Looking for opinions - traditional DA semis

I would choose the SIG, hands down, no second thoughts, in a heartbeat. ;)

And the reason is that I've had a Browning BDA 45 (SIG P220) since 1980. That gun has been flawless. Its reliable, easy to use, accurate, and light, comparatively speaking. Alloy frame, but all metal other than the grips.

Personally, I find the frame mounted decocker to be superior to the slide mounted ones, decocker or safety. and yes, I'm right handed. :D

I also find the slide release to be very well positioned. And takedown of the gun for cleaning is super simple, and does NOT require pulling the trigger at any point. Lock the slide back, rotate the takedown lever 90 degrees and ease the slide off the frame. Lift out the recoil spring & guide, then the barrel and you're there...assemble in reverse order.

As to ambidextrous, since I'm not a lefty its not a concern for me, personally, though I would mention something I learned early on, "you always have all the time you need to put a safety ON" and that applies to a decocker as well. My BDA is the original P220 "European" model with the heel type magazine release, its fully ambidextrous, being "equally inaccessible to either hand" :rolleyes:

I don't have any of the pistols you are considering, but I have shot the P226, and found it to be as good as my old P220, just in a smaller caliber.

I wouldn't worry about lack of support for the SIG pistol, even if SIG closed its doors for good tomorrow, parts and people who know how to work on them will be around for decades, assuming you actually need something done. I've got over 40 years on mine, no work has ever been done, though I have changed the recoil spring...once. :D
 
44 AMP said:
I would choose the SIG, hands down, no second thoughts, in a heartbeat. ;)

And the reason is that I've had a Browning BDA 45 (SIG P220) since 1980. That gun has been flawless. Its reliable, easy to use, accurate, and light, comparatively speaking. Alloy frame, but all metal other than the grips.

Personally, I find the frame mounted decocker to be superior to the slide mounted ones, decocker or safety. and yes, I'm right handed. :D

I also find the slide release to be very well positioned. And takedown of the gun for cleaning is super simple, and does NOT require pulling the trigger at any point. Lock the slide back, rotate the takedown lever 90 degrees and ease the slide off the frame. Lift out the recoil spring & guide, then the barrel and you're there...assemble in reverse order.

As to ambidextrous, since I'm not a lefty its not a concern for me, personally, though I would mention something I learned early on, "you always have all the time you need to put a safety ON" and that applies to a decocker as well. My BDA is the original P220 "European" model with the heel type magazine release, its fully ambidextrous, being "equally inaccessible to either hand" :rolleyes:

I don't have any of the pistols you are considering, but I have shot the P226, and found it to be as good as my old P220, just in a smaller caliber.

I wouldn't worry about lack of support for the SIG pistol, even if SIG closed its doors for good tomorrow, parts and people who know how to work on them will be around for decades, assuming you actually need something done. I've got over 40 years on mine, no work has ever been done, though I have changed the recoil spring...once. :D
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I like the P226's military heritage. That's why I have several 1911s, two Beretta 92s, and two P320s. The fact that the SEALs chose it holds a lot of weight.
 
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The 941 is not a CZ clone, it has few to no parts that interchange.
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You're certainly right about the interchangeability issues. Perhaps it would have been more accurate for me to say that the 941 is, at its heart, obviously modeled on the CZ75 design.

It's certainly in the CZ75/TZ75 family although clearly it is a different gun than either the CZ75 or the TZ75 clones of the CZ.
They all use Mec-Gar magazines. So does my Beretta 92 ...
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Although I'm pretty sure that Mec-Gar has, in the past, made Beretta 92 mags for Beretta as an OEM supplier, I believe that for the past two decades or so, MDS (Meccanica del Sarca--a Beretta subsidiary) has been Beretta's OEM mag supplier for the 92.
 
Another vote for the Sig. I picked up an early serial numbered W. German made pistol a few years ago for a good price and liked it so well I now have four different W. German models.

Bill
 
Can't go wrong with the Ruger P series, the pistol that was runner up to the Beretta 92 in the Army handgun trials in the 80s.
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Ruger had so many issues they withdrew from the trials and didn't finish. The guns they entered were pre-production units. They did work out the bugs and made a decent gun, but it isn't in the same class as the others.

The Sig slightly outperformed the Beretta, but the military doesn't choose the winner. They had a set of criteria. Either you meet the criteria or you don't. Both met the criteria. Beretta was chosen because they offered a better price. Sig was 2nd choice only because of costs.
 
jmr40 said:
The Sig slightly outperformed the Beretta, but the military doesn't choose the winner. They had a set of criteria. Either you meet the criteria or you don't. Both met the criteria. Beretta was chosen because they offered a better price. Sig was 2nd choice only because of costs.
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Interesting story from the West German police 9mm pistol trials in the late 1970s that selected the Walther P5, SIG Sauer P6, and Heckler-Koch P7. While all three were approved, the SIG, a slightly modified P225, was most popular because it had the *lowest* overall lifecycle cost.
 
Ruger had so many issues they withdrew from the trials and didn't finish.
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There is no reference to Ruger in any of the trial materials I've seen. As far as I can tell they didn't have an entrant ready for the trials.
The Sig slightly outperformed the Beretta, but the military doesn't choose the winner.
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The SIG actually failed one component of the 1984 trials but the military allowed it to continue to the bid phase anyway because they felt overall it was a good pistol and also because eliminating it would have left Beretta the only entrant--so there would have been no competitive bid.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/nsiad-86-122.pdf
The Sig slightly outperformed the Beretta, but the military doesn't choose the winner.
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Incorrect.

The SACO entrant failed the dry mud test in 1984 while Beretta passed all the tests.
They had a set of criteria. Either you meet the criteria or you don't. Both met the criteria. Beretta was chosen because they offered a better price.
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If you look at just the overall cost of the package Beretta offered, it was cheaper, but that is because their magazines/spare parts package (especially the magazines) was significantly cheaper than SACO's magazines/spare parts package. If you just look at the cost of the guns themselves, Beretta actually charged more per pistol than SACO.

Ironically, the military chose Beretta's cheaper overall bid (based primarily on the cheaper mags for the Beretta) and then chose to outsource the mags to Checkmate. Even more ironically, the military allegedly told Checkmate to parkerize the magazines, both inside and outside against Checkmate's objections which likely resulted in a large portion of the problems the Checkmate mags experienced in Iraq. A rough inside surface on a magazine is not a great choice for use in fine sand.
 
no question

For me there would be no question.......SIG. I've shot, and fired and seen fired a lot of rounds thru assorted SIG P-series pistols with a very high degree of reliabiity. SIGS are also very accurate pistols.
 
While I love my SIGs, depending on how much money and effort you want to devote to your quest, take a hard look at S&W 5906 (full size, double stack 9mm), 4006 (ditto in .40 S&W) and/or 3913 (compact, single stack 9mm). You won't find a DA/SA with a better trigger, in either DA or SA. All three are utterly reliable, built like brick digestive product disposal facilities, and have a feel in the hand that makes good shooting easy.
 
Let me put the CZ-75 out there. One of the best DA/SA handguns out there, and a steal. Comes in different sizes/calibers, etc. to suit your fancy.
 
Jim Watson said:
I wish MecGar would tool up for 2011 magazines. I would expect better reliability, no "tuning" and lower price.
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What caliber is your 2011? Mine is 45 ACP that uses Para-Ordinance P14 mags made by Mec-Gar. They work perfectly. No tuning needed.
 
I have a couple 226s in my collection, and I don't think I could ask for better. One is an older German one that I have owned for probably 25 years and shot a lot. It has never failed me and I would still not hesitate to reach for it in an emergency.
 
I’ve owned probably a dozen classic series SIGs, with a mix of P226s, P228s, and P229s and I carried P228s and P229s for a few years. I did all of this only having some experience with the Beretta 92 series and convincing myself that the SIG was superior. A few years ago I finally purchased a Beretta 92A1. It may be my favorite 9mm pistol to shoot, more than the SIGs. I converted it to a decocker only with the kit Beretta sells, added some parts from Beretta like the match hammer and the Langdon Tactical trigger bar and the reset puts my SIG with the short reset trigger to shame.

Kudos to John for pointing out the results of the trials. Years on here and the results of the SIG with the dried mud test somehow always get ignored. IIRC it lead to the so called “mud rails” on some SIG pistols where the rails were scalloped to provide a place for debris to be cleared (this was not a long lived change). I had one such pistol that was a Herndon, VA SigArms import before they were in NH.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Since the OP says weight is not an issue, I suggest looking at the CZ97B if a 45 is desirable. I love mine as well as my 2 1911s. Same operation as it can be carried cocked and locked OR hammer down for DA/SA operation.
 
Maybe don't forget the CZ P-01 Omega or SP-01 Tactical.

Not better than the others, but decocking SA/DA like the others.

The Sig P226 in anything but Pro Cut and Legion just don't exist right now. I know, my credit card wants one for over 7 months now.


The Beretta is really hot right now with the X. Vertic frame? oh yeah.
 
If you want a CZ they make a few models with the omega trigger system. This allows you to swap from safety to decocker style plus the controls are ambi.

IMO the CZ P07/09 are highly underrated pistols.

I'll take a CZ over a Sig any day of week.

Just bite the bullet...get a shadow 2 and everything else will collect dust.
 
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