P226 Light Striking on DA.....

[Robb Jensen]

That looks to be a picture of your slide. The safety lever is in the frame. It looks like a little bent piece of metal. It's easy to find it, just visualize where the firing pin block is located when the gun's assembled.

JLM,
You can try a new trigger bar spring. But more than likely you'll need a new safety lever and/or a trigger bar. If it were mine I'd replace all three parts.

[JLM]

Another observation: in the instances where the safety lever is NOT raised by the DA pull, if I try to push the hammer forward with my thumb (like it would need to be forward to strike the FP) it will NOT move forward. So, not only is the safety lever not getting engaged but obviously the hammer is not going all the way forward on some of the DA pulls.

This would be Picture #1 above.

[JLM]

JLM,
You can try a new trigger bar spring. But more than likely you'll need a new safety lever and/or a trigger bar. If it were mine I'd replace all three parts.

Robb, thanks. I have that DVD coming so hopefully I will be able to tear the gun down myself.

I have a copy of the .pdf armorers manual from Biggerhammer but the pictures are so unclear as to be unusable. If I can't unF(((k it myself, any of chance of me getting
you to work on it?

[Robb Jensen]

Robb, thanks. I have that DVD coming so hopefully I will be able to tear the gun down myself.

I have a copy of the .pdf armorers manual from Biggerhammer but the pictures are so unclear as to be unusable. If I can't unF(((k it myself, any of chance of me getting
you to work on it?

Sure no problem.

Another observation: in the instances where the safety lever is NOT raised by the DA pull, if I try to push the hammer forward with my thumb (like it would need to be forward to strike the FP) it will NOT move forward. So, not only is the safety lever not getting engaged but obviously the hammer is not going all the way forward on some of the DA pulls.

This is by design. The hammer shouldn't be able to go all of the way forward without rearward pressure on the trigger.
Try it again with an empty pistol (with the slide assy mounted and forward). Pull the trigger in DA and hold the trigger to the rear and push the hammer forward with you thumb. The hammer should hit the firing pin and snap back when let go.

[JLM]

Robb, yes if the FP safety lever gets engaged like it should the hammer indeed goes forward as designed. IF it gets engaged. That seems to be the problem with this particular pistol.

[markm]

I've had this happen on 2 different P220s. It's ONE of the reasons I hate sig pistols so much.

Each time it happened, I'd pull the same round out of the gun and fire it without issue in my 1911.

[ToddG]

Robb -- thanks for the picture twist. I couldn't figure that out for the life of me.

JLM -- I would definitely replace the trigger bar, safety lever, and trigger return spring. You might also want to look the frame over carefully for cracks, out of an abundance of caution. While it's probably just wear on the bar or lever, there's a chance the misalignment is happening because the frame is cracked and flexing.

When you get the replacement trigger return spring, be absolutely certain that you get either the old (curved, no loop) spring or you get both the new spring (with the loop) and the new style grips. The new spring will not fit under the old grips and will lead to stoppages.

[JLM]

Copy that Todd. And thanks as usual. Ditto Robb

Soon as I get Chris Orndorff's DVD I'm going to tear the whole thing apart and have a look. I also found today from the local DA that one of the USFWS guys here is a certified Sig Armorer, and he gave me his contact info.

I'll get it working and get back to shooting 3x5 cards dude.

ETA: are there any specific tools that would make a full detail strip easier?

[JLM]

Another (somewhat funny) observation: pistol functions as it should (allthou not verified by live fire) when held upside down FP safety gets disengaged, hammer has full foward travel, etc.

[ToddG]

JLM -- holding the gun upside down is the official solution per SIG if your trigger return spring breaks in a fight. I'm not making that up.

Since, in my experience, that spring usually breaks before it loses tension I'd still recommend replacing all three affected parts (trigger bar, safety lever, trigger return spring) just out of an abundance of caution.