester white box which seems to work most of the time with the SIg. Now I got some Federal ammo and I'm having major issues with it in the Sig.

Every single time I try to rack the slide and draw a bullet into the chamber, the slide jams about 3/4 of the way back and the bullet is stuck. It hits (the ramp I believe) with such force the bullets are actually getting pushed back into the casing. I've tried this with multiple Federal rounds from different boxes, same issues. These same bullets feed without fail in my Colt.

What gives? Is Federal really that differently shaped from other types of ammo?

What's my next move here?

I don't really want to have to send it to Sig again, but this is really unacceptable. I really feel like this gun is a lemon and I would not trust my life to it, its had too many issues for me to feel confident in it.
 
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#192 ·
So I finally go my Sig Ultra running pretty well. Out of the box I had issues with it not extracting the spent casings all the way out of the chamber and trying to feed the next round into it getting everything all jammed up. Thanks to this thread and some other sources, I dug into it and finally cured the problem.

First I noticed that the extractors claw profile was not quite right. It came to a point and that point was the part that was applying pressure to the recess of the case, just above the base. I filed down the very tip of the claw until the inside of the claw made contact with the base of the case like it's supposed to. Perfect I thought so I reinstalled the extractor.

Now I created another problem to fix. I took off enough material that the extractor wouldn't pivot in enough to sufficiently hold the case. Just rearward of the breech face, on the extractor is a thicker spot called the locator pad. This is the part of the extractor that makes contact with the slide when pressure from the spring is applied. I slowly filed this spot until the extractor would pivot in enough to hold a shell.

Up to this point I have test fitted the extractor probably 100 times. I was going slow because you can't put metal back on!

So now that the claw profile was correct and the extractor fit better I put it all back together and took it out to shoot. After it was all back together I did the "shake" test and is seemed like the tension on the extractor as a little light. I hand cycled it and that seemed okay, plus I wanted to shoot it once just to see how it went. As suspected the tension was too light and it wouldn't extract a single case.

As suggested by Red earlier in this thread, I added some shims under the spring to increase the tension. I used 3 very small brass washers. That seemed to be about right on the tension on the shake test so I reassembled it and took it out to shoot. I as very optimistic this time that I had it right but I go the same results. Every case fired was left about half way in the chamber. At this point I as VERY frustrated and puzzled with my gun.

After looking closer at it, I noticed the same thing that Red mentioned earlier. With a case inserted into the extractor and pushed fully back to the breech face, the front of the extractor claw would ride up the bevel on the case and pivot it outwards. I believe that having the claw pivoted out like this while in battery, and then the extra rapid recoil of the short 3" barrel was not giving the claw time to pivot back in and grab the rim of the case.

So I took the extractor back out and filed down the end of the extractor until it was slim enough to not ride up the bevel and reassembled the gun. Then back to the range. It was like someone worked magic on it. It extracted every case perfectly. I ran 30 rds. through it and every single one extracted without fail. I did however have 2 hiccups. Although my FTE problem was solved, twice I had the first round in the magazine nose dive and not feed.

I sanded the breech face, the disconnector track and polished the feed ramp on the frame, the feed ramp on the barrel was pretty good already. After this final polishing, I finally got a few spare minutes to day to shoot and everything went perfectly. No failures of any kind in about 70 rds. and really felt like it cycled pretty smoothly. I guess in the end I am pretty happy with how it came out.

Sorry for the extra long post but I thought I would share so that it might help anyone experiencing the same issue.

I do have one question for you all though. I did add those shims to achieve the proper tension. Will I be safe removing the shims and stretching the spring a little or will that compromise the integrity of the spring. Or should I just leave well enough alone and leave the shims there since they really aren't hurting anything?

Thanks Everyone for all the help along the way too!
 
#194 ·
Awesome!
 
#199 ·
Oh boy. Looks like my Sig 1911 might have some of the factory optional issues talked about here. Guess I paid extra for that ;)

I only have "maybe" 200 rds through it since new. I was shooting Federal white box range ammo that day and I had a few issues. I had a couple of rounds fail to load when I insert a fresh mag and unlock the slide allowing it to slam forward. Forgive my ignorance, but I don't know all of the terminology. I had one round fail to fire, put it back in later and struck the primer a 2nd time with no results, dead primer. I had powder all up my arm from this ammo. I just assumed my poor day at the range was from cheap ammo.

Now I've bought reloading gear and started learning to load 185gn FP rounds and found that I still get the issue of not loading the rounds into the chamber and it jams the slide. Since my loads are a bit light on bullet tension I get bullet setback each time also. I get copper build up on the feed ramp from my plated bullets. My feed ramp has lines on it that you can feel with a finger nail and is not polished in my opinion.

I looked at the gun closer after reading this thread and was not thrilled with the findings. With the slide off I slide a case under the extractor and its pushing the case to the side. The breach face and the LH side wall have lots of brass marks, considering the light use of the gun.

I put the gun together and tried to make it fail in order to snap a pic, and of course it didn't jam for me just yet. Didn't want to wake the wife while making a bunch of noise in my reloading/office room at 1:30am, so I gave up slamming the slide on the gun for tonight. It did leave plenty of copper and brass marks during my testing and even a brass shaving was on the feed ramp afterwards.

I'm thinking that I need to pick up some jewelers files tomorrow if I can't find my old ones from several years back. I'm no gunsmith, but maybe I can lightly smooth out a spot here and there.

I love this gun and hope it will feed correctly. Especially cause it's making me question my new reloads





 
#203 ·
Oh boy. Looks like my Sig 1911 might have some of the factory optional issues talked about here. Guess I paid extra for that ;)
Send it to Sig if it's still under warranty. It's worth letting them try before you do any modifications that will void the warranty.

If your reloads are not crimped, your case mouth is probably too big. My Sig 1911 had an undersized chamber (either under sized or at the low end of the spec, I'm not sure which). If your cases are big or if your chamber is dirty, then it can cause a failure-to-battery jam ("FTB"). Try removing your bbl and doing a drop test to see if the rounds will drop all the way into the chamber with just gravity.
 
#200 ·
Brass marks from use is normal. The gun not feeding ball ammo and leaving brass shavings isn't.

Don't take files to areas like barrel or frame ramps. It's way too easy to remove too much metal. Please send the gun back to Sig or have a professional give the gun a reliability package.
 
#201 ·
Custom2, I've ran across a couple of these rough ones, now. I had a "Nightmare Carry" model come across my desk with a nasty frame ramp and a too-long hook on the extractor. Re-shaping the extractor nose and using decent magazines cleared that one up. I cleaned up the feed ramp a bit, but I don't think it was bad enough that it needed it. It was otherwise fine, but like you, I'm still not impressed with these pistols as much as I'd like to be.
 
#202 ·
The thing that sucks the most is that they have so much potential. If they just hit the reset button and built the guns like they did in 2010 and got a couple people in there that knew what the hell they were doing the guns would run awesome.

Did the frame and barrel ramps look like they were "polished" with a coarse cratex in a side to side motion instead of being polished with something fine going in the direction of the bullet?

All the most recent Sigs I've worked on had the direction of the grain of the polish going the wrong way.
 
#204 ·
My rounds do fall into the barrel like mentioned. But I have a new taper crimp die coming this weekend to get a better size than I am getting now. I bought the wrong die set when I ordered my press cause I didn't know there was a difference. I can get the case diameter down to the max dia but not down as far as everyone recommends

I love this gun, but having the lines on the feed ramp that are so rough you can feel them is not good quality.
 
#205 ·
Custom2, that Nightmare Carry's ramp had machining marks, like the milling bit running down it had too fast of a feed rate or a lot of dings on the cutting teeth. It didn't receive any post-production treatment.
 
#206 ·
I bought my one and only Sig 1911 a couple years ago. Most overpriced 1911 I've ever owned (and I've owned plenty). I ended up gutting mine and it's a decent pistol now, but no where near the minimum out of the box standard most discriminating 1911 owners would entertain. Besides the crappy MIM parts and sub-standard production techniques, the blocky proprietary design does nothing for the attractiveness of the make. I'll hold on to mine because I've basically rebuilt the frame and slide into a solid piece of equipment. Sorry to be so negative when there's likely new owners looking to validate their purchase choice, but every prospective Sig customer should have all the information before plunking down hard-earned Porsche money for a Chevy.
 
#208 ·
I have two Sig 1911 TacOps and four Sig 1911 Ultras. All have been flawless with a variety of ammo and mags. Very good fit and finish. A little more accurate than the Springfield TRP which I regret buying.

The TRP might be a decent value - if the price were cut in half.

If someone does not like the look of the Sig 1911 slide, they should never have purchased it to begin with. Don't buy it and then gripe about something that was so obvious. Or buy the Sig 1911 traditional.
 
#209 ·
I've been wanting to pick up a SIG XO to go with my other assorted 1911s but am a little hesitant after reading this thread. I think though that most of the manafacturers represented on this board have problems from time to time but that most of the guns they produce are reliable. Do you own a SIG XO and has it been reliable for you?
 
#210 ·
I'm still having major issues with my Sig 1911. I hate the thought of having to ship it off to Sig and would love to figure it out

Happened several times today at the range. I posted about it in the reloading section since I associated it with my reloads. Not sure it's the fault of the reloads. I had it do it with PMC 230 gn RN today also.










Not thrilled with the lines in my barrel feed ramp, but several people say it might not be causing my issues.


 
#213 ·
Which model of Nitron do you own? Many of the models such as 226 , 227 and so on have a Nitron version. Basically though unless you have a .22 your gun should work regardless of the brands you are using. A .22 you will want to shoot high velocity or you can count on jams. Not enough back pressure with normal velocity .22 to fully kick back the working of the gun. Regular .22 LR are not made for semi automatics. They will give you problems.
 
#219 ·
The only thing you can do is take the info from this thread from both points of view and make your own informed buying decision. I had the opportunity to buy Sigs at 50% off MSRP and chose to not buy any. A good deal on a so so pistol isn't that great of a deal in my opinion.
 
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