Getting Familiar With The P238

As you can see from the tape measure comparison made in the accompanying photograph the P238 is a very compact pistol. Overall length is 5.5 inches, height is 3.9 inches, width 1.1, barrel 2.7 and sight radius 3.8 inches. The weight with magazine is a scant 15.2 ounces, chambered in caliber .380 ACP sporting an aluminum frame and a hard coat anodized stainless steel slide. In other words, a fine personal defense pistol it is, easily concealed and carried by any male or female citizen holding a permit to do so.

A tack driving target gun it isn’t. I only bring this up because entirely too many people earning Carrying Concealed Weapons (CCW) permits purchase concealed carry handguns, immediately trek out to the nearest firing line and blast magazine after magazine full of ammo toward a paper target twenty fi ve yards downrange. The usual result of this turns the air purple with invective after it is noticed the bullseye hasn’t been entirely obliterated. How absurd. And for more than one reason.

The typical distance defensive shooting takes place, whenever it must take place, is inside seven yards. Many of these encounters can more easily measure target distance in feet rather than yards. The target a CCW gun has to hit and deter is a heck of a lot bigger than a bullseye. Putting hundreds, in some cases a couple thousand, of rounds through such guns in an attempt to transform it into something for which it was never intended only wears it out sooner regardless of how well it was built in the first place.

Need I suggest a worn out, very small, quite light handgun is only good for throwing in the general direction of an oncoming hostile? I thought not. A self defender would be far better off hurling a brick or the nearest large rock. I conclude that a baseball bat would be more effective than a worn out pistol, brick or large It needs to be treated like one!

rock but bats are not readily secreted. Admittedly, if obviously present, one would likely prevent a threatening situation to develop initially. The problem is being called to your attention because factory repair/service technicians, including those at SIG SAUER, are called upon to restore the damages caused by the above described malpractice all too often. Keep that in mind anytime a CCW pistol or revolver is brought in to you accompanied by a function or accuracy complaint. Now I’ll step down from my soap box.

Field Stripping If you don’t cock the hammer and have the thumb safety engaged (up) during this primary operation any movement of the slide will be blocked. Wear eye protection, remove the magazine, check the chamber and retract the slide until its half moon shape disassembly notch is lined up with the matching tab on the slide stop (2).

You have to hold the slide back — one means is shown in the photo — to maintain notch/tab alignment and push on the end of the stop from right to left with afinger of your gripping hand to start it out. Withdraw the stop between fingers of your free hand. Do not pry it off. The slide is under the influence of the recoil spring (35). You need to be the boss and don’t let the spring take control as you move the slide forward and off the frame. Invert the slide.

Push the recoil spring guide (21) forward slightly then lift upward at the rear to remove spring and guide from the assembly. The barrel is taken out in the same way. This level of disassembly is enough to allow a thorough cleaning of the pistol except for the magazine, that self-contained, indispensable A Bammo depot frequently overlooked during a basic clean up. It’s a pity for a dirty magazine has been known to, and does, cause feeding problems.

The owner of any pistol, CCW included, has likely never cleaned or even looked inside its magazine after firing it. I’ve not been able to dope out the reason for this beyond ignorance or laziness. The vast majority of pistol magazines have round openings in their bodies (40) called cartridge witness holes and they all have followers atop their springs. Some have base plates that usually slide out from the base of the body while others, like P238 magazines, do not.

With this one and those like it simply depress the follower, capture the internal spring by inserting a punch or pin through one of the witness holes, lift and rotate the follower to remove it and pull the punch or pin and pick out the spring. Item B is the safety detent plunger easily lost forever if not approached with caution.

Detailed Slide Disassembly The slide and magazine catch assemblies are ringers for those in a M1911A1. There’s an exception involving the rear sight (22) and I’ll get to that in a minute. Meanwhile, press inward on the firing pin (12). Push the firing pin stop (7) downward to block the pin’s escape when you let up on the pressure. Remember that when you get done pushing the stop clear of the rear of the slide there’s nothing to keep the firing pin and its spring (39) from popping out.

Have afinger ready to prevent this or you may be in for a frustrating and fruitless search. The extractor (16) may need a little push from its ejection port end to get it started to the rear. After that has occurred you should be able to remove it completely with a couple of fingertips. Now for that rear sight.

Like the front sight and all pins in the P238 it Those with a less sturdy thumb can employ the four-fingers-over-the-slide grip with equally positive results. drifts right to left on the way out and left to right on the way in. However, this particular sight retains the firing pin block (17) and its spring (36). Drift the sight too far and you’ll lose that spring for certain. Probably forever.

Avoid this by securing the slide between padded vise jaws, having a small blade jewelers’ screwdriver handy and don’t move the sight past the spring hole beneath it. It should only be nudged far enough with a nylon drift to reveal the spring and not totally uncover it. Apply the screwdriver blade to the spring to control it as you complete removal of the sight. You will have to do the same in reverse after dropping in the block and spring during reassembly of the sight to the slide.

During removal or replacement of the rear sight and associated components it’s best to have the slide retained in the padded vise jaws. Detailed Frame Disassembly I may not have placed enough emphasis on the material from which the frame is made. It isn’t pure aluminum. It’s a stronger alloy, but not stronger than the steel of the hammer (6). So what? If the steel is allowed to impact the softer metal it doesn’t require rocket science to determine the softer metal is going to get the worst of it.

With that thought preventing you from pulling the trigger and allowing the hammer to slam forward under the pressure exerted by the mainspring (25) hold the hammer back with your thumb, pull the trigger and ease the hammer fully forward. This will also relax the mainspring somewhat. After removing the grip panels (26 & 27) take a magnifi ed look at the

SIG SAUER P238 (Speci cations subject to change without notice) 1 Frame 2 Slide Stop 3 Thumb Safety 4 Barrel 5 Slide 6 Hammer 7 Firing Pin Stop 8 Magazine Catch 9 Magazine Catch Lock 10 Trigger Pad 11 Trigger Bar 12 Firing Pin 13 Disconnector 14 Hammer Pin 15 Hammer Strut 16 Extractor 17 Firing Pin Block 18 Slide Stop Lever Spring 19 Mainspring Housing 20 Ejector 21 Recoil Spring Guide 22 Front Sight 23 Rear Sight 24 Sear Spring 25 Mainspring 26 Right Grip Plate 27 Left Grip Plate 28 Grip Plate Screw 29 Safety Detent Plunger 30 Sear Pin 31 Trigger Pin 32 Trigger Bar Pin 33 Mainspring Housing Lock Pin 34 Sear 35 Recoil Spring 36 Firing Pin Block Spring 37 Magazine Catch/Trigger Bar Spring 38 Safety Plunger Spring 39 Firing Pin Spring 40 Magazine 41 Mainspring Housing Pin

thumb safety. You’ll see a bright spot partially exposed behind it. That spot is the safety detent plunger (29). It hides the detent spring (38). Both are loosely housed inside the hammer pin (14). Nothing holds them in place except the thumb safety (3) and the next in line for removal is the thumb safety. Catch-22? Not at all. You just have to be clued in on the little trick to it. Swivel the safety up enough to reveal the plunger and still retain it.

Place the blade of your small screwdriver over the plunger and depress it. Swivel the safety all the way up, gently ease off on the plunger and the spring pressure will move it upward. Grasp them to lift out the two small components and place both in a magnetic parts tray. Remove the thumb safety. During reinstallation the plunger/spring depression technique is reversed so the thumb safety can clear them.

Actually, this methodology is very close to that used in disassembling and reassembling the slide stop assembly in a M1911. If you’ve ever tackled that successfully you won’t have any problem with the P238. Drift the mainspring housing pin (41) right to left to prep the removal of the mainspring housing (19). This normally frees up the housing. If it doesn’t, get out your magnifier, a flashlight and take a peek into the back end of the pistol.

What you’re looking for is a spring attached to the bottom end of the ejector (20). If it’s present you have to probe down in there with something like a dental tool to unhook the spring. Its opposite end is attached to the housing. Even then the housing might balk at leaving the grip frame and this reluctance is not to be tolerated. Giving it a nudge downward with a nylon drift gets it started. The spring I’ve been telling you about doesn’t show up on every P238, just the older models.

On new production pistols the hook-up between the ejector and housing has been eliminated. Drift out the hammer pin right to left and lift it out with its strut (15) as a unit. Remove the sear spring (24). The magazine catch assembly (6, 9 and 37) is removed and replaced in the frame exactly like the same assembly in a M1911. By now it ought to be pretty obvious John M. Browning’s forever-classic design has made noticeable contributions to the P238!

Continue with the right to left drifting to remove the sear pin (30). Do this step-bystep moving the pin far enough to free the sear first; followed by a withdrawal to lift out the ejector. I recommend you make a slave pin the same length of the sear pin and slightly smaller in diameter. It will become close to indispensable when the time comes to rebuild the back end of the gun. Right to left does it again when removing the trigger pin (31).

When you do the whole assembly (10, 11, 32 and 37) will move upward inside the frame. Note that spring #37 and pin #32 are duplicates of components in the hammer/hammer strut and magazine catch assemblies. Beware the loss of said spring when you move the trigger group to the rear before the end of the bar is pivoted downward and out of the magazine well. It’s reinstalled in reverse and you’ll probably want to place a dab of Vaseline on the end of the spring to help keep it in the trigger pad during this process.

There’s not much left except the slide stop lever spring (18). The ninety degree bend of it nearest the loop-end fits in a small frame hole. The straight leg of this spring bends easily, folks. Use your dental pick or similar tool to lift and maneuver it into its frame recess so it intrudes into the slide stop opening as shown in the accompanying photo. Perform a quick test on the stop by prematurely installing it in the frame and checking for spring tension with afingertip.

If none is felt you didn’t quite reinstall the spring right. Try, try again. AG American Gunsmithing Association