The Slide on my Sig Mosquito failed catastrophically today..

View · by **mc762x54R** on Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:32 pm

I was almost done at the range...firing a few more mags through my Mosquito and the slide locked open, which was weird because the way I was gripping the gun I was holding the slide release down... I was like how did the slide come off the frame??? I bought it in 07 or 08 and its got thousands of rounds through it, but come on, what kind of crappy metal is this?

I can't wait to hear what Sig customer service has to say.

View · by **Snowgun** on Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:49 pm

HOLY ****!

Well, that takes sig of my .22 list. I'll stick to Walthers thank you.

View · by **OldmanFCSA** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:08 am

I see three stages of material failure, you should have caught it after the first two!

View · by **shooter115** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:16 am

Wow!! That's rough, if Sig wont warantee that, I don't know what they will. Keep us updated

View · by **mrp** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:17 am

OldmanFCSA wrote:I see three stages of material failure, you should have caught it after the first two!

Can you explain for those of us who just see "broken".

View · by **OldmanFCSA** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:02 am

Stage 1 = Picture 1
Stage 2 = Picture 2
Stage 3 = Picture 3

OK - Ignore the above answer - ignore the first 2 pictures - Then

Stage 1 - the slide casting has sharp corners cast where 2 masses of metal meet causing an area where strees cracks are likely to form = bad design & manufacture

Stage 2 - use "Ctrl" and "+" keys to blow up Picture 3 focusing on molecular structure of exposed casting - See the line??? Due to bad Engineering in Stage 1, the slide cracked thru almost completely during a previous shooting period. The surface of cracked material seems slightly muted due to hammering of faces that occurred between cracking and breaking.

Stage 3 - See the last little bit of material that broke causing visible failure and 2 pcs.

LOOK CAREFULLY - you will see failure areas - then look for "root cause analysis" = Stage 1 stress areas.

View · by **OldmanFCSA** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:05 am

I'm not a SIG fan, but my Berrettas have also had failure issues, after 50,000 rounds on same slide, on a pre-production test model.

VERY GOOD PICTURES - they show the cause of failure clearly - SIG should not have an issue with this failure.

View · by **V Man** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:31 am

It should be pointed out that this is a special Sport model of the Mosquito. The standard versions do not have the extension on the front where this one failed.

View · by **mc762x54R** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:09 am

just called Sig, first thing the girl asked was if I ever changed the recoil spring. I didn't think the gun had been used enough for it to wear out, and it had been working fine up until yesterday.
she implied it should be common knowledge to a "gun owner" that recoil spring replacement was routine maintenance. I asked her if it said that in the owner's manual but she didn't know... I'll be checking that when I get home.

How often do you guys replace your recoil springs?? This makes me want to replace the one in my SP2009.

View · by **gyrfalcon** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:11 am

This is what happens when you're shooting hot reloads!!! I bet you were limp wristing it too.

mc762x54R wrote:just called Sig, first thing the girl asked was if I ever changed the recoil spring. I didn't think the gun had been used enough for it to wear out, and it had been working fine up until yesterday...

How many rounds do they advise before replacing this spring? Is that round count listed in the user manual?

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/125608 ... _pics.html

View · by **Seismic Sam** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:15 am

gyrfalcon wrote:This is what happens when you're shooting hot reloads!!! I bet you were limp wristing it too.

Dagnabbit, you beat me to that comment by a few hours!!

View · by **Erud** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:18 am

mc762x54R wrote:just called Sig, first thing the girl asked was if I ever changed the recoil spring. I didn't think the gun had been used enough for it to wear out, and it had been working fine up until yesterday.
she implied it should be common knowledge to a "gun owner" that recoil spring replacement was routine maintenance. I asked her if it said that in the owner's manual but she didn't know... I'll be checking that when I get home.

How often do you guys replace your recoil springs?? This makes me want to replace the one in my SP2009.

Yeah, everybody knows that if you don't replace your springs every so often your slide will break right in half..... :roll:

What is Sig going to do to fix it?

View · by **gyrfalcon** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:19 am

SIG Manual doesn't say anything about replacing the spring at any given interval... only this:

Check spring tension of the recoil spring and
slide cycling (no binding).
– Retract slide fully and release.
– Verify slide closes rapidly and fully under
spring tension.
– Repeat check again.

View · by **Squib Joe** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:26 am

I've sent three Mosquitos back for cracked slides. In all three cases the factory suggested that the recoil springs were improperly installed by the customer, or that the incorrect spring type was used with high velocity ammo. Two types of springs are shipped with the gun and their use is described on page 10 of the manual http://www.sigsauer.com/upFiles/CmsCont ... MANUAL.pdf

I'm not saying this is right or wrong, just what the factory has told us.

Sig DID replace the slides at no charge, so I'm sure you'll be covered there at least.

View · by **Pezhead** on Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:28 am

Wow, keep us posted and glad your ok.