Slight issue with my new STX...mainspring has been shortened?!

[ColdBlood]

I know the rules...this is not a gripe. Just looking for advice and to see if anyone has dealt with Sig in a similar situation.

Background info...I found a new STX at a local shop, still with the blue Sig Sauer band on it. Sticker on the box says it's an August 2010 manufacture. The gun has some minor flaws, but I didn't care...I wanted it to shoot, and I figured it's probably been fingered by 100 people over the past 18+ months. It was the only STX I could find locally, so I just grabbed it. So far, I've put two boxes through it and it's the most accurate pistol I've ever fired (worked in dad's gun shop for nearly 10 years, btw). It looks incredible too (see my other thread "Max inspired STX").

Needless to say, I really love the gun, but my initial impression was that it feels a bit loose (grip safety and trigger both have a lot of lateral play) and the trigger pull seems a bit light for a factory gun...maybe 4 lbs, feels closer to 3.5 to me. Now my suspicions are confirmed with this shortened mainspring...someone was most definitely in there screwing around with it.

First question, not that it's necessarily relevant, but what would someone gain by cutting/shortening the mainspring? Reduction in tension on the hammer, I assume...trying to lighten the pull or speed up the lock time?

Second question - How would you handle it? Talk to Sig or Dealer? If I talk to the dealer, I know he's not going to have another STX. If I deal with Sig, I'm afraid they're going to tell me to take it up with the dealer.

This dealer also happens to be located in the shooting range I frequent...really don't want to become persona non grata over there. Plus, he knows my dad from back when we had our gun store.

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EDIT - I got the bright idea to just call Sig and be honest with them. They said to send it in and put a note explaining the situation. They've always been good about taking care of stuff in the past, but I've never had to call them with anything absurd like this.

[custom2]

Was it shortened or were the top and bottom flattened equally?

I do it on my personal guns to take burrs off. It can smooth out a gritty mainspring.

Do you have a pic of the spring?

Edited to clarify. I sand down the top and bottom to smooth out the mainspring. I don't cut coils.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by custom2

Was it shortened or were the top and bottom flattened equally?

I do it on my personal guns to take burrs off. It can smooth out a gritty mainspring.

Do you have a pic of the spring?

This looks like someone clipped off about 4-6 coils with a pair of snips...and they didn't even bother to smooth out, or flatten, what was left. My jaw about hit the floor.

I thought to myself "Man...I should have taken a picture." about 20 seconds after I got the gun back together and packed up in the box.

I'm not taking it apart again...that would be the third time this morning. I just put in a new Nighthawk trigger. It was upon reassembly that I noticed the mainspring housing was a little too easy to get back into the frame, so I took the mainspring out to see what was going on. So then I had to turn around and take the new trigger out, so I can ship it off to Sig.

This is totally NOT Sig's problem, but I think they're the only ones who can really help me...the guy at Sig sounded pretty confident I'd be taken care of. I'm not sure it's possible, but I might be even more of a Sig fan boy after this. :-)

[Trikegodtroll]

Originally Posted by ColdBlood

First question, what would someone gain by cutting/shortening the mainspring? Reduction in tension on the hammer

Second question - How would you handle it?

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First; yes, a lighter mainspring can reduce trigger pull weight.

Second; I would order a mainspring set, and do it myself.



I'm thinking if you want warranty work form Sig. You will need to put it all back to stock configuration.

Good luck and let us know how it goes............................... Troll

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by Trikegodtroll

First; yes, a lighter mainspring can reduce trigger pull weight.

Second; I would order a mainspring set, and do it myself.



I'm thinking if you want warranty work form Sig. You will need to put it all back to stock configuration.

Good luck and let us know how it goes............................... Troll

I have a mainspring lying around, but that's not what I'm worried about. The gun looked a little rough as I was taking it apart to clean it the first time, and I thought the trigger was light to begin with. My concern is safety...who knows what else was tampered with.

Judging by all the little nicks and marks on the frame, whoever had this gun apart didn't necessarily know what they were doing...and apparently they were monkeying with the ignition system. I'd be surprised if all they did was cut the mainspring.

It's already back in stock configuration and ready to ship back.

[Trikegodtroll]

Good plan, it will be nice for them to look at the sear and hammer hooks, disconnector, ect...even frame/barrel ramps & ejector? Sure is a puzzle. Hope you find out what happened and have your weapon checked over 100%.
Then you'll be good from there on out............................... Troll
P.S........ When my C3 went back last month. From send to receive took one week. The work done was great.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by Trikegodtroll

Good plan, it will be nice for them to look at the sear and hammer hooks, disconnector, ect...even frame/barrel ramps & ejector? Sure is a puzzle. Hope you find out what happened and have your weapon checked over 100%.
Then you'll be good from there on out............................... Troll
P.S........ When my C3 went back last month. From send to receive took one week. The work done was great.

Yeah, it's strange. I don't know why anyone would be allowed to mess with a brand new gun.

I don't feel bad about the purchase at all, though. The STX is hard to find and after shooting two boxes through it, I know I will have it that gun a long time. It'll be worth whatever trouble I have to go through.

What I'm hoping is that they don't have to replace anything in the upper half of the gun. That barrel/bushing/slide is insanely accurate....that lower half, however, will have to be completely rebuilt.

[FrontRangeFuzz]

You did the right thing by sending it to Sig, IMO. For your safety (as well as your sanity), having them go through the bottom of the gun to check for any hack work is the best thing you could do in this situation. You mentioned the grip tag - was this gun sold to you under the impression that it was a new piece?

Depending on what they find, I'd be letting the gun store know what's up. Not to be an ass, but just to let them know that a gun they sold you was "no bueno" when you took delivery, especially if advertised as new. That isn't cool.

[Onegoodshot]

Sounds like it might have been a range pistol where you bought it. Since they never sold it before, they sold it to you as new. Easy way to see if pistols been shot is look at the breech face, and sides where cartridge slides into breech.
Also look at extractor hook, and front of ejector. And then also look closely at the slide stop.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by Onegoodshot

Sounds like it might have been a range pistol where you bought it. Since they never sold it before, they sold it to you as new. Easy way to see if pistols been shot is look at the breech face, and sides where cartridge slides into breech.
Also look at extractor hook, and front of ejector. And then also look closely at the slide stop.

Oh, I know for a fact that gun had been shot, and more than just at the Sig factory. I've personally unpacked over a hundred various Sigs (to put out on display in the family gun shop), so I know what they look like after a few rounds at the factory.

This one, I'm guessing it had 100-200 rounds through it since it was last cleaned - hard to say if it had been fired any more before that. And honestly, I didn't/wouldn't care if it had been shot a couple hundred rounds at the range there....what I'm concerned about is that someone tampered with the internals and they didn't know what they were doing. A little wear on a gun I plan to shoot a lot isn't a big deal. I just don't want it blowing up (or going off) on me or a family member.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by FrontRangeFuzz

You did the right thing by sending it to Sig, IMO. For your safety (as well as your sanity), having them go through the bottom of the gun to check for any hack work is the best thing you could do in this situation. You mentioned the grip tag - was this gun sold to you under the impression that it was a new piece?

Depending on what they find, I'd be letting the gun store know what's up. Not to be an ass, but just to let them know that a gun they sold you was "no bueno" when you took delivery, especially if advertised as new. That isn't cool.

Oh yeah, it was sold as new. The band was on it, and the price was a little high, to be honest.

And don't worry, I'm pretty pissed at that gun shop. I asked about the wear when I picked it up, and they played dumb...so they had a chance to be honest and they weren't. So now they've wasted my time. I'll definitely let them know what Sig says about it, and if Sig won't do anything for me, they're going to give me a full refund (or else). I'm guessing Sig will be having a talk with them too when they see this "new" Sig I was sold.

[FrontRangeFuzz]

Sounds like you are dealing with a very similar situation that I had with my TacOps, with the advantage of being able to talk to them face-to-face. The difference here is that the shop AND Sig (in my case) absolutely jumped at the chance to take the suspect gun back and get me a new one. These guys, on the other hand, played stupid with you on a gun that had been obviously (and dangerously) modified. Pure class.

Yeah, Sig will take one look at that and some red flags will be raised.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by Trikegodtroll

Good plan, it will be nice for them to look at the sear and hammer hooks, disconnector, ect...even frame/barrel ramps & ejector? Sure is a puzzle. Hope you find out what happened and have your weapon checked over 100%.
Then you'll be good from there on out............................... Troll
P.S........ When my C3 went back last month. From send to receive took one week. The work done was great.

That's what I'm hoping (for them to look over all the other crap that may have been messed with).

Thanks for the info...a one week lead-time sounds great to me.

[FB Si]

Selling something that's used as new is called "theft by deception".

They would be taking that gun back and refunding my money, or they would be getting a visit by the Sheriffs office.

[ColdBlood]

Little update...

I shipped the STX out on Monday 5/14.

On Saturday 5/19, I received the email from Sig stating my gun has been shipped back. They gave me the FedEx tracking number, so I pulled it up to see the scheduled delivery date...they're showing Tuesday 5/22.

Now for the interesting part - Sig hasn't said anything to me at all, but according to FedEx tracking screen, the gun is apparently being shipped back to the city where the dealer is located, rather than the city I live in.

From what I know, Sig won't ship to a dealer unless the gun was sent in for warranty work through that dealer. The only reason I can think of for them to ship back to the dealer is if they replaced the pistol completely.

I emailed the rep I dealt with at Sig, but I'm guessing I won't hear back from him until tomorrow. Anyone ever had them replace a gun and not tell you first?

[Trikegodtroll]

Does your state law allow to your door handgun delivery?.......... Troll

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by Trikegodtroll

Does your state law allow to your door handgun delivery?.......... Troll

As far as I know, it's OK as long the handgun already belongs to you. If it's a new one, you have to fill out the federal form and go through a NICS check.

[FrontRangeFuzz]

Warranty work should come directly to your doorstep, unless it's prohibited by the state you live in.

Sounds like you're getting a new pistol, although until you hear back from Sig and/or get your hands on the gun, we won't know for sure. If they replaced it, it's a pity they're sending it to the goofballs that sold you the messed up gun in the first place.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by FrontRangeFuzz

Warranty work should come directly to your doorstep, unless it's prohibited by the state you live in.

Sounds like you're getting a new pistol, although until you hear back from Sig and/or get your hands on the gun, we won't know for sure. If they replaced it, it's a pity they're sending it to the goofballs that sold you the messed up gun in the first place.

My family had a gun shop that I worked in for about 10 years, and that's how it was in Missouri back then...they'd usually bring them into the shop for us to ship out, and then Sig (or whoever) would ship the repaired gun directly to the customer.

If they did send me a new gun, I'm kinda glad that gun store has to see it. This way they'll know that we (myself and Sig Sauer) know what they did. If Sig did send me a new gun, or at least admit that the gun was tampered with, I'm going to ask the gun store to reimburse me the $55 it cost me.

[ColdBlood]

Oh boy. They shipped the freaking gun to my business address. They said they had it on file from one time when I ordered an $18 thread protector (which was sent in a bubble envelope the mail).

Now for the good news. The mainspring was replaced, gun checked over and the frame was refinished (cool bonus - didn't necessarily expect that). The top half of the gun was left alone. I kinda wish they had replaced the adjustable combat night sights with a set of fresh tritium...but overall, they did a lot more than I think they were obligated to.

Now for my next Sig...but I think it might be two. That X-5 tactical is looking like a good match for a 1911 Tacops Traditional. Lights on both, of course.

[FrontRangeFuzz]

Whoops! Glad nobody decided to get ants in the pants about that one, or walk away with the package! I'm sure you feel better knowing that the gun has been given a once over. New finish on the frame is great too. I'd be a happy camper, as I'm sure you are too now.

My personal vote is, of course, the TR TacOps.

[ColdBlood]

Originally Posted by FrontRangeFuzz

Whoops! Glad nobody decided to get ants in the pants about that one, or walk away with the package! I'm sure you feel better knowing that the gun has been given a once over. New finish on the frame is great too. I'd be a happy camper, as I'm sure you are too now.

My personal vote is, of course, the TR TacOps.

Yes, I feel much better. They also replaced the trigger, or bead blasted it along with the frame. That'll be coming out tonight, so I can put my Nighthawk trigger back in it.

Oh, no need to vote...that will be my next 1911. I want the X-5 tactical to go with it.