Disassembly and Reassembly Of the Sig Sauer P250 Pistol

To begin working with the Sig P250, you’ll want to make a couple of small tools. For the first one, take a 3/32-inch parallel drift punch and grind it to a "D" profile from tip to about an inch above the tip. If you look closely at the inside of the slide after you’ve field stripped the pistol, you’ll clearly see the reason for doing this. A milled section of the bolt partially covers the end of the safety-lock spring pin (#33).

As you can see in the photo, this forms a "D" past which around punch will not pass to gain contact with the pin. The pin is drifted out to the top of the slide near the rear sight. It’s a roll pin, so don’t drift it completely out when the time comes to do so. For the second tool, you can use a hollow tube. Lacking that, a smallblade screwdriver can be substituted. Both tube and driver have to be wide enough to make solid contact with the large mainspring (#19).

Both require a U-shaped cut that spans the hammerpivot pin (#15). If you use a screwdriver blade, the end result looks like a dinner fork with two tines. With the tube, it will look like a tube with a Ushaped notch in its end. Whether you use a tube or a screwdriver, both serve the same purpose, which you’ll read about later on. All right, you’ve got the tools you need, the chamber is empty, the magazine is out, and you’re wearing eye protection. So let’s begin to take down the P250.

Field Stripping Retract the slide and lock it open with the catch lever (#8). Rotate the takedown lever (#5) clockwise until it stops. With a brand new pistol, you may have to nudge this lever with a nylon drift to get it started. Sig Sauer handguns leave the factory tight. Pull the slide back slightly to disengage the catch lever and keep it under control as it moves forward off the grip frame (#1).

Invert the slide, compress the recoil-spring guide (#22) toward the muzzle, and then lift it at the rear to remove both the guide and the spring (#23). Raise the breech end 40 S&W, and .45 ACP. A choice of three grip frames is also available to accommodate the owner’s hand size. of the barrel. Pull it to the rear and out. Leave the slide inverted for the time being. Detailed Disassembly Compared to most other double-action-only pistols, the P250 isn’t complex. I’d even dare to say it’s simple.

The only area you might quibble with me about is the inner frame (#7), but even that lacks the abundance of levers, pins, and tricky springs usually found in the back end of modern semi-autos.

It disappears into the slide when the pistol is fully assembled. I’ll remind you, as you work through the disassembly, keep close track of how parts such as the trigger bar engage the inner frame and how the trigger-bar spring (#11) is installed. Of course, this study can be negatively affected in no small way if your customer has already tried to "improve" the pistol by dismantling it. Quite often, this happens immediately after anew gun is taken from its shipping box and before it’s been fired.

Okay, the slide is still inverted. Working with a nylon or wooden bench block, use the 3/32-inch punch to move the safety-lock spring pin (#33) up toward the rear sight until you can start to depress the safety lock (#27). Don’t depress it completely, though, until you’ve placed a finger over the firing-pin hole at the rear of the slide. While holding the lock, slip about one-half inch of your D-shaped punch past the finger retaining the firing pin and push inward on the pin.

Then lever up with the punch to push the rear sight from the slide. The safety lock spring (#32) and lock (#27) are housed in a recess of the sight. Losing them means replacing them, of course. With the safety lock fully down, slowly release the firing-pin assembly. It won’t need your help to find its own way out. (Note: The schematic leads you to believe the firing pin and spring have their home in the barrel breech.

They don’t.) The extractor-spring guide (#28) and spring (#34) is a one-piece pressfitted unit’a very tightly press-fitted unit. Remove them as such. Take out the extractor (#29) to complete the disassembly of the slide. Detailed Frame Disassembly Sig Sauer and other offshore gun makers seem to have an affinity for a frame within a frame. So it is with the P250. What we unsophisticated, non-engineers calla "frame" or "receiver" is known by Sig as the "grip frame" (#1).

Within that is what I’d call the "firing mechanism" or "fire-control assembly." Within the grip frame of the P250 is what is officially known as the "frame" (#7). Addressing the grip frame first, make sure the takedown lever (#5) is turned down as far as it can go. On a pistol that’s been fired a bit, you can start the lever out by pressing inward on its right end. Levers on new pistols will probably need a starting nudge from a brass, aluminum, or nylon drift.

The lever will come out with an "O-ring" (#6) still attached that normally seats in a recess of the grip frame. Leave the ring on the lever shaft. Now grasp the "ears" of the inner frame between your fingertips, raise the ears about 20 degrees, and then pull the inner frame forward to disengage its rear tab from the grip frame. Pull the hammer back so the trigger will clear its inner-frame slot and remove the inner frame from the grip frame.

The trigger (#13), trigger bar (#12), and its spring (#11) will accompany it, along with the hammer (#14), safety lever (#20), small mainspring (#18), and large mainspring (#19). Now stop. Don’t go any further

Sig Sauer P250 Semi-Automatic DAO Pistol (Specifications subject to change without notice) 1 Grip Frame 2 Magazine Catch 3 Magazine Catch Stop 4 Magazine Catch Spring 5 Takedown Lever 6 O-Ring 7 Inner Frame until you’ve studied how the triggerbar spring engages the bar and is attached to the inner frame.

Turn the frame upside down and examine how the hammer-strut pin (#16) sits on top of the double-mainspring arrangement, how that pin relates to the safety lever (#20), and check out the trigger/trigger-bar connection. Got it? Whether you take pictures, make drawings, tape-record notes to 8 Slide Catch Lever 9 Slide Catch Lever Spring 10 Slide Catch Lever Pin 11 Trigger Bar Spring 12 Trigger Bar 13 Trigger 14 Hammer yourself, or do all three, be sure you’ve got it down pat.

Remembering how things were before you took them apart is the best way to ensure you’ll get those same things back together right when the time comes. That advice being given, unhook the trigger-bar spring from the inner frame. Move the hammer to the rear.

The trigger/trigger bar will move with it and almost be clear for removal. 15 Hammer Pivot Pin 16 Hammer Strut Pin 18 Small Mainspring 19 Large Mainspring 20 Safety Lever 21 Barrel 22 Recoil Spring Guide 23 Recoil Spring 24 Slide 25 Front Sight 26 Rear Sight 27 Safety Lock 28 Rear Extractor Spring Guide 29 Extractor 30 Firing Pin 31 Firing Pin Spring 32 Safety Lock Spring 33 Spring Pin 34 Extractor Spring 35 Front Extractor Spring Guide 36 Magazine Tube 37 Magazine Follower 38 Magazine Spring 39 Magazine Insert 40 Magazine Floorplate You’ll have to pivot the trigger back to make contact with the bar before both can be taken out.

It is now time to use the second tool, be it made from a tube or screwdriver. Insert it into the inverted frame over the hammer-strut pin. Press down on the large mainspring and remove the strut pin from the frame. (Note how the pin passes through the safety lock.) Ease off on the double main-

springs and remove the hammer pivot. This releases the hammer, mainsprings, and safety lock. You can detach the front of the trigger bar from its stud on the trigger, but it isn’t necessary except to replace a damaged part. What remains within the inner frame are the slide-catch lever (#8) and its spring (#9). Press down on the front end of the lever slightly and push the lever pin (#10) out to the left. Place these components in a magnetic parts tray and you’re done.

Reassembly Tips All the Sig’s pins are reinstalled left to right unless otherwise noted. Squeeze the hammer and safety lock together, align their hammer-pivot pin holes, and make sure the upper arm of the safety is pointing straight up. Insert the pivot pin through the frame and the two parts. Place the double mainsprings, preassembled, into their recess in the hammer, and align the crescentshaped cutout on the hammer with the similar one on the safety. The strut pin has to pass through these voids.

Use your notched tool to depress the mainsprings and install the pin. The small end of the slide-stop spring must bear against the inner frame when installed. Place the catch assembly in, align the lever-pin holes, and install the pin. Check the slidestop assembly for free movement. Spear the front end of the trigger bar on the trigger stud. The longer leg of the trigger-bar spring is installed in the bar from the outside. The short leg will eventually be placed in its hole toward the rear of the inner frame.

Pivot the trigger back into contact with the trigger bar, and position the bar against the frame. Hold the trigger/trigger-bar assembly in place while you hook the small end of the triggerbar spring into the frame. Insert the inner frame’s rear tab back into the grip frame. Pull the hammer back to ensure the trigger will pass through the grip-frame opening to the trigger guard. Push the inner frame down into the grip frame and insert the takedown lever. Don’t dislodge the O-ring when you do this.

You’ll make getting the lever back into position more than tough. And finally, keep in mind that before you can reinstall the slide assembly, the lever has to be in it original field-stripping position. I