I know it’s been a while since I’ve been able to post anything and I’m sorry. I know the 3 of you who actually read this are probably all bummed out by the lack of interesting reading due to my laziness. So what is this world coming to!?
I am by far the biggest fan of the M&P out there. I have defended it at every turn. When some bozo online in the forums starts ripping the Glock-off that Smith and Wesson created I go to bat. So why the hell would I give up my long time partner, my M&P40? I was made an awesome offer by a member of one of my forums. I exchange for my 3 year old M&P40 and my remaining ammo for it I received a brand new SIG-Sauer P226 9mm NYPD edition. This is an absolutely beautiful piece of German engineering. This is the BMW of the handgun world. Notice I did not say the Mercedes of handguns. Mainly because I DON’T LIKE MERCEDES!!! Yeah I like Bond cars.
This is a production overrun that was made to fill a contract with the NYPD when they began allowing their officers to carry either a Glock 19, SIG 226 or a 9mm Smith & Wesson (Not a M&P Big mistake). After the contract was fulfilled SIG began selling the left overs on the civilian market.
In typical New York fashion this gun has quite a few interesting traits. Of course as most Glock owners know NY requires Glocks and many other guns have an incredibly heavy trigger. Hence why the New York trigger made for Glocks weighs in at about 12 pounds. This P226 is no exception. Though for SIG this heavy trigger is reached by using the often lamented traditional DAO (Double Action Only) trigger system. For this SIG that boils down to a double action pull of about 12 pounds. I haven’t been able to measure it but this trigger feels more to me to be about 8-9 pounds. Still heavy but not un-reasonable for a Service Pistol, which is exactly what this is. This gun while not uncommon in the civilian world for concealed carry or home defense was made for the elite law enforcement and military units world wide. Among some of the the finest of those LEO/Military users would be the none-other than the U.S. Navy S.E.A.L.S.
Some of the other interesting things about this particular handgun is the cosmetic features. I have never seen a SIG that was all black with Nickel highlights. While the frame and the slide have a matte black finish the trigger, hammer, slide lever, take down lever, and magazine release are all nickel colored. Which to me makes the look of this gun absolutely stunning. This also has the short reach trigger making the distance from the back-strap of the frame to the front of the trigger easier to reach for those with even larger sized hands. So, to cover all the bases this gun comes packaged with 3 phosphate coated 15 round magazines.
A couple of things to mention about the fit and finish of the gun. First this gun feels like it was built perfectly slide-to-frame. The fitting is absolutely amazing. I would rank it higher on the fit & finish list than even H&K. The phosphate coating on the magazines also improves the drop free characteristics of the design. I noticed that while doing reload drills with dummy rounds that not only do the mags drop-free very easily but the full loaded magazine seats without much effort with the slide forward. One thing on my list is to replace these current 15 rounders with the new factory 18 round magazines. You can’t beat 19 rounds of 124 grain +P 9mm. I also noticed that the magazine release, while not at all difficult to press when needed, is not easy to press accidentally. The biggest surprise to me was how easy it was to reach the release without adjusting my grip on the firearm.
One thing about SIGs in general that is different is the placement of the slide lever. While most handguns follow the 1911 example and place it forward of the shooter’s grip requiring the thumb to reach out to press it, often requiring a drastic and uncomfortable change in shooting grip, the SIG places the lever toward the rear of the gun allowing the user to operate with the shooting hand’s thumb by simply reaching up. No change in grip is typically required. But for someone like myself with larger hands it is a little awkward but not at all difficult to do.
Another A+ goes to SIG for the sights on this gun. This 226 came from the factory with SIGLITE Night Sights. Basically 3-dot trititum night sights like you would find on most any modern service pistol. The thing about these sights I really like it not only are they steel and dove tailed into the slide for better durability but they are also designed in such a manner that the sights can serve to assist the operator in racking the slide one handed in a situation where one hand has been disabled. This again shows the focus on making a combat worthy handgun to fit the needs of true extreme operators.
The weight of this gun surprised me. I was expecting it to be heavier but when I compared it to my M&P45 it was about the same or even a hair lighter. Both were fully loaded to standard capacity so that may have influenced the results slightly. But as a carry gun it is still on the heavy side because of the frame. Which is not polymer by the way. This weekend I hope to get her to the range to test the legendary accuracy of this SIG. So be sure there is more to come!
