Issues with SW40VE

[wiredgeorge]

Speaking of the Saxet Gun Show, went last October and picked up a new Smith and Wesson SW40VE aka Sigma 40. I had gone wanting to buy a Taurus 24/7 .45 but the price of the Sigma hooked me and it fit my hand well. Bought 100 rds of Winchester target to zero in sights and break the gun in... misfeed after misfeed. At least 1 or 2 per magazine. Took the gun down and polished the feed ramp and disassembled the magazines (both genuine S&W) and cleaned them good. I think bought 250 rd box of Remington UMC 180 grain target and took it back and fired a couple magainzes and misfeeds continued at about the same rate. I have put about 200 rounds through the weapon and have never had this many misfeeds at this point with any handgun I have owned. The gun gets cleaned every time it is shot, by the way. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

The pistol is fun to shoot and fairly accurate otherwise. Only other negative is the slide breakdown mechanism which is very hard to engage with your fingernails and the rear sight adjusts by bumping with a punch (no screw adjust or screw lock so it can get bumped out of position). The pistol is double action with no safety and many folks comment on the trigger pull but I don't find it objectionable.

[Pawpaw]

Hi George, and Welcome!

The first thing I would do is eliminate the easiest part. I have found that brand new magazine springs are sometimes too strong and will cause misfeeds.

Try loading up the mags and let them sit for 2 or 3 days before you shoot again. That has fixed several misfeeding problems for me. If it still happens, then go looking for other issues.

[Teamless]

I had the SW9VE (aka SIgma 9MM) and it never had any misfeeds, until I tried steel cased ammo. constant issues after that...

[G.A. Heath]

Allowing modern magazine springs to sit loaded does nothing to weaken them, it can however affect the feed lips of the magazine (this is almost unheard of in handgun magazines). First off remove the slide from the gun and look at the extractor, check to see if it is chipped or deformed this was the cause of feeding issues on the Sigma I once owned. If thats not the problem then lets take a nice long look at how the gun is mis-feeding. Does the round clear the magazine? If so is the rim hooked by the extractor or is the extractor above the rim? and so on, then lets look at the ammo. Is Remington/UMC the only brand of ammo you have used, or was that first 100 rounds made by someone else?

[wiredgeorge]

I generally keep all mags full... these have been full since I purchased the gun. I generally keep one in the pistol in the event I want to shoot the pistol.

[wiredgeorge]

Used the white box Winchester target loads you pick up at Wallys for the first 100 rounds. Steel jacket... the Remingtons are steel jackets as well.

As far as the extractor being chipped/deformed, I looked at it pretty carefully and didn't see anything chipped but deformed (as in bent) would be harder for me to detect since I haven't owned one of these pistols before. Do you have a pic of the chipped/ deformed ejector you could post? The misfeeds occur when the round in the magazine doesn't fully move up into the chamber. I can almost always clear them by re-racking the slide as the spent round ejects OK and doesn't stay in the chamber. That is why I polished the feed ramp which isn't nicked, deformed, dirty or otherwise looking like the culprit and that is why I am a tad stumped.

[CC Italian]

I have known 2 people who have owned a Sigma, one in .40 S&W and the other in 9mm. The one in 9mm was a lemon and would always jam. He sent it to S&W 2 or 3 times and that made it better but it would still jam every 3-4 mags. like clock work. He sold it and now has a P95 that has had no problems after the initial break in. The other guy who still owns the .40S&W has nothing to say but great things about his Sigma and says he has never had a problem with it.

I think they are hit and miss but I had a rep. at Academy tell me they were a nice paper weight that they always get back and a gunsmith at a local gun store and shooting range told me he would never ever carry it concealed or for home defense and just for range practice, nothing more. He said it is a far cry from the M&P. This was 2-3 years ago and I heard S&W solved many of the problems with the Sigma but since it got such a bad name the brought out the SD9 and 40. Which is the new sigma renamed and improved so people will buy it and from what I have heard so far they are a pretty good handgun for he money.

Send it in to S&W at see if they can fix it. Otherwise if you want another affordable pistol that has fewer problems get a Ruger p95 or check into those new SD models. Just my 2 cents.

[doc540]

If it's a brand new gun then that's a crying shame.

I'd be on the phone to S&W customer service and have a pre-paid postage email in my box before the sun went down.

I'm a passionate defender of the newer version Sigma's since I've owned four of them, all trouble-free, inexpensive, and dependable.

S&W has improved the triggers on all of four of them at no charge and within about 10 business days.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

[The Annoyed Man]

My advice would be to sell it ASAP, and get yourself an M&P of similar size and caliber. If you really want a double-stack polymer S&W, the M&Ps are superb pistols.

[OverEasy]

S&W has excellent customer service and they pay the postage both ways. I would call them!!

We have 3 Sigmas and 10 magazines, only had a problem with one magazine. That one mag will not feed the 1st round if it is fully loaded and I insert it with one in the chamber. I just keep all the mags loaded one short of full capacity. We have fired hundreds of rounds using that method with ZERO failures. Yes, I know, I should throw that one mag away. But I'm cheap, I bought a Sigma didn't I?

Try customer service, they are good, fast and might even do a trigger job for you or throw in a free mag when they return your gun. They have been reported to do stuff like that.

Regards, OE

[Jbird5363]

This hurts my heart. I love my sigma I've never had a jam issue with it dirty and grimy from the hunting lease still fired 8 rounds at rattle snakes no problem. Honestly I'd send it in they will stand behind it. I've put about 1500 rounds through mine with no jams there's a problem with I'd call them. Let us know how it turns out

[wiredgeorge]

I want to try a few of the suggestions already made in this thread but I did call S&W and they are sending postage. If I don't get the issue sorted soon, I will let them have a look. Thanks! wg

[rbrecount]

I was very unhappy with my new S&S9VE with all its FTE and FTF and jams. I cleaned it more thoroughly and tried some more.
Better but not nearly good enough. I sent it back asking for repair and a lighter trigger pull. It came back in about a month with a new trigger assembly, a new extractor and a polished feed ramp. I found a way to lessen the trigger pull on the internet. Its reliable now.
What I like about the gun is the fit of the grip, the DAO and the large capacity of the magazines.

The other responders have good advice. And I suggest the Sigma forum.

[garcia946]

I had a 9mm version, had all the same problems , over and over FTF , jam
sent it in to S&W ,fixed ( dont remember what problem was off top of my head ) but ever since then works great , zero issues
I did ask S&w if they could lighten trigger pull too. They did some.
And i did buy this gun new , short turn around , great customer service from S&W.