P226, best DA/SA ever?

[GJM]

This is an early Christmas present for a forum member. Kidding aside, the 226 has had a lot going for it, for a long time.

A dovetailed front sight. Tapered magazines that go in the magwell easily. MecGar mags available. A design that supports an optic, first direct milled, and now with factory slides. Great accuracy and reliability. Plenty of accessory support, as in holsters, sights and grips. A short reset trigger early on. Gray Guns support. Right at the height of "Cohen product improving," I bought a new one and ran it 10,000 rounds without a stoppage with just an occasional pass of a bore snake and squirt of oil.

Oh, did I mention Todd really likes them.

[MGW]

Yes. But there are some drunk Italians that might fight you for those comments.

Kidding aside I like the 226 a lot. I’ve put a ton of rounds through them. They’re tough, reliable, easy to strip down and put back together, lots of sight options, super accurate. They really conceal pretty well too.

The triggers can’t be worked to be as light as a 92 but it doesn’t hold them back. They don’t recoil as flat as a 92 but I can shoot every drill and test with a 226 better than I can with a 92. If I could only have one gun a 226 would be really high on the list.

Edit to add I’m curious to see how spicy the comments get.

[HeavyDuty]

I’m willing to accept the assertion, and would even expand it to the majority of the SIG TDA line. I was a S&W third generation guy back in the day, but the SIGs are far superior in just about every way.

And Berettas are maiali grassi.

[JAH 3rd]

I agree with the points that GJM made. The 226 has a great history in civilian and combat use. I think “the best” is end user’s experience. It does give one a starting point for pistol consideration.

[Borderland]

I've never owned one but I've shot a few, one with a factory RDS. I prefer single stack Sigs but if there was one single model for gun of the last century it would have to be a P226. The military didn't want it initially because of cost, but then they had to have it anyway.

[45dotACP]

Maybe in the 90s and early 2000s...

https://youtu.be/ta41xU-tkFA

Nah all jokes aside, the 226 was one of my favorite TDA pistols and if I hadn't found a LTT 92, I probably would have just gone with a Sig and never thought twice about it.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[SecondsCount]

All of the P226s I have owned ran great. I'm down to one now, a German build that I bought new in the mid 90s.

In the 2000s, there were a lot of Glock vs Sig threads and Sig would almost always come out on top as the preferred choice. Sig fumbled the quality control ball and the Glock aftermarket took off which pushed Sig to the back of the bus.

[Rmiked]

I own a Beretta 92A1, and Dan Wesson Specialist 1911. Before the 1911, I owned a SIG P226 MK25. The common element here is metal frame and exposed hammer. Of course the 1911 is Single Action only. All 3 have the military history connection. I bought the SIG 226 because from what I read the Beretta only won out in the contest for the military contract due to lower cost. And I was intrigued how good the SIG was so I bought one. It is a fantastic pistol. I actually shot it better than the Beretta but only slightly. I sold it to help pay for the Dan Wesson. I regret selling it and may get another one. I am not a fan of SIG management but that doesn’t detract from the design and functionality of the 226. My favorite is the Beretta 92 and the A1 has the dovetail front sight. I like the open slide non-tilting barrel design utilizing the locking block. Either one will do the job in excellent fashion. The endorsement of Ernest Langdon (fantastic triggers) and Bill Wilson of the Beretta 92 variants only makes the 92 easier to love. But the 226 is awesome.

[cornstalker]

I shot a 226 Legion RX at a Sig demo day at the gun club. I thought it was an absolutely amazing pistol. In the short period of time that I had a hold of it, I did not learn how to effectively manipulate the slide release. Damn the short thumbs...

[psalms144.1]

I humped one on duty, in plain clothes, for about four years. It was heavy, accurate, heavy, reliable, heavy, soft shooting, heavy, had good sights, heavy, had a great trigger, and was heavy. The only issue I had with mine is it was heavy. Did I mention it was heavy?

Kidding aside, I took my personal P226 to FLETC's "Reactive Shooting Instructor Training Program" in about 2005, a ran well north of 3,000 rounds through it in what amounted to 3.5 days of shooting. It never bobbled, and it shot so much more accurately, even at insane "go as fast as you can" trigger mashing speed, than any other pistol on the line (mostly 229s and Glocks, back then).

Being a factory certified "Sig Classic" armorer, I absolutely shudder at the thought of even trying to detail strip one again. I still have nightmares of the "final exam" at the course where every student's detail stripped training gun was dumped, in component parts, into a variety of bins at the front of the room. The test was you had to come forward, ONCE, and pick every part you thought you needed to rebuild the pistol. If you missed a part, or took an extra, you were a no-go. Then you got to go tinker the pieces and roll pins back together - and it better be right!

But, if you told me I could only have one semiauto pistol, and it had to be a 9mm DA/SA, I'd take a pre-2005 P226 over pretty much anything else I can think of.