so i took my new p238 to the range to run some ammo through it and see how it handled. the only .380 ammo the range had was pmc fmj or ball ammo, korean stuff, so that is the only ammo i can report on at this time.
so i only had one magazine and it's the one the gun came with. i played around with the mustang version magazine and it appears to have a larger bottom lip and a higher arced ammo feeder.
anyways, so i shot 50 rounds through it. not one hiccup. feed all fine ejected all cases fine, no ftf, fte, ft feed. nothing ran perfect.
i shot a silhouette style paper target. the sights on my p238 ened up having me shoot a bit low. nothing horrible, but i did have to adjust to hit where i wanted to. other than that accuracy was decent. at around 10 ft, hitting dead center and shooting through the same holes was easy. at around 20-25ft. hitting the center mass was a piece of cake...hitting the dead center took a bit of effort. at 35ft....hitting the center mass was easy. all in all a decently accurate pocket pistol.
trigger pull is rated at around 5lbs. while it wasn't as nice as my emp trigger, it was a very decent trigger. i noticed no creep or travel nonsense. it broke clean and in the same spot each time. verynatural pull for me. far nicer than my kel-tec p32 trigger or any glock trigger i've shot. i know it's comparing apples to oranges.
the recoil. i was a bit weary after reading the horror stories of people shooting the ruger lcp and kel-tec p3at and having numb hands, etc. the p238 was a breeze, it had so little recoil i was actually shocked. it felt like shooting my walther p22. i know people compare guns to .22lr recoil all the time, but this gun had almost no muzzle flip and repeat shots were almost too easy for double tapping.
well i only shot 50 rounds due to time constraints.
i did a cleaning on it when i got home and the pmc ammo while it did well at the range, it was dirty as hell. i didn't notice it while shooting, but when i took the gun apart to clean it it had black everywhere. cleaning was easy. no special tools were required. it's very similair to a 1911, but a little different in a couple ways. field stripping would be no problem at all.
now for the bad part....the nitron finish on the slide. i followed the sig manual instructions on cleaning to the tee...even the ridiculous brushing oil deal. i noticed after all was said and done that the deep black nitron was now a lighter grey. in other words it appears to me that this finish came off after only one shooting and cleaning. pretty sad. the deep black on the frame was still there...but now the slide looks grey and the gun looks two toned. maybe i'm crazy, but i seem to remember the gun being a deep black all over?? anyways, that is enough for me to recommend getting the non-nitron version.
all in all i have no probelm recommending this gun to anyone who is okay and is trained and understands, the single action "cocked and locked" setup for ccw. it is an awesome gun and the fit and finish is really good at least on my gun. my only complaint is the nitron fading this quickly.
3 comments:
I really, really want one. Actually almost bought one yesterday, but I had a bunch of other stuff I wanted to get too. So I got all the other stuff. But one day!
maybe best to hold off a bit. i imagine prices will be coming down as most sig guys hate this pistol and most 1911 guys love it and get a real twinkle in their eye over it...meaning it's a niche gun for sure. plus i didn't try any hollow points and they may not feed? i'll do some more shooting with it down the road and report any issues i find in it. as soon as i find some hollow points i will test those and see how they feed. also fyi, magazines from sig are pricey, imho. the colt mustang magazines are cheaper, but not a whole lot cheaper...and the feed ramp is different on the mustang, so i hear it will feed and shoot in the p238, but won't lock the slide open after the last shot. so for range work, they'll work or so i hear...but not for carry. my advice wait and chances are more issues will be solved and prices should be cheaper....hopefully? i don't have buyer's remorse, but in hind sight as much as i love this gun, a few more months wouldn't have hurt anything. best advice i can give....do not buy a used one. the bid sig dealer here in town says the only oen's that have come back for resale were ones with major issues. this is one gun that new is worth it...at least at this point in production.
j.h.
Yeah, I'm going to wait. There are 3 pistols I've wanted to buy that I've passed on, the sig being one. Most of my money lately is going to new camping gear so it'll probably be a while.
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