SIG Sauer P290

There will be more concealed carry pistols reviewed for American Gunsmith. You may want to set up a file holding all for comparison. Would you ever compare Switzerland to the Wild West? No way. Not this place where exquisitely accurate time-keeping movements and the most mouth-watering of chocolates are born. Not this place where massive fortunes have been secreted in tight-lipped banks for decades. Not this place that historically remained neutral while world wars raged around it. Nay.

Any degree of household invasion is considered a no-no, a nein-nein or a non-non to citizens of this multilingual land erroneously credited with inventing nothing except the cuckoo clock. An uninformed visiting thug from any other nation might, there- Both can be serviced by following the instruction appearing in this article. When fully installed the upper edge of the tool will be parallel with the slide. fore, believe the Swiss to be easy marks and set out to test the theory.

Still, the breaking and entering crime rate ranges from low to none. Most of you probably know why. If not, try this on for consideration. The reason, students, is fear. Switzerland practices universal military training. All males of a specified age span must serve. When enlistments are up they return home accompanied with a weapon they were issued. Most of these are rifles with fully automatic capability. Pistols and even submachine guns are not exempted.

Faced with the prospect of engaging not merely one but several small arsenals in a neighborhood, individuals intent on mayhem think better of it and abandon their plans. As a result, Swiss households do not fear the night. I wish that were true in this country. I know of at least one southeastern community in the United States (Kennesaw, Georgia) where household invasions happen as infrequently as in Switzerland. That town has a law making a home-based firearm mandatory.

Hopefully a day not too far in the future will come when intelligence and political courage (if the two characteristics can ever exist simultaneously or otherwise) will result in statutes being enacted in all fifty states requiring a firearm to be present in every home. Regardless of the existence of such a law, it is the responsibility of every home owner maintaining a firearm for personal defense to practice all state and local regulations.

Primary among those would be separate and safe storage preventing access to children as there’s no other reason strong locks and the means of attaching them to a firearm of any description accompany all guns shipped these days. Not necessarily secondary is a thorough knowledge of possible legal consequences to the owner when a gun is

used for protecting the owner or another family member during household defense. The deepest well for gaining that knowledge from coast to coast wears the same sign: State Police. Become familiar with the legalities yourself and advise your customers to do the same. No, don’t advise. Insist. It’s in their and your best interests. Ah, I sense increasingly hostile vibrations. I have spoken too little so far of this article’s primary subject. Forgive me.

Field Stripping Remove the magazine, pull the slide to the rear, align the slide stop notch with the stop (36), engage the notch with the stop to lock open the slide, A B The nylon bench block is available from Brownells. check the chamber and put on eye protection. Do not lose the chamber safety flag or the black plastic object wearing an arrow. Both are included with the pistol and play roles in its servicing.

The slide stop is retained by its spring (34) but in its present position it could be withdrawn from the pistol with some determination. A C This would allow forward movement of the slide and its removal from the frame. True enough, but more is coming about slide and stop removal in the next paragraphs. The black plastic tool is inserted in the pistol through the ejection port with the arrow on the tool pointing toward the muzzle, illustrated here B

Photo on left is of the front; on right is the rear. with how the set up should look before you push down on the slide stop (36). When you do, the slide will be released and brought to a snug halt against the tool. This makes the next disassembly step possible. The safety flag has one smooth leg and one with an abbreviated "handle." The end of the smooth leg is used to push out the slide stop. Lest you forget, the slide is still under stress from the recoil springs.

Hang on to it as it moves forward then remove it from the frame. Invert the slide. There are two recoil springs (15 and 16) on the spring guide (14). The guide and the two springs are pushed forward simultaneously until they can be lifted free. The barrel is raised up slightly by its breech end, rolled to the rear, removed and set aside along with the slide, frame, recoil springs and guide while you attend to the magazine (47).

After shooting sessions the P290’s magazine should be cleaned along with the slide assembly and frame. Never forget that little guns tend to get dirtier faster that big guns. The P290 is no exception but how quickly You have to provide the blade screwdriver (C) and the paper clip (D). the dirt accumulates frequently depends on the ammunition provided as its steady diet. I refer to the lower extremity of the magazine body as a "bumper." Drift, push or pull it far enough off to reveal the floorplate.

Use a punch or hardwood dowel to push the floorplate up into the magazine. Finish removing the bumper but don’t let

up on the floorplate pressure in the process. Once the bumper is totally out of the way, pull out the punch or dowel. If a tap on your bench fails to free up the magazine spring and follower they can easily be coaxed out with tweezers. The major, and some minor, components of the P290 stand ready for your cleaning expertise. Detailed Disassembly The slide is placed upside down with its sights on the bench and its muzzle end facing away from the operator.

Depress the firing pin lock (11) and push the firing pin (9) inward with a 1/16" punch. Maintain your hold on the punch while the block is lifted upward for removal. The block spring (10) can get lost at this point. Be careful. With the entire firing pin and firing pin block assemblies out of the way, start the extractor pin (7) downwards. Raise the rear of the slide enough to complete removal of the extractor pin later on. First, though, is the extractor spring. It is identified as #4 on the parts list.

Well, #4 is no more. The extractor spring will now and forever be called #5. Continue pushing down on the extractor pin to free the extractor (6). The spring is lightly seated behind the extractor and may attempt an escape. Knowing this in advance, you will prevent it and pluck the spring from the slide. Reposition the slide right side up between padded vise jaws. Drift out both front (1) and rear (3) sights from right to left.

Store all the slide components in a compartmentalized container labeled "P290 Small Parts" and move on. Place the frame with its right hand side facing up. Push the rear housing pin (44) all the way through in either direction. Slide the rear housing (30) out until it is halted by the trigger bar (31). Carefully rotate the housing free and set it aside. The grip panels (45 and 46) are engraved "Left" and "Right." They both slide in and out on slotted tracks within the grip frame. Derail and remove both grips.

Depress and hold in the magazine catch (40). Shazam! There’s a hole in the catch stop (42). This calls for a DIY tool gunsmiths world-wide claim is the handiest in the universe. Seize a paper clip, straighten one leg and insert that leg into the hole. Totally remove the catch and the rear housing pin. The next high tech tool is a screwdriver with a thin blade. Insert the blade between the metal rails of the frame and the trigger bar (31). Twist the blade counter clockwise a little.

This action makes it possible to pull to the rear and away from the trigger (38). Remove the bar. In case you haven’t noticed up to now, the rear of the trigger bar fits in to the hammer. Push out the trigger pivot pin (37) right to left with a 3/32" punch. Don’t completely pull out the punch. Slowly back it out enough to free up the pin, then continue withdrawal of the punch to accomplish the same with the trigger spring (39). Dump all the parts you just turned loose into your P290 Small Parts container.

Back out the slide stop spring screw (55). Add it and the slide stop spring (34) to your collection of small parts. Turn the laser plug (33) counter clockwise 90 degrees to remove it. The resulting hole is where an optional laser attaches to the frame. If the P290 you’re working with has no laser you can leave in the laser plug. The trigger bar spring (32) is located in a grooved pocket inside the grip frame. When you direct a bright light into the magazine well the pocket is quite apparent.

Next up: The rear housing (30). The accompanying photo shows how it has to look after being reassembled. A close study of the housing prior to disassembly will help in understanding how its upper components relate to one another. Remember that the hammer (18) is under moderate spring pressure. Pull the hammer fully to the rear and hold it there. Push out the hammer pivot pin (29). You’ll be able to lift out the hammer, hammer strut (20), and hammer strut pivot pin (21). Follow this by pushing out the sear pin (27).

I suggest complete removal of the pin after inverting the housing into the palm of your hand. This is recommended in the hope the sear (25) and its spring (26) will end up in your hand still attached to each other, allowing you to study how they must be reunited. More words about the sear and its spring appear in the upcoming paragraphs on reassembly tips. They should be of considerable help in the event the two components get separated in disassembly.

Also under the retaining influence of the sear pin are the firing pin disconnector (17) and trigger bar disconnector (19). If they fall out separately no damage has been done. The important thing to keep in mind is where the two were located on the sear pin so they are reinstalled in the same locations. There’s a possibility the mainspring seat (22), hammer spring (23), and mainspring housing pin lock (24) will remain within the rear housing. A mild tap or two on your bench top should take care of the jam.

Reassembly Tips The sear spring fits in the sear with its bend at the top and its straight leg pointing down. A dab of Vaseline on the spring will assist in keeping it aligned with its hole in the sear. Inserting the sear pin assures this is alignment will be maintained. Better add a couple more dabs of Vaseline to the hammer spring and mainspring housing pin lock or you may not be able to reinstall the rear housing pin. The right side of the frame should be facing up.

Use tweezers to insert the trigger from the bottom. Introduce the trigger pin to the trigger. Hold the trigger forward. Place the spring on the trigger with its L-shaped leg facing forward. Hold the spring in position as the pin is pushed through to maintain alignment. Position the "L" leg as far forward as possible, then push it downward into position.

Note, if you spend time closely examining how trigger components relate to each other before removing them from the frame you should have no trouble determining how far forward and downward the "L" leg should be moved during reassembly. SIG Sauer didn’t offer a CCW-type pistol until a rapidly growing mar- 1 Slide 2 Front Sight 3 Rear Sight ket made it clear they were missing something. From that moment the days of company design engineers grew drastically longer. The initial model of the 290 was introduced in 2010.

It was a single action. Their first DAO model came along chambered in .380. The P290 in this article is a 9mm. It will win no medals at 25 SIG Sauer P290 (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 8 Firing Pin Spring 9 Firing Pin 10 Firing Pin Block Spring 4 Extractor Spring 6 Extractor 7 Extractor Pin or 50 yards but its accuracy proves itself at the range most defensive firearms see action, such as inside seven yards.

From the beginning the P290 was designed to serve as an easily concealed, very reliable, very accurate law enforcement back up and personal defense pistol. That is exactly what it is.

AG 11 Firing Pin Block 12 Firing Pin Stop 13 Barrel 14 Recoil Spring Guide 15 Inner Recoil Spring 16 Outer Recoil Spring 17 Firing Pin Disconnector 18 Hammer 19 Trigger Bar Disconnector 20 Hammer Strut Pivot Pin 21 Hammer Strut 22 Mainspring Seat 23 Hammer Spring 24 Mainspring Housing Pin Lock 25 Sear 26 Sear Spring 27 Sear Pivot Pin 28 Ejector 29 Hammer Pivot Pin 30 Rear Housing 31 Trigger Bar 32 Trigger Bar Spring 33 Laser Plug 34 Slide Stop Spring 35 Slide Stop Spring Screw 36 Slide Stop 37 Trigger Pivot Pin 38 Trigger 39 Trigger Spring 40 Magazine Catch 41 Magazine Catch Spring 42 Magazine Catch Stop 43 Frame 44 Rear Housing Pin 45 Left Grip Panel 46 Right Grip Panel 47 Magazine