P239 - big difference Exeter vs. Germany? (2025)

Dave Baird

sigmon

I owned two in 9mm, one from Exeter and one from Germany. The one from Germany was flawless, the one from Exeter was new and had bad feeding problems. It could not even feed round nose range ammo reliably, let alone hollow point ammo.

I polished both feed ramps (barrel and frame) and took off the sharp leading edge off the barrel feed ramp, I then purchased more powerful Wolf mag springs and it fixed the feeding issues.

I never trusted the one from Exeter again and ended up trading them both for a pair of HK P2000's. The HK's are 100% reliable but the triggers are a big step down from the Sigs.

P250UA5

My dad has had an Exeter P239 in 40S&W since 1996.
Flawless, can't recall a single issue experienced with it

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P250UA5,

bac1023

As far as I know, only the frames were made in Germany. The stainless slides were Exeter and the guns were built in Exeter.

Unless its German proofed, it wasn’t made in Germany

cslinger

quote:

The HK's …………… but the triggers are a big step down from the Sigs.

Posts: 49|Registered: May 20, 2004

DA HELL you say.

.

. I am so used to shooting mediocre to poor triggers that I actually have a hard time acclimating to good triggers.

. I love my P2000’s

As for the P239 I thought this was one of the early American guns/designs where, as was said above, only the frames came from Germany. I could of course be wrong but thought that was the case.

"Guns are tools. The only weapon ever created was man."

Dave Baird

12131

There are P239s that were made, assembled and proofed in Germany, but those are not often seen on this side of the pond.

bac1023

colt_saa

I own many of the P239S. I'm a big fan of the design, but all of mine are 357SIG

All of a mine have been flawless no matter where the frames were made. BTW I go through a lot of 357SIG ammunition each year

The only other caliber change for the P239 that I have is a 9MM threaded barrel that I occasionally use in my two tone. Obviously the purpose of this is to use the suppressor

I utilize the 357SIG magazines along the standard recoil spring and even this combination is perfectly reliable

Campusninja

There were 50 German mande P239’s in 9mm imported from Switzerland some years ago via PW Arms and sold by Dans Ammo. They came with the Ilaflon finish, Von-Stavenhagen sights, and a black leather holster. Fit and finish was excellent, and the slide didn’t rattle like the US assembled guns. Like a complete dolt, I sold mine

Have owned several P239’s in 9mm and .357 SIG. This specimen was the nicest of the bunch.

Dave Baird

Austin228

gearhounds

Many years ago, my old agency took possession of about 150 lightly used 239 9mm’s from the ATF when they switched to 226 .40’s. Many were lightly or even unused. To a gun they were all very tightly fitting, smooth running machines. These all had German frames with SA prefix serial numbers. The few US framed pieces I have picked up since then all seemed to exhibit some level of frame to slide rattle. I posted here about one that I traded into that had a pretty severe flaw where the point of contact that creates the ubiquitous barrel smiley was making a divot on the barrel. When I attended an armorers course, the Sig rep was kind enough to outright trade out an almost new upper assembly. It still had slide rattle but the barrel to slide mate up was tight. The early SA- guns seemed better than the all Exeter guns.

rock185

Having owned SIGs since the '80s, I was as suspicious as the next guy as to the quality of the US guns vs. the German guns. Now I've owned a few US manufactured SIGs. They only differences I can readily see with the regular production SIGs are that the slide/frame fit does not tend to be as precise on the US guns, and bore finish is not quite as fine as on the German and Swiss SIGs. Performance wise though, I've finally been forced to admit that durability, reliability and accuracy of the US examples seems to be as good as the European guns...YMMV

NRA Life

Dave Baird

Thanks everyone!!!!

bnz42

I picked up one of the all German P239s from Dan's Ammo. Still have it. They were around $600 from Dan's.

Dave Baird