Sig P238 & Hollow points

[RobertW]

I own a P-238 Sig and can't seem to find a hollow point that this thing will eat it will shoot any brand or type of FMJ and its a "tack driver" but for a weapon that ones life may depend on...it would be nice to have the added benefit of a hollow point.
Any ideas??

 

[father-of-three]

I don't have p238, but speer gold dots have worked well with my 380s.

 

[Purple]

Running Winchester Defenders in my P238. Haven't had an issue. Each gun is unique and you should never carry any defensive ammo in your carry gun if you've never spent time at the range to make certain that the rounds will cycle. I would suggest that you try a few different rounds to make certain that they feed and cycle and the gun is controllable.

 

[ScottMac]

Try polishing the ramp. Nothing too serious, a light dusting with 320 grit (or higher), or/and a good metal polish (one that does NOT leave a wax residue).

A couple hundred rounds of ball or so will also smooth it out a little and may help your feed issue.

 

[RobertW]

I agree 100% I am just trying to save myself a few bucks (being the price of defensive ammo) by getting in the ballpark faster
thanks for the help

 

[father-of-three]

These options may be a little hard on the wallet, but if your weapon shoot FMJ with no problem, corbon pow'r ball or Federal expandable FMJ may work for you, as neither of these cartridges have a hollow point cavity. The federals look like regular FMJ's but they have "cuts" in the bullet that encourages expansion, with a softer material underneath.

 

[RobertW]

These options may be a little hard on the wallet, but if your weapon shoot FMJ with no problem, corbon pow'r ball or Federal expandable FMJ may work for you, as neither of these cartridges have a hollow point cavity. The federals look like regular FMJ's but they have "cuts" in the bullet that encourages expansion, with a softer material underneath.

Now that seems like a nice option.....when you look at the feed ramp it is very narrow even in comparison to a 9mm so it seems to "drag" on the outer edge of the bullet....so an expandable FMJ would seem to be the answer...thank you

 

[HootmonSccy]

My wife uses Winchester Ranger's.. Haven't had an issue..
Well, we haven't had an issue with the pistol at all.. It's been great..
Sounds like a bit of a feed ramp issue; However, You didn't really state if it was a FTL or a FTE issue, looks like everyone assumed it to be a FTL issue.. '
Are you using the stock magazines?? We bought a couple of after market ones and have had some issues with them, but the stock mags have worked great..

 

[RobertW]

My wife uses Winchester Ranger's.. Haven't had an issue..
Well, we haven't had an issue with the pistol at all.. It's been great..
Sounds like a bit of a feed ramp issue; However, You didn't really state if it was a FTL or a FTE issue, looks like everyone assumed it to be a FTL issue.. '
Are you using the stock magazines?? We bought a couple of after market ones and have had some issues with them, but the stock mags have worked great..

Stock mags....45$ a piece....I have put 700 rounds thru it without a miss.....until I tried a 95 gr fmjhp... just looking at it, there doesn't seem like there is much room for any deviation in a hollow point round being the feed ramp is very "narrow"...I mean I get it that they made very nice and tiny just to keep the size of pistol at a minimum...that being the case if need be, I will just shoot fmj rounds thru it cause with those it is an amazing piece that lays them right on top of another at 15 yards...not only that it is a "back up against the wall" gun not a primary piece...it fits great at the ankle

 

[Old Zebra]

I use Hornady's Critical Defense 90 grain hollow-points with my P238. Haven't had a single malfunction with them. And for me, they've been the most accurate defense round I've used with this gun.

 

[RobertW]

I use Hornady's Critical Defense 90 grain hollow-points with my P238. Haven't had a single malfunction with them. And for me, they've been the most accurate defense round I've used with this gun.

Those are very nice rounds also....thanks to all for the great information no doubt I will find one of those who work just fine

 

[HardCorps53]

I use Hornady's Critical Defense 90 grain hollow-points with my P238. Haven't had a single malfunction with them. And for me, they've been the most accurate defense round I've used with this gun.

I'm with Old Zebra. I've had no issues with Hornady's Critical Defense. I've had no issues with any ammo except for some old Remington FMJ reloads. But the Hornady is what's in my magazines for everyday carry.

 

[LPC1625]

I'd personally send the gun back to Sig as it's definately an issue with the gun if you're having that much trouble tracking down a reliable hollowpoint. I regularly shoot three P238s, two nitrons and one equinox, all made between march and may of 2011. Each gun is 1000+ rounds. I've done extensive testing of HP ammo in these guns. I've tried Winchester PDX1, Remington Golden Sabers, Corbon DPX, Fiocchi Extreme with the Hornady XTP bullets, Federal Hydrashok, and the Powrballs. Every single one of these ammos has fed flawlessly in all three of the P238s I've had access to. That being said, I never tried these expensive ammos until I've considered the guns to be broken in. I've used the really cheap bulk Russian ammo to break them in as the Russian ammo is in steel casings which promotes extractor wear which is from my experience what needs broken in the most. All the failures I've seen with these pistols has been due to the extractor fitting too tight on the rim of the case. My early failures it didn't have a good fit over the rim from being entirely too tight on the rim and failed to extract, with later failures being fail to eject from too tight of fit over the rim and refusing to "let go". I've seen between 4 and 7 failures in the first 400-500 rounds with the steel cased Russian ammo, and true revolver-type reliability after that no matter what I feed it. I typically do a full cleaning of the pistols every 100 shots when breaking in, and always use a rounded steel wire brush (steel barrel brush) on the feed ramp. I also used a steel brush on the extractor's groove that catches the rim during the break in period. After being broken in I've since put the steel brushes up and just use a brass brush inside the barrel and nylon on everything else. I prefer steel brushes to sandpaper and files during break in and for polishing items like the feed ramp and extractor.