# P238 ammo question



## joepolo (Mar 28, 2016)

Hi guys looking for some info I have the p238 I got some perfecta ammo at walmart 115 grain . I used it befor but today I had it out and it was shooting low , it is warm out the frist time I shoot it in warm weather. My question is does tempiture have affect on the way ammo shoots. Sorry if it sounds dumb but the gun always shoot very accurate.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

Depends on who made it, I guess. I've shot some Russian stuff in the past which occasionally seemed underpowered in some of the rounds. But then a lot of their ammo uses pretty smokey powder so hard to tell really if it's firing differently or maybe some of the charges are just a little heavier on the powder than other rounds. Never had that trouble with American made stuff. If it cycles the gun ok, it maybe just difference humidity today vs when you last shot it? Shooting outdoors vs inside will definitely seem different just due to noise factor.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

joepolo said:


> Hi guys looking for some info I have the p238 I got some perfecta ammo at walmart 115 grain . I used it befor but today I had it out and it was shooting low , it is warm out the frist time I shoot it in warm weather. My question is does tempiture have affect on the way ammo shoots. Sorry if it sounds dumb but the gun always shoot very accurate.


If I were to speculate, I'd want to believe you had an off day shooting. Go out and try again and bench rest the pistol to verify.


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## joepolo (Mar 28, 2016)

Could be I'm by no means a expert, but when you aim for the middle and hit the bottom, or if I aim high and i hit the middle I think something is off. It's a 16 in. square target 7 to 10 yards. I will try again soon and use different ammo. Just was wonder if tempiture had an affect, I was thinking no but I figured I ask.


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## Spike12 (Dec 10, 2008)

I'm not saying this is what happened, but cheap ammo uses cheap powder. Cheap powder can be very temp sensitive. 

If you were shooting before in a consistently cold place then switched to today's warm....


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

joepolo said:


> Could be I'm by no means a expert, but when you aim for the middle and hit the bottom, or if I aim high and i hit the middle I think something is off. It's a 16 in. square target 7 to 10 yards. I will try again soon and use different ammo. Just was wonder if tempiture had an affect, I was thinking no but I figured I ask.


Perfecta ammo has a reputation of being a fairly consistent quality manufactured ammo. I assume the pistol functioned properly? At the range of which you speak I doubt any noticible difference in bullet drop due to warmer/colder temperatures.

If anything, if you were shooting a hunting rifle at much greater ranges in extreme colder temperatures your bullet drop is greater than it would be for warmer temperatures all else being equal.

So, if the temperature theory was to hold true you should have been shooting high, not low, but at that distance probably not enough to make any difference anyway. A bad lot of ammo, possible, but if the pistol functioned properly improbable. Having an off day shooting a P238 pocket pistol, more probable, but of course just an opinion and I surely could be wrong.

The only true way to determine is to bench the pistol from a rest under the same conditions, or have someone else shoot the pistol who is proficient with P238's under the same conditions and with the same ammo.


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## joepolo (Mar 28, 2016)

I'll find out in a couple days when I get back out, I'm tending to think the temps. didn't have much to do with it, and it's hard to blame the ammo cause I did have my XD9 with the same type ammo and shot good. I'll have to check my sights don't think I bumped them it's always in a holster. Thanks for the reply's I was just hoping for a quick fix so it was easy to blame the ammo.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

joepolo said:


> I'll find out in a couple days when I get back out, I'm tending to think the temps. didn't have much to do with it, and it's hard to blame the ammo cause I did have my XD9 with the same type ammo and shot good. I'll have to check my sights don't think I bumped them it's always in a holster. Thanks for the reply's I was just hoping for a quick fix so it was easy to blame the ammo.


Sounds good, let us know what you find out. My PX4 subcompact shot 2-3 inches low with newly installed trijicon sights.

I came to this fact after carefully bench resting the pistol. Sent the slide to Trijicon after recieving a work order and with their impeccable customer service they replaced the rear sight with a noticably higher one and sent it back on their dime.

That was indeed the ticket and another reason why I'm a lifelong Trijicon customer. Likewise what I found out is that shorter barreled shorter sight radiused pistols are less foregiving to shooters error than are longer barreled ones.


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## BLUEKNIGHT206 (Apr 29, 2016)

Hi im a newbie on this forum. I went to the indoor range today with my new P238. I was using several different brands of ammo and no feed or eject issues. Except, all of my rounds were low and to the left. i adjusted my hold to the upper right portion of the target and guess what, my shots were grouping in the bulls-eye. So went to the dealer and the pistol is being sent back to Sig Sauer


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## joepolo (Mar 28, 2016)

I never got to the range yet, I have a couple guns I need to shoot just can't seem to find the time. I use a range that's over half hour away, so I need a couple hours to go. As far as the gun it's self I like the little thing it's great to carry when your all dressed up.


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## Cait43 (Apr 4, 2013)

Right hand pistol correction chart
www.gunlink.info/targets/PistolChartR1S.pdf

Left hand pistol correction chart
www.gunlink.info/targets/PistolChartL1S.pdf


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## joepolo (Mar 28, 2016)

Well I should find out tomorrow if it's me or the gun hope it's me. I got the sig and a Taurus G2 to shoot, of course I'll have to take the xd out to. It'll cost more in ammo then gas to get there but it'll be worth it.


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## joepolo (Mar 28, 2016)

Well good news I guess, I finally got to the range today was pretty nice out, shoot 50 rounds of Remington 95 gran, and guess what the gun shoot perfect, so I think maybe it was just a little bit my fault. Not sure what I was doing but it sure was wrong. But on a good note nothing is wrong with the gun. Also got to shoot my xd and G2. Cait43 thanks for that link. Maybe some day I'll pick up some more perfecta just to try it, thanks everyone for the response.


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## jkingrph (Nov 11, 2016)

Some powders and primers are more heat sensitive than others. When the primer and powder ignites, a chemical reaction called oxidization occurs, very, very rapidly. When I was taking chemistry, over 50 years ago I think I remember that a lot of reactions doubled in the rate with each 10 degrees centigrade increase. Many powders have coatings to reduce the reaction time or rate of burn, but I think it would be safe to assume if you are shooting outdoors when the ambient temp is at or near freezing vs say a 100F temp, the powder will burn faster on the hot day and you will get a higher velocity.


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## jkingrph (Nov 11, 2016)

Has anyone tried some of the Liberty lead free civil defense ammo. For 380 they list it as a 50 gr hollowpoint, 1500 fps and >200 foot lbs.

9mm as 50 gr, 2000 fps and 450 foot lbs.


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