Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 17 of 17

Thread: How to grip a Sig P226

  1. #11
    Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Living across the Golden Bridge , and through the Rainbow Tunnel, somewhere north of Fantasyland.
    Hard.

    Okay....now that's out of the way. Defoors grip is the way to go for running a 226 in my opinion. FWIW, that's how I shoot all guns now, after 15+ years on a 226. Some folks are in the "Just ignore it and don't worry about it camp", but I think that's the wrong answer IF this is a defensive tool. Absolutely, positively know the condition of your weapon at all times. I've seen tons of shooters on 226s not pay attention to this running the guns for a full mag....and then getting the superloud *click* when they wanted a bang.

    Bruce Gray I believe came up with the idea of training with a band aid on the support side thumb as an index point for your strong hand thumb. During an Advanced Pistol class several years ago, Mike Pannone would not let me or my coworker leave the range until we fixed the problem, since we were stuck with department issued 226s. Had us do the "1+1+1" drill. All our mags, and the partners mags, loaded with 1 round. Just kept firing 1, load, fire 1, load, fire 1, load....did that for 60 reps while your partner was topping off the empty mags with 1 round each. Fixed the problem permanently for me. Glad I did it.

    YMMV

  2. #12
    Add another for the Defoor grip technique with a Sig. I picked it up from here on PF some years back when I was still running a P229 and still do it with all semi-autos I pick up.
    “Conspiracy theories are just spoiler alerts these days.”

  3. #13
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    SE Texas
    Shoot it lefty. Problem solved.

    Though left-handed, I have generally carried “primary” at 0300*. I finally settled upon the weapon-hand thumb locked-down, revolver-shootin’ style, as best default for using a P229, which was my longest-serving individual duty pistol, 2004-2015, and my personal-time carry choice for much of that time. (IIRC, I did the same with the P220, that I used 1991-1993, for duty and personal-time carry.) I realize that this does not allow “proper” clearance for the “meat” of the support hand to properly park itself on the weapon, but, I had realized that most real-world gun handling was done while the support hand had other things to be doing, anyway. Notably, my thumbs are short, so, interference with the slide latch lever was not a factor, in my case. A thumb-locked-down grip simply worked better, for me, with classic-era SIGs. Notably, revolvers have remained important to me, all along, and I shoot them with a thumb-locked-down grip. I think that I do long-stroke DA better, with the thumb locked down.

    Notably, shooting SIGs and revolvers with the thumb locked-down did/does not cause conflict with my shooting 1911 pistols, with my weapon hand thumb staying perched on top of the safety lever.

    I do not claim to be any kind of expert. I have never used a shot timer. I have only rarely been timed by an instructor. I realize that faster split times would probably be achieved with both thumbs forward, or perhaps thumbs-flagged, but I do not live in a world where fast split times matter.

    This is what works, for me. It will not be best, for everyone.

    Edited to add: IIRC, I believe that I would shoot my P229 at day-long gun schools with a thumbs-forward grip, when shooting two-handed. Yes, I am a hypocrite, that way.

    *I throw right-handed, and the draw-stroke I learned with big, heavy revolvers, in the early Eighties, with the then-mandated low-slung duty holster, was not unlike throwing under-handed. The long-stroke DA trigger stroke seemed ambidextrous, so, well, 0300 carry position. Done.
    Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.

    Don’t tread on volcanos!

  4. #14
    S.L.O.W. ASH556's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Braselton, GA

    *Update*

    I didn't want to do the Defoor grip. I wanted to flag my thumbs. That seemed to work in dryfire. I put 100 rounds through it today in live fire and tried the first mag of 10 with thumb flagged: fail. Crossed over and whereas I still feel like part of my thumb is resting on the slide stop, I got consistent lockbacks on empty mags through the remainder of the session. Last 10 rounds went for a decent 25yd B8, first round DA (12:00 10-ring) and remainder fired single action with a slidelock at the end of the mag.

    Thanks for the help everyone!

    Name:  9D324A45-DA1E-4C26-8033-12F8B54C18A2.jpg
Views: 333
Size:  50.4 KB
    Food Court Apprentice
    Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer

  5. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by ASH556 View Post
    I didn't want to do the Defoor grip. I wanted to flag my thumbs. That seemed to work in dryfire. I put 100 rounds through it today in live fire and tried the first mag of 10 with thumb flagged: fail. Crossed over and whereas I still feel like part of my thumb is resting on the slide stop, I got consistent lockbacks on empty mags through the remainder of the session. Last 10 rounds went for a decent 25yd B8, first round DA (12:00 10-ring) and remainder fired single action with a slidelock at the end of the mag.

    Thanks for the help everyone!

    Name:  9D324A45-DA1E-4C26-8033-12F8B54C18A2.jpg
Views: 333
Size:  50.4 KB
    Just like many other things in life...You need to figure out what works best for you.
    Grip it and rip it.

  6. #16
    Site Supporter
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Madison, Wisconsin
    I carried Sig pistols as a police duty gun from 1989 to 2013.

    When I converted to a thumbs forward grip, it took me a long time to be able to consistently position my right thumb someplace where it would not depress the slide catch during the firing cycle.

    That photo of Kyle DeFoor’s grip shows the way.

  7. #17
    Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Tennessee
    There’s also cutting the back 2/3 of the slide stop off.

    If you pull the slide to the rear instead of thumbing the slide stop then you really are not losing anything by cutting half to 2/3 of it off. You still have enough to manually lock the slide open if you need to but most likely not enough to accidentally keep it from locking the gun open after the last round and then you can use a more regular thumbs forward grip.

User Tag List

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •