Why do I love Sig pistols? Reliability, ease of operation, great triggers

I've been asked a question about "My short history with Sig pistols" that I think deserves elevation from a comment to a new post.

Kansas Scout said... I keep reading all these enthusiastic comments from Sig owners. I have not shot one yet. Being a fellow lefty, I assume they work well for you in that way. Tell us why you like them so much. I would like to know specifically what it is that makes folks like them so much.

Short answer is the Sig Sauer motto: "To hell and back reliability!" I have owned to date five Sig pistols, a P226 and two P229s, one plain and one Custom Shop, all in .357 Sig; and two P220 .45 ACP Single-Action-Only models, one full-size and one compact. And to date with hundreds of rounds fired in each of them, I have yet to have a single malfunction. Zero. A record of 100% perfect performance is the ultimate in reliability.

I have had pistols that were 99.5% reliable that I either got fixed or I sold. I will not carry a pistol I cannot depend on 100% of the time. All of my carry pistols have to meet that standard or they are gone.

No. 2 reason, my Sig pistols are simple to operate, even for a lefty like me. In the case of the P229s which are traditional double-action/single-action, chamber a round, decock the hammer, then holster it until needed. Then draw and fire. If time and circumstance allow, I will cock the hammer upon drawing to make the first and all following shots single-action. But if not, that first double-action trigger pull is smooth enough to make an accurate shot. I practice drawing and firing two shots, one DA and one SA.

With my two P220 SAO .45s, they both have ambi safeties that allow me carry them safely cocked. Draw, flip safety down just as on a 1911 and shoot. And an added feature of the P220 SAO is the safety does not lock the slide like a 1911. When I want to check to see if there's a round in the chamber, I can press-check the slide with the safety still on.

Number three I've already covered, great triggers. The Sig DA triggers are great and my P220 SA triggers are not only the equal of my good 1911 triggers, they're actually superior. Don't ask me why but I can shoot either of P220s with factory 5-lb. triggers better than any of the custom triggers of 3 to 4 lbs. in the 1911s I own. Maybe it's the legendary inherent accuracy of P220s, I don't know. I just know it works for me.

Ease of operation, great triggers and 100% reliability. What more do you need in a carry pistol?

Lone Wolf delivers .357 Sig barrel for G29, grip sleeve for Steyr S9A1

My order from Lone Wolf Distributors arrived today with a couple of accessories I ordered.

It still says Glock Model 29 10mm on the slide of my customized G29, but on the inside it is now a G33 subcompact .357 Sig with its new barrel from Lone Wolf.

The only outward sign is the Lone Wolf logo and the 10-357 on the top of the bolt on the new barrel. Fit was perfect, drop in and go. Can't wait to take my new G29/33 to the range Saturday for a test spin in .357 Sig.

Lone Wolf also sent me a Qwik Grip rubber slip-on sleeve for my new Steyr S9A1 9mm subcompact. It took a few squirts of Gun Scrubber, a flat plastic stick and a few choice words, but I finally got it on. It fits literally like a glove and I like the textured surface. I got big mits and I like grip sleeves on some of my pistols.

And I can't resist showing off my new Nill grips on my Sig P220 SAO .45 ACP. I took the .22LR slide off and put the .45 ACP slide on and wore it to work at the gun shop yesterday. Beauty and function, too.

So there's three to test-fire at the range Saturday, G29/33, S9A1 and P220 with the new grips.

And there's a fourth for the range, too. I bought some Hornady .44 Special hollow points that I want to try in my S&W 396 Night Guard. It's gonna be a busy day at the range after my concealed-carry class finishes.

Sig P250 9mm Compact Nickel Slide is tempting deal

Dang, just when I figure I'm gonna lay low for a while on purchasing handguns (before my wife kills me) the gun shop where I work gets this great deal on Sig P250 9mm compact pistols with a nickel-plated slide.

I guess free enterprise is at work here as the price has dropped significantly on the P250 since it was first released. Prices started out well above $700 but have been dropping since.

We have this same model listed on gunbroker with a camo polymer frame for $675 and now we're competing with ourselves with this great deal on the nickel slide model for only $485.

The P250 is a double-action-only pistol, unlike the classic Sig pistols which are all double-action/single-action. And the response from the buying public has been a bit lukewarm up until now. But with a price drop like this, I imagine demand will rise quickly.

One of my co-workers at the gun shop bought one of the camo models and likes it a lot. And it's a great concept, buy one any size or caliber and then change the polymer grip frame, slide and barrel to a zillion different combinations in 9mm, .40S&W, .357 Sig or .45 ACP in subcompact, compact or full-size.

At prices like this, even the old die-hard Sig classic lovers like me may have to come across. I've got several DAO pistols already, two Glock 10mm, G20 and G29; two S&W M&P .357 Sigs, commander size and compact; and a Steyr M9A1. So the DAO Sig P250 isn't off-putting to me.

It's just that I really love the Sig traditional double-actions. My two P229 .357 Sigs are my absolute favorite pistols and my next acquisition will be a Sig P220 .22LR I tried out over the weekend. Converting it to a .45 ACP Single-Action-Only Sig P220 is the follow-on plan.

After that, a P250 with nickel slide may be next.

What's better than a Sig Pistol? Three Sig pistols!

One of my favorite gun writers, Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch, says if you have a gun you really like, get another one just like it.

Well, I can't afford to get another Sig Sauer P229 .357 Sig SAS Gen 2, which is both my most expensive handgun and my favorite. But when the gun shop where I work bought a used Sig P229R .357 Sig at a recent gun show, that was close enough for me. The R stands for rail, which my SAS Gen 2 does not have, being strictly a concealed-carry pistol. And the P229R also has a couple of features the SAS doesn't have, a stainless-steel barrel and guide rod.

You'd think on such an expensive pistol as the SAS models, Sig would at least give you a staineless-steel guide rod instead of plastic. And the SAS barrel is Nitron-black finish, though it is stainless steel under the black.

Anyway, that's the P229R in the top photo and the SAS Gen 2 in the second. It does have lots of bells and whistles the P229R is lacking, night sights, stainless slide, fancy P229 Elite wood grips, Short Reset Trigger and of course the Sig Anti-Snag SAS treatment on the slide and frame, smoothing out all the sharp edges.

But there ain't nothing wrong with the new-to-me P229R, which has quickly become my second-favorite Sig pistol. It's what Sig calls a CPO, Certified Previously Owned, meaning it was a law-enforcement trade in that was completely refurbished by Sig.

• Before receiving its Factory Certified Pre-Owned status each pistol is stripped, refinished, refitted with original factory parts where needed, cleaned and lubricated, function tested and hand-inspected by a certified SIG SAUER armourer.

If it can pass the Sig factory armorer's inspection, that's more than good enough for me.

And the third photo is very likely destined to become my third favorite Sig pistol. It's a gently used Sig P220R .22LR pistol which some idiot traded in at the gun store.

It's one of a new series of pistol Sig calls their Classic .22s. Buy a Classic .22 Rimfire and you get a $400 coupon to buy the full-caliber slide, barrel and recoil system plus a magazine to covert the .22 into whatever caliber the frame is designed for. In this case, it's a P220 Single-Action-Only .45 ACP which comes with no decocker and ambi safeties. Which is just exactly perfect for a lefty like me. So I get a great .22LR pistol for training and plinking and also what is perhaps the best .45 ACP pistol on the planet, IMHO, including custom 1911s that cost multi-thousands.

All three of these Sig pistols went to the range with me and a shooting buddy on Saturday and we burned up a bunch of ammo and had a bunch of fun. I also took along my customized Glock subcompact G29 10mm (fourth photo) because my shooting buddy has a full-size G20 10mm and wanted to see how the G29 shoots. He loved it.

But this was also his first experience shooting .357 Sig pistols and guess what? This former "Gotta be .45 or 10mm or I won't have it!" guy has decided there is another caliber he loves.

Finally the last photo is my Sig P229R after I got her all cleaned up following the range trip and installed a set of Hogue Pau Ferro grips on her. She dresses up real nice, don't she?

(P.S. The unnamed shooting buddy referred to demands photo credits. OK, he took the first four photos. With my excellent digital camera. Set on "Auto" which makes it foolproof, even for this fool. And I'm leaving him unnamed because I outshot him so bad it would be embarrassing to name him. But I'll give you a hint: His first name is Jerry and his last name is Andrews.)

Pittsburgh Shootout with Steyroids: 1 Redneck and 3 Yankee gun nuts

Four of us Steyroids (no, it's not a disease of the hinder parts, it's lovers of Steyr weapons) gathered at the Wexford state wildlife range outside Pittsburgh on June 28 and I'm just now getting a round tuit to finding time to upload the photos of the fun.

At the firing line blamming away with my S&W 29 .44 Magnum is the new guy at the shootout, Cheney at Steyrclub. He's an old fart like me and the other two guys in the group are young farts, Big Taco and OffArtist, the guy grinning in the background. He's a former Marine, so he's gotta be a good guy. There ain't no ex-Marines except for John Murtha and Lee Harvey Oswald.

Next photo is OffArtist blamming away with my EAA Witness-P in .38 Super mode. That's Big Taco in the background with the cool orange shooting glasses on and Cheney in the middle. It was the second outing for the .38 Super slide on the former EAA Witness .45 ACP and I like it a lot. Shoots much better and the sights are pretty much dead on. Now I gotta find me some 9x23 ammo for it.

Then you have Big Taco in the third photo, blamming away with my Sig P229 .357 Sig gangsta style one-handed and whoppy-jawed sideways. He says that's the way you're supposed to shoot one-handed and he's a better shot than me, so who am I to criticize? But it still looks weird. I don't have no trouble shooting straight up one-handed, but one-handed or two-handed, BT blows me away so I'll shut up about his gangsta style.

I brought five of my pistols in 9mm, .44, .357 Sig and .38 Super, BT had his 9mm and .40 Steyr Ms and OffArtist had his Steyr too, I forget what flavor.

I also brought my Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum lever rifle and after we got through 10-yard pistol shooting, we moved down to the 50-yard range for some more pistol and rifle shooting. BT and Cheney were shooting Steyr pistols at 50 and doing pretty good.

Speaking of sideways, that first target photo is a 50-yard group I shot with the Marlin lever gun. I had a nice group about 12 o'clock with .44 holes. Those two holes low and to the left was BT poaching on my target with a Steyr pistol. The one hole in the orange is his too, of course.

So I figured if BT and Cheney could hit with a pistol at 50 yards, I'd try it with my Smith 29, which has a 4" barrel. I was shooting .44 Specials, which are a lot more user friendly than .44 Magnums. The last target is another sideways rendition with all of the holes in the black except the bottom two on the edge of the orange 8" bull.

Now if I could get a bad guy to hold real still at 50 yards and let me take my time drawing a bead from a steady rest (plus not be shooting back at me) I might be able to handle the situation. Whatever. It was a lot of fun anyway.

And afterward, BT, Cheney and me went into town and got a bite to eat and some excellent brews at Fathead's Bar & Grill on the south side of Pittsburgh. Much fun was had by all. Let's do it all again next year.

Pau Ferro and .38 Super go to the range and have fun

Pau Ferro and .38 Super went to the range and (stop me if you're heard this one) had a fine old time. That's Pau Ferro on the right, my new grips for my Sig P229, center is my CZ P07 9mm and left is my EAA Witness-P Compact with its new .38 Super slide.

Actually the range is closed until August because it's at at Millstone 4-H Camp which is overrun with kids. How inconsiderate, that kids would want to use their 4-H camp and shut us old farts out of the firing range. I mean why wouldn't a bunch of kids want bullets flying around all over the place while they have fun camping and boating and hiking and riding horses and doing kid stuff at 4-H camp? What is this younger generation coming to!

Where was I? Oh yeah, since the range was closed I went to my fallback spot nearby, an area known to locals as "the claybank." It's a 10-12-foot-high bank of clay alongside the highway. I have no idea what's on the other side of the claybank, but it's been used for a free shooting range for a long time and the only folks who seem to object are hunters who lease the land and don't want the deer scared off during hunting season. It's out of season here in the by-God-it's-hot-already! South, so today was no problem, other than being 97 in the shade and there won't no shade at the claybank.

So I shot my three pistols for the day and got out of there and came back home to the air-conditioning. First up was my EAA Witness P-Compact with its new .38 Super slide, which shoots great. The first target is about 65 rds. of .38 Super FMJs, all I had with me. At first I thought it was shooting pretty far right, but the more I shot it the more the pattern seemed to move toward the center, as you can see from where the ragged hole appeared. Close enough.

Now to order some more mags, a smooth trigger and an ambi safety from EAA. The milled trigger surface is still slapping my left trigger finger just as it did with .45 ACP, which was the original slide that came with the pistol. It's not slapping as hard as it did with .45 ACP, but still an irritation. I'm hopeful EAA has a smooth trigger I can get to replace it but haven't checked yet. Maybe that will make it a pleasure to shoot in .45 ACP, which at present it ain't.

The EAA did fail to lock the slide today with an empty magazine, but it the slide did lock when shooting .45 ACP, so it's probably just the magazine. Not a really big deal but another irritation. Hopefully when I get some new mags, that problem will go away. Generally speaking 12 rds. of .38 Super or 9x23mm ought to be sufficient to solve most problems I could get myself into that need percussion to end. But slides are supposed to lock when the pistol is empty. In a deadly situation, that could cause a really bad day.

Lastly I shot my CZ P07 9mm and the P229 .357 Sig to check the grips of the latter and some more hollowpoints with the former. I was shooting both rapid fire just to check function. And the Sig P229 did something unexpected. It has the Short Reset Trigger and I've shot it fast before, but today I had an unintentional double-tap. The trigger reset so fast I squeezed off a second round right on the heels of the first, bam, bam! It surprised me. I think the hole in the bottom edge of the black is the double-tap but I didn't stop to check at the time, I just kept on shooting to slide lock.

The Pau Ferro Sig grips shoot great and I ran a mag of hollow-points through the P07 in rapid fire, also just to check function. The last three holes in the upper left of the bottom target are three rounds of the new Winchester Bonded PDX1 147-grain loads which I bought after I did the initial JHP testing with the P07. I was aiming at the small cross at upper left. Close enough for standing at 7 yards, which is how I shot today.

Did mention how much fun it is to shoot holes in stuff on a hot Saturday the day before the official start of summer? Life is good.

Who is Pau Ferro? And why can't he spell "Paul"?

When the boss lady at the gun shop where I work ordered a Sig Sauer P229 SAS Gen 2 .357 Sig pistol for me, I asked her to see if the Sig factory rep would get me a pair of those nice Rosewood grips that Sig put on the SAS Gen 1. He said he'd try to get me a set. It's been about two months now and no Rosewood grips have yet appeared and I got tired of looking at those black plastic grips on my P229. That's it in the top photo at right.

So I googled around online a bit and found some nice Hogue wood grips I liked and could afford called Pau Ferro. Which raised my curiousity. Who is Pau Ferro? Some grip designer who can't spell Paul? Not really. Wikipedia sez:

"Pao ferro" or "pau ferro" (Caesalpinia ferrea or Machaerium scleroxylum Tul.) is an exotic tree found in Brazil and Bolivia. Its wood is often used for making fingerboards for electric basses and guitars. It has a similar feel and similar tonal attributes to rosewood, but is harder and has a slightly lighter colour. The wood may also be used for flooring, fancy furniture, and handgun grips. It is also known by the names morado, palo santos, caviuna, Brazilian ironwood, and Bolivian rosewood, though it is not actually rosewood.

I read a little further and found that "Stevie Ray Vaughan's Signature Fender Stratocaster comes with a Pao Ferro fingerboard."

Hey, if it's good enough for the best rock guitar picker since Jimi Hendrix, surely Pau Ferro is good 'nuf for me. They're quite lovely on my new Sig and I'll give them their baptism of fire at the range tomorrow.

Another candidate for blasting tomorrow is my new-to-me EAA Witness P-Compact, which I purchased as a .45 ACP. The previous owner glued some Mahogany panels to the grip, so it looks OK. But I've been wanting a .38 Super pistol for some time, so I ordered a .38 Super conversion slide and mag from EAA last week. I ordered a blue-steel slide to match the frame, but they sent me a matte-stainless-finish slide instead. Hey, it's even better looking than a blue one for the same price. I'll take it gladly.

So I've rounded up some .38 Super ammo and the Witness P-Compact will get its baptism of fire tomorrow, too. And if it is shoots .38 Super good, then I'll order some 9x23mm ammo in FMJs and hollow-points and that will be my carry load in the Witness P-Compact. IMHO, faster ammo with more foot-lbs. of energy delivered is better than slower ammo with less foot-lbs. of energy put on target. And .38 Super is about identical to 9mm +P while 9x23mm is right there with .357 Sig, if not a bit ahead of it in both departments.

Caliber	Grains	Type	Mfg.	FPS Muzzle	Ft.Lbs. Muzzle
357 Sig	125	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1450	584
9mm	124	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1301	473
.38 Super	125	JHP	Winchester	1240	427
9x23	124	JHP	Winchester	1460	587
10mm	180	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1300	676
.45 ACP	230	JHP	Gold Dot DoubleTap	1010	521

Here's a little comparison table I put together of my favorite pistol calibers with the hottest loads I could find data on, trying to keep the grain weights as close as possible for comparison purposes.

I had an "experiental" .38 Super barrel from Lone Wolf briefly for my Glock 20 10mm. I shoulda known a guy who can't spell experimental is not a good candidate for trying out a new product. It was experiential indeed, as it jammed about half the time with .38 Super and about a third of the time with 9x23. The two rounds are virtually identical in dimensions except that .38 Super has a small rim, called semi-rimmed, while 9x23 is a true rimless. And that semi-rim does tend to cause feeding problems with .38 Super. But 9x23 not only feeds smoother, it's also hotter.

My daddy always said I lived by the philosophy that if a little bit was good, a whole lot was more better. He was right. I guess that's why I have a love for all those oddball pistol calibers like 10mm, .357 Sig, .38 Super, 9x23 and also the true 9mm Magnum, 9x25mm. I swapped the "experiental" .38 Super barrel for a 9x25 barrel from Lone Wolf and lived happily ever after.

Range report coming tomorrow if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise.