View Full Version : Sig P290 Range Report
Well I finally bought my first itty bitty auto. I purchased the Sig P290 after handling all of the small single stacked autos at shoot straight and finally said **** it and bought this one. I own a Sig 229 DAK that I have really put through the ringer with very few hang ups that were usually due to sand in the mags. I have heard much complaints of the 250 so I was a little reluctant to buy this thing until I heard more feedback from other shooters. The pistol came with one 6 round mag and I figured I would buy 2 more when I bought the gun but they were sold out so I just have the one mag now. Ive been searching the webs and can not find anyone who sells these magazines or has them in stock. If you know were I can score a couple please let me know.
Im not going to go into features and why I like the gun as Im sure you will have your own needs and do your own research on the matter.
I bought 200 rounds of federal 115gr FMJ target ammo and 40 rounds of Federal 124gr HP
I brought with me 200 rounds of PMC 115 FMJ target ammo as well
I did not strip the weapon, clean it, add lube, just paid for it and went straight to the range. I would not recommend doing this. Just had too much shit to do and had to function test it before I fly out of town tomorrow.
So I first loaded one loose round into the barrel, hit the slide release and then inserted the first full mag into the mag well.
Fired one shot and on the second shot found that the chamber was empty :) off to a great start lol (Fail to feed #1)
Around 20 shots into the session I had my first Fail to fire ( light primer strike)
I re chambered the round and it fired on the second strike
I noticed that more than 50 percent of the spent ejected casings were landing either directly on top of my head or smacking me on the forehead. That makes for an annoying session at the range.
After the first 100 rounds I started shooting one handed and off handed and noticed the slide would never lock to the rear on empty when I shot it right handed. (Im left handed and it worked every time when I shot left handed so I think it was something I was doing)
The trigger was really gritty and heavy but I was able to get really nice groups through out the session. The P290 is very accurate and I did really like the sights on it. Being that it has no safety and will mostly be muzzle sweeping my nuts while concealed, I welcome the heavy shitty trigger.
Recoil was not bad at all even when shooting one handed. I liked the grip compared to the other small autos I held. I did not shoot the 124GR stuff as I wanted to work out the reliability issues before I wasted my good ammo testing this thing out.
I shot probably a total of 200 rounds of target ammo through it which is a respectable break in period which failures should be expected as the weapon works out the kinks. I took it home and gave it a good cleaning and proper lubing and will be back to the range to put another 200 rounds through it and hopefully it will earn the rights to some good self defense ammo
All in all, Im glad I bought this one and hope to make it my daily summer carry pistol when I can't feasibly carry my M&P.
Just need to figure out if I can direct my ejected casings to the right instead of in my face.
Please let me know if you have one of these and your thoughts on the weapon
"So I first loaded one loose round into the barrel, hit the slide release and then inserted the first full mag into the mag well. "
Do not do this. This is a surefire why to break your extractor. Instead, lock the slide to the rear, insert a magazine, let the slide go forward, then perform a magazine exchange. Since you only have one magazine the better method would have been to eject the magazine after loading from the magazine and then topping it off.
Topgunsupply.com has mags in stock
lloydkristmas
06-01-11, 01:08
I shot one and it was a jammomatic.
"So I first loaded one loose round into the barrel, hit the slide release and then inserted the first full mag into the mag well. "
Do not do this. This is a surefire why to break your extractor. Instead, lock the slide to the rear, insert a magazine, let the slide go forward, then perform a magazine exchange. Since you only have one magazine the better method would have been to eject the magazine after loading from the magazine and then topping it off.
Wow I never heard that one. Thanks for the info.
Topgunsupply.com has mags in stock
I just ordered 2 more, Thank you very much for the link. I searched for hours yesterday and could not find any.
I shot one and it was a jammomatic.
In my never ending quest for a pocket carry 9mm, I ended up trying a friend's P290 at the range yesterday. The P290 was a jammomatic for me as well and I disliked the trigger. The owner of the gun had two different mags and we kept swapping and downloading them with no apparent benefit. We were only using 115 gr Blazers, but that should have been a non-issue. I became disenchanted after 76 rounds.
This is a seriously small pistol. The grip is much too small for my hand as I could only grip it with my index and half of my middle finger. Even so, it was fairly accurate when it fired.
I think I'm going to give up and get a 3rd G Glock 26 given the issues I've experienced with the three new pocket carry 9 releases (CM9, P290 and LC9)
Ok so I got my P290 home and cleaned it up and lubed everything that needed lube and went back to the range this morning. It ran like a champ for the first 100 plus rounds and then it started to fail to eject. I was starting to think it was good to go. I admit I didn't spend a lot of time cleaning the chamber and it may have still been pretty gummed up from the factory goo and my shooting the previous day. I had roughly 5 fail to ejects causing double feeds when the next round from the mag tried to chamber behind the spent casing. I took it to the sales manager of shoot straight to see what they would do for me and he sent me to the in house gunsmith. They said the chamber was probably to dirty and grabbing the casings preventing them from ejecting. He cleaned out the chamber and I ran another 50 rounds with no problems.
I did not have any more fail to fires (light primer strikes) or fail to feeds like I did yesterday before I cleaned it.
So my feeling is still unsure about this thing. I would keep it in my pocket as a back up gun but so far am not sold on staking my life on the fact that this weapon will work properly. I've put roughly 500 rounds through it since yesterday and let me tell you, I have a nice blister on my palm from the little sand paper grip. I don't mind that part as I will not be doing a lot of high volume shooting with it after I get the bugs worked out.
I did figure out why when I shot it right handed the slide would not lock back. being a lefty shooting right handed still feels awkward so I didn't notice my right thumb was lightly riding the slide stop causing it to fail to lock back on the last round.
It seems like it works fine as long as it is clean and lubed. Maybe the small barrel size or shitty PMC ammo is causing extra fouling in the chamber. I know I can run over 1500 rounds through my M&Ps before showing any signs of performance issues.
I really want this little bastard to work out as I like everything about it but will not settle for anything short of perfect for my self defense weapon so the trials continue...
In my never ending quest for a pocket carry 9mm, I ended up trying a friend's P290 at the range yesterday. The P290 was a jammomatic for me as well and I disliked the trigger. The owner of the gun had two different mags and we kept swapping and downloading them with no apparent benefit. We were only using 115 gr Blazers, but that should have been a non-issue. I became disenchanted after 76 rounds.
This is a seriously small pistol. The grip is much too small for my hand as I could only grip it with my index and half of my middle finger. Even so, it was fairly accurate when it fired.
I think I'm going to give up and get a 3rd G Glock 26 given the issues I've experienced with the three new pocket carry 9 releases (CM9, P290 and LC9)
What problems did you have with the CM9? Mine has been perfect after 500 rounds.
What problems did you have with the CM9? Mine has been perfect after 500 rounds.
One FTF and two FTEs using Speer 147 gr HPs. Seemed ok with FMJ range ammo. Gun was newer with something like 350 rounds and, as I recall, these do take a while to break in. At any rate, I wouldn't feel confident carrying that particular firearm.
We were using the slide release to load, BTW.
The smallest Sig I will carry is a P232. Outside of the P250 and P290 series, it is the only Sig that is light and small enough to be carried comfortably on the ankle, and the design is a testament to old Sigarms durabilty and reliability. I have two P232s, and they have thousands of rounds through them very little issues. It is also the designated backup gun for my agency. Very few of our officers have had any problems with theirs either.
LanceOregon
06-01-11, 20:34
The smallest Sig I will carry is a P232. Outside of the P250 and P290 series, it is the only Sig that is light and small enough to be carried comfortably on the ankle, and the design is a testament to old Sigarms durabilty and reliability. I have two P232s, and they have thousands of rounds through them very little issues. It is also the designated backup gun for my agency. Very few of our officers have had any problems with theirs either.
The P232's are indeed good guns. Only problem is that they are still just .380 pistols.
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My sig 290 is worthless. Nothing but issues. Luckily shoot straight gave me store credit towards a kahr pm9. I would never feel comfortable carrying the sig 290. I just regret wasting 500 plus rounds of ammo trying to break the damn thing in.
I feel your pain, been there, done that. I had a new pistol that got sent back several times. To the manufactures credit they sent me a brand new one. I sold it as soon as I could without shooting it.
My sig 290 is worthless. Nothing but issues. Luckily shoot straight gave me store credit towards a kahr pm9. I would never feel comfortable carrying the sig 290. I just regret wasting 500 plus rounds of ammo trying to break the damn thing in.
That's too bad. I really wanted to like that gun as well.
I think the Kahr will serve you well. On a related note, the CM9 that I had some minor troubles with has completely smoothed out after about 400 rounds.
Beat Trash
06-07-11, 11:25
I've had a Kahr PM9 since around 2005. Never had any issues with my gun. Rounds will on occasion pop out of the spare magazine, when carried in the pocket.
The Kahr's have a recommended break in period, as I'm sure you're aware.
I've been eyeballing the P290, mostly for the additional safety of an external hammer when carrying AIWB, but due to reliability concerns I remain leery of it..
One thing you may want to keep in mind on the PM9 is potential feeding issues with the 7 round magazine. My PM9 had two in 400 rounds run out of the 7, but no malfunctions in 1,900 rounds with the 6 round mag. It's a known issue.
dwhitehorne
06-07-11, 17:22
My sig 290 is worthless. Nothing but issues. Luckily shoot straight gave me store credit towards a kahr pm9. I would never feel comfortable carrying the sig 290. I just regret wasting 500 plus rounds of ammo trying to break the damn thing in.
So could you sum up the issues you had. I had a coworker qual with one a few weeks ago for and off duty gun and it ran through the course fine. So I approved it. He came out to rifle quals two weeks ago and he and I put about 200 rounds through it shooting at steel. I was surprise that we had no issues and it was good enough to tip the head plate everytime at 25 yards. Something I would have never believed if I didn't see. The officer is the only one with a 290 so I'm just curious as to the final straw that made you get rid of it so I can advise others of the good and the bad. David
So could you sum up the issues you had. I had a coworker qual with one a few weeks ago for and off duty gun and it ran through the course fine. So I approved it. He came out to rifle quals two weeks ago and he and I put about 200 rounds through it shooting at steel. I was surprise that we had no issues and it was good enough to tip the head plate everytime at 25 yards. Something I would have never believed if I didn't see. The officer is the only one with a 290 so I'm just curious as to the final straw that made you get rid of it so I can advise others of the good and the bad. David
To sum it up, I experienced pretty much every conceivable malfunction you could ever want in a self defense carry gun. Just totally lost faith in it. Even if they were to ship me a new one I would never get past the problems I saw this thing have during the 500 round "break in" sessions I had.
3 Light primer strikes, Fail to fire
10+ fail to feeds on full mags or half mags
could not rack a round from a full mag empty chamber. would catch on the barrel every time. So could never be carried empty chamber
10+ fail to eject spent casings causing double feeds.
1 Shitty trigger that never smoothed out and was not consistent
over half the spent brass flew back into my face or on top of my head and this is not an exaggeration. My safety glasses got a workout and I had to make sure my mouth was closed when I pulled the trigger :)
Im glad your buddy has had luck with his, I did like the sights and even with the trigger the little bugger was very accurate when it fired.
Maybe I got a lemon maybe its the 115gr ammo, who knows, I just personally would rather carry a set of throwing stars or maybe even a nice rape whistle than put my life on the line with the Sig Sauer P290.
dwhitehorne
06-09-11, 12:52
Thanks for the update. I will say all of the ammo the officer had shot was 124 and 147gr ammo. Duty 9mm ammo is 147 gr Ranger bonded. I wonder if 115 gr is part of the issue. David
Thank you for the range report.
The new Sig Sauer(Ron Cohen) offers three levels of quality control to agencies wanting to purchase firearms. More quality control means a more expensive purchase.
1) No quality controls(commercial market)
2) Some quality controls(most agency pistols)
3) DHS quality controls(old Sigsarms guns)
This is why some Sigs on the commercial market are lemons, and some are okay. It is much cheaper to simply repair the pistol when it is returned to the factory rather than run high level quality controls on the factory line.
Hopefully my dreams will come true with the Kahr PM9. will be running it through a 200 round break in this week. will clean it up and run another 200 through it and hopefully 100 rounds of 124 HP. Just stripped it last night and cleaned it up for the initial trip to the range. Was surprised to see the entire length of the guide rail is made out of plastic with the exception of the very back that has a 1/4" piece of metal. Any reason this might be a good thing? Ive heard nothing but good things about these guns so far but that seems really sketchy.
I had issues with with my Walther PPS.. it was super tight. Wouldn't slide lock and occasionally didn't eject. After 300-400 rounds it's 99%. I still get the occasional FTE. That's probably why I rarely carry it and carry a Gen4 G26.... which is ridiculously reliable, even with cheap steel cased ammo. Love that little gun.
My P290rs feeds and shoots just fine. I have had no issues and accuracy is very good for a mini-9mm
Only paid $439 shipped from Kygunco.com
Quite a necropost.
There seems to be some improvement in the Sig line in the last year, but I still feel that the quality of the guns pales in comparison to the guns of the 1990s. I've had a lot of experience with old and new Sigs.
Trailrunner
09-08-13, 20:27
Saw a P290RS next to a kahr PM/CM9 the other day... The sig is well crafted. Anyone have reports on the updated version of this pistol? I have not shot the sig but a friend's kahr was okay. I am looking for a micro 9 and the CM/PM-9 seem to come in cherry or lemonade as a LGS mentioned. Seems the sig has the same. What are your experiences?
Saw a P290RS next to a kahr PM/CM9 the other day... The sig is well crafted. Anyone have reports on the updated version of this pistol? I have not shot the sig but a friend's kahr was okay. I am looking for a micro 9 and the CM/PM-9 seem to come in cherry or lemonade as a LGS mentioned. Seems the sig has the same. What are your experiences?
Just to give an update since I started this thread a few years ago:
Still have the Kahr and it runs great. Very glad I made the switch
captdreifus
03-11-14, 16:17
I have a 290rs. I have shot Winchester 147 Ranger T's and Speer 147 gr. GD's without issue. Round counts for both loads are 100rds each. I also had American Eagle 124 gr feed and eject perfectly. I use this as my go to pocket/bug that replaced my 642.
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