TargetTalk

My wife has a Sig Trailside that up until recentlyhas been great(several years).
Recently, a slide stop broke. Up until that time, it was working fabulously –no issues whatsoever.
Since replacing the slide stop, though, it won’t lock open after the last shot.

Things I have done-
Chamber is squeaky clean (and no firing pin peening)
It is not short stroking (tried several HV and SV ammos)
Fresh recoil spring
Entire gun is squeaky clean and properly lubed
Slide stop moves freely up and down
Mags are clean and follower moves freely (tried 10 mags –we have two trailsides)
Tried a brand new mag
Slide will lock no problem when cycling by hand with an empty mag, but not at all when firing.

Is there a different slide stop for the later serial # trailsides? I have replaced the stop on my older model trailside and had no issues with that one.

Any ideas you have would be much appreciated!!!

Try contacting Larry Carter at Larry's Guns - http://www.larrysguns.com/

He carries parts, and services the Trailside. He's also importing the Euro version, the Xesse.

You may just need a new spring.

I have had this problem for a long time. If you just replaced it it may not be tight enough to the frame. mine was so loose for so long it wore the notch right out of the slide. Larry Carter fixed it once but the problem returned. One thing that did help some was adding the Rink grips that Larry Carter has. The slide still didn't lock back on the last round but the grip would hold the slide catch enough to at least manually hold the slide open when we went to change targets. Try to tighten the little star screw that holds the catch in place. Good Luck!

Thanks for the responses so far.

I have the new slide stop close to the frame, yet it still moves freely. Already have the rinks too -nice grips!

The slide notch itself seems to be just fine. Its a weird problem, with no apparent solution.

I actually e-mailed Larry a couple of weeks ago, but no response so far.

If I DO stumble across the solution, I will definitely post it!

Thanks Again,

Stumpy

give Larry's a call. I've had mixed results with email.

maybe the new recoil spring is too strong, try the old one or a spring from your other pistol.

Well, after as much time elapsed as I could stand (not all THAT patient...) and doing as much research as I could, I decided to re-cut the slide notch back a bit. I used a 3/16 endmill, and actually changed the angle slightly to make it a little more vertical. I moved the notch back a total of about 0.035". Many shots later, it is still locking open, and the slide stop engagement is better than ever with no peening evident. Apparently the previous slide stop was slightly different than the replacement, and that caused (or at least contributed to) the problem.

Thanks all for the ideas, and I thought you would like to know about the solution.

Stumpy1

Stumpy;
can you explain a bit more detail of what you modified on the slide lock? was it the cutout on the slide itself? toward the barrel or the hammer? was it the actual mechanism that has the spring wire that locks up when the mag is empty?

My trailside does the same thing, after about 4K rounds, it locks back by hand but never when fired. thanks

Hi all,

I modified the notch in the slide. I made the back of the notch a little bit more "vertical" than stock to better catch the slide stop. I took off just enough material to clean up the damage from the slide stop banging it up.

One other thing I did was to get a set of replacement magazine springs from Larrys Guns in Maine. He has a heavy duty set that really make a difference in how "positively" the slide stop comes up into the slide on an empty magazine -nice and positive. I think they are well worth the money, and I can see no downside. I think I may have this problem licked, but if not, a little time with a tig torch and hard facing rod combined with the new mag springs will take care of it for good.

Now those chintzy little screws that hold the slide lock on the frame...

I really love the Trailside -great trigger, great accuracy, but just a little more attention to material selection at the factory would have made all the difference.

Good Luck and let me know if you have any more questions -I'll be happy to help if I can.

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