Slide Milling for Sig P series

[David S.]

Cost breakdown as I have mine set up.

$500. CZ P-07. Pre panic, I picked mine up for $400-450 used with a bit of patience.
$225. CGW Pro Kit. Can be installed by yourself if you're reasonably handy. Video linked by CGW. For a bit more, CGW will install it for you and polish some areas.
$225ish. Optics milling including Cerekote and a Glock rear sight dovetail. (Vulcan)
$25. Dawson Precision 0.295" front sight.
$28. Ameriglo GL-404 (0.394") for Glock rear.
$300 Holosun 507c

So I have about $1300 into each of them before grip work. Eventually I'd like to send them off to Boresight Solutions for some grip texture.

Another downside of the P-07/09 is the requirement to protect the firing pin mechanism during extended dry practice. I use an o-ring or a foamy earplug when I dry practice at home. I won't bother if I'm dry practicing in a class. It's not a major problem, just an another thing to keep track of. They tend to pop out and get lost.

Here's a couple pics through the optic using the setup listed above. This happens to be P-09, but I used the same sights on my P-07. Notice the o-ring in front of the hammer.

[Clusterfrack]

@David S. can you comment on why you chose BUIS cut in front of the optic?

[David S.]

@David S. can you comment on why you chose BUIS cut in front of the optic?

In the case of the P-07/09, for irons aft, notice the distinct lack of real estate between the RDS and the dove tail. Same for the dove tail and the hammer channel. This situation is forced because the shop has to use the aft edge of the factory rear sight dovetail as the aft edge of the RDS footprint. There's not much room behind the factory dovetail for a custom dovetail. A quick and very dirty check with the calipers indicates that I might have .02" of material on either side of the rear sight. It's hard to tell from the crappy cell phone pic, but that's about half the width of the factory cocking serrations. That doesn't seem very robust to me.





Irons Forward doesn't impose that limitation on the P-07/09. In this example, I have about 0.10" (5x the material) between the hammer channel and the RDS and about 0.20" between the RDS and the custom BUIS dovetail. Much more robust, IMO.



Every gun is different, particularly hammer guns. Internal safety configuration, OE sight configuration, and a number of other things could change the preference to irons aft. For instance, it looks like the classic SIGs are stuck with irons aft because of the way the internal safeties are configured. H&K and Berettas are a hot mess.


As a high C class shooter, I'm under qualified to discuss shootability.

In general,
- For a carry gun, I prefer irons forward because it's one less sharp corner to poke holes in my shirt. (soooper cool guy tactical, I know)
- If there was any chance I'd go back to irons, I'd prefer irons aft.
- I have both. I'm generally ambivalent about the typical forward vs aft configuration arguments.

Cheers,
David S

[TicTacticalTimmy]

OP, have you considered the Arex Zero? It is basically a SIG P22X copy that comes optics ready with plates from the factory. If you didn't like it and sold it I imagine you would be out less money than it would cost to mill a SIG. I don't have any hands on experience with them but everything I have read has been pretty positive.

[Paul D]

OP, have you considered the Arex Zero? It is basically a SIG P22X copy that comes optics ready with plates from the factory. If you didn't like it and sold it I imagine you would be out less money than it would cost to mill a SIG. I don't have any hands on experience with them but everything I have read has been pretty positive.

I already have two P226 (with nearly sequential serial numbers) with spare parts. If milling them was going to be like $400 a pop or not doable, I was going to search another platform (probably CZ P series). Right now the Sig looks like the best candidate for me (especially since I have two vetted guns in my hands and there are no hammer guns on the shelves at my LGS).

[backtrail540]

https://ateiguns.com/product/pro-cut...vetail-options

atei looks to also work with the da/sa sigs but it seems like it will approach or go beyond your $400 threshold. But another option, no less.

[breakingtime91]

I already have two P226 (with nearly sequential serial numbers) with spare parts. If milling them was going to be like $400 a pop or not doable, I was going to search another platform (probably CZ P series). Right now the Sig looks like the best candidate for me (especially since I have two vetted guns in my hands and there are no hammer guns on the shelves at my LGS).

The Sig Armorer (Robert burke) offers milling and sight options. That is who I plan on using for my two p229s. I think it's 195 a pistol for mill

[Oldherkpilot]

In the case of the P-07/09, for irons aft, notice the distinct lack of real estate between the RDS and the dove tail. Same for the dove tail and the hammer channel. This situation is forced because the shop has to use the aft edge of the factory rear sight dovetail as the aft edge of the RDS footprint. There's not much room behind the factory dovetail for a custom dovetail. A quick and very dirty check with the calipers indicates that I might have .02" of material on either side of the rear sight. It's hard to tell from the crappy cell phone pic, but that's about half the width of the factory cocking serrations. That doesn't seem very robust to me.





Irons Forward doesn't impose that limitation on the P-07/09. In this example, I have about 0.10" (5x the material) between the hammer channel and the RDS and about 0.20" between the RDS and the custom BUIS dovetail. Much more robust, IMO.



Every gun is different, particularly hammer guns. Internal safety configuration, OE sight configuration, and a number of other things could change the preference to irons aft. For instance, it looks like the classic SIGs are stuck with irons aft because of the way the internal safeties are configured. H&K and Berettas are a hot mess.


As a high C class shooter, I'm under qualified to discuss shootability.

In general,
- For a carry gun, I prefer irons forward because it's one less sharp corner to poke holes in my shirt. (soooper cool guy tactical, I know)
- If there was any chance I'd go back to irons, I'd prefer irons aft.
- I have both. I'm generally ambivalent about the typical forward vs aft configuration arguments.

Cheers,
David S

Since you have both forward and aft mounted rear sights, do you notice any problem transitioning from one to the other? I had a CZ 75 milled with the rear sight integrated into the plate and I like it very much. Wright Armory offers milling on HKs with the rear sight forward or aft of the optic, but their default mounting is forward. I'm relatively new to the pistol optics game so I want to set my P30 up so as not to conflict with my CZ. Thanks for your post, great info.

[Wayne Dobbs]

I am currently heavily invested in Glock as my main self defense handgun platform. They nearly all have optics on them along with Tau's SCDs. The SCD makes it comfortable for me to carry AIWB. I am worried that Tau Dev may no longer produce the SCDs for current generation Glocks or future gens. I need to make a plan just in case this becomes a problem (hope not). Some preferences for myself.

1) No manual safeties. Thus the gun probably has to be DA/SA or similar. No, the HK P7 is not an option.
2) The gun has to be easily serviceable like the Glock.

The only option for me is the Sig P series. I have a bunch of these guns and I feel comfortable with stripping them down and doing armor type work on them. Plus their small P365 guns with optics looks like they would replace my G26/43 nicely. I don't think my H&K USPs can take an optic. The Beretta stuff that LTT is putting out is nice but seems too proprietary to me (plus I only have two 92s and they are not compatible with his slide work).

I found some places that does them, but I have no idea to their quality:

Southwest Precision Arms

Vulcan Machine Werks

VTEC Arms

Sig only supplies slide with their cut for Romeo. I use RMR/Holosun.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Vulcan is very much GTG. I know them and have seen their operation and their work. They are the only authorized direct mill vendor for several PDs in TX that allow that mod to duty pistols.

[CWM11B]

L&M/Mark H was my go to, being somewhat local. Just prior to his retirement, he recommended Doug P of https://www.dpcustomworksllc.com/ as he used the same methods for milling. DP is also sort of local to me, so I took a day trip to his shop and delivered a M&P slide with RMR. Solid work and a really nice guy. I'll use him again.