Sig P226, some questions for owners

K

Kimio

New member
Looking around, it seems that there are some things I should be watching out for when concerning SIG firearms.

Reading reviews, it looks like SIG USA has had a long history of questionable workmanship concerning the quality of their firearms.

SIG Germany however has had a much more positive run in regards to feedback. Now most of these reviews I've read have been quite old, and I'd like to know if this still is true nowadays. I know the SIG' rifles (the SIG 556 among others have have many many QA issues from what I've seen on YT) and I'm worried that if I were to purchase a newly manufactured handgun, I'd have a high probability of getting a lemon.

I've read several reviews stating that if I wanted to purchase this handgun, I should steer away from the American manufactured handguns and search for one manufactured in Germany instead.

Secondly, I wanted to ask about the trigger of thr P226. The one I test fired had a relatively light DA trigger, that was far more manageable to operate than say the 92FS and even my CZ75. It was also a little spongy or mushy feeling as the drew it to the rear.

Is this normal or do you think this may be the result of a trigger job being performed on the gun itself?
 
There is nothing wrong with the Sigs made in the USA.I prefer them over the folded slides of the German ones.
 
I had a P226..., loved it

Than like a moron, I sold it, because of the tiny CCW weapons available

I went back to SIG with the P229...,,, it's my EDC

Neither of my sigs bobbled one round...... All perfect....all accurate

That's the NORMAL for Sigs....

Are there lemons? Sure....

Do a search for any gun on the internet..... Someone has had a problem
 
Part of this is the rose tinted vision of nostalgia...

Some is due to the lower internet usage at the time the German pistols were imported means less reports of issues.

Human nature makes us more likely to voice our complaints than our praise... We also turn to others when we do have problems, and the internet gives an outlet to find solutions when we have questions.... So you will find much more negative reviews and general complaints/questions than positive things.

I have heard that the top Sig shooter/armorer thinks the new Sigs are better than the older ones from Germany. That's pure second/third hand so take it for what it's worth.

General consensus on most forums is that Sig did go through a rough patch with higher than normal rates of issues with new pistols... But that recent pistols are much better. This is all based on subjective evidence from forums online, so it may be false perceptions based on the above reasons... There are also going to be those people who are holdouts on the issue, and even though everyone else has positive to say about new Sigs, they are holding on to the older viewpoint.

The only real issues I have heard about the SIG rifles is is with the 7.62*39 version...


My Sigs have been great... My friends Sigs have been great. His Sig AR has been great as well.
 
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The old W. german p226 wasn't all that, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The slides rusted badly under benign conditions. The trigger bar spring used to chew its way across the right side of the grip frame if you shot it a lot.

Let's just leave it at there are reasons Sig doesn't make them like they used to.
 
I have the P220, P226, and P229. I had an issue with very unusual wear on the barrel of my P220. Sig replaced the barrel and I have had no issues with it since and no issues with the others at all.

Triggers are not real crisp like a 1911 but the guns run just fine.

I have a bunch of Sigs overall. P220, P226,P229,P227,P938 and 1911 Nightmare and they all run fine.
 
For many who cut their teeth shooting the older stamped slide Sigs like the P226 feel that the new milled stainless slides are top heavy. I personally do not like the rail on the new Sigs. I have no need for a light on my pistol.

There are reasons to buy an older Sig over a newer Sig. Do some research and you can see the changes made at Sig under Cohen. Some have been good for Sig others have not. In the end Sig still makes a pretty good pistol.

As far as the trigger there is no way to know if the trigger was stock. All triggers can be improved by minor changes like a lower hammer spring, like the D spring in a 92FS, or a little polishing.

In my experience CZ75s get better as you shoot them. 500 rounds seems to really smooth them out. I like the D spring in Berettas. Sigs I tend to leave alone or get a Wolf spring pack and pick the one which gives me the lightest pull with no light strikes. Most of the time this is 18lb to 20lbs.
 
I have a US 226 Extreme. It my favorite gun to shoot and I have had no issues what so ever.

I did do my research and read into German made, however the idea of getting a brand new gun over a used one seemed reassuring and price was not that cheaper on the used 226s.

Also SRT is a great and inexpensive feature to add on.

Just heads up Gun Midwest is selling the extreme P226 in 9mm for $709.00
http://gunsmidwest.com/product/sig-sauer-p226-extreme-9mm-night-sights-15rd/

Same costs as you'd pay for a stock p226. Also has night sights, SRT, and G10 Hogue grips.
 
I don't see a huge difference between the current models and the West German models. Sure there is a difference with the newer models having the rail, the take down lever has a slightly different shape, and the newer ones have external extractors. They shoot, function and operate the same. My nephew in law's current manufacture 226 is the same as my brothers and my West German 226's as far as the trigger goes with the exception that his came with a SRT. In other words they are better than any other factory DA/SA trigger in terms of weight, take up, break, and over travel. Throw in the SRT and the margin only widens.

I put an SRT and E2 grip on my W German 226. Even though these are options that came out fairly recently they fit on my 25 year old Sig like they just came out of the factory together. No cutting, grinding, or tweaking, just tight and precise fitting right out of the box.
 
Looking around, it seems that there are some things I should be watching out for when concerning SIG firearms.

Reading reviews, it looks like SIG USA has had a long history of questionable workmanship concerning the quality of their firearms.
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I'm not sure what reviews you have been reading but if you can post links that might help folks understand what the nature of the complaints are and in doing so answer any questions, or refute opinions, more accurately.

It is flat out simply not true that there is a "long history of questionable workmanship" on Sig firearms. They have a well deserved repudiation for the opposite.

Their firearms set a standard for accuracy, durability and reliability that is hard to beat.

Folks have mentioned that the U.S. plant has had some difficulties and some questionable marketing decisions made. Fact is that that has not detracted from the overall quality of their guns...long and short.

tipoc
 
Sig moved manufacturing to the USA in the mid 2000s. Any time you open up a new factory, there are gremlins.

Sig re-engineered certain parts of the handgun. Particularly the long vs. short extractor. Any time you re-engineer a machine, there are gremlins.

Are there lemons among the batches of Sig handguns? Yes. Are Sig's picked from citrus groves? Sweet lord, no.

I have a 2012 manufacture P229 that has been running like a sewing machine for thousands of rounds.

Also, while there are a few customer service horror stories out there (as there are with any manufacturer), there are a ton of stories about Sig going the extra mile. As with anything, if you have a problem, be persistent, be polite, and then keep being persistent. Eventually, you'll find your way to someone who understands that your satisfaction with their product equates to the product line's reputation, and will ensure that you are taken care of.
 
While some folks prefer the older designs it really seems to be a personal preference thing and not any overall quality problem. I’ve got two SIGs a P220 and P229 both purchased in the last four or five years and they’ve been great guns. Yes, I too could probably get by without the rail, but honestly it doesn’t really bother me.

Also, my limited experience with their customer service has been excellent. After buying my P229 I had a discount coupon and decided to order some magazines. Turns out they didn’t have the magazines in stock and to make up for it he doubled the value of my coupon which basically allowed me to end up getting four magazines for the price of three.
 
I have five SIGs, three German, two US. Two of my German guns are MasterShop guns, meaning semi-custom. All of them are excellent guns!

SIG is no longer importing the German made guns.:(
 
Everything has bad reviews online. If everyone believed half of that nonsense everyone would just have a glock 19. Cause everyone knows pythons are too delicate ALL 1911s are unreliable and the beretta 92 slides and frames crack all too often. (Sarcasm). I have 3 USA sigs. 227 226 and 2022 they're all flawless btw.
 
It's not so much about German vs. American for me or for a lot of long-time Sig fans. I thought American Sigs from the 1990s and early 2000s were absolutely stellar pistols. There is a fair amount of "only German" snobbery and nostalgia out there, but that's definitely not even close to the whole story.

The reason there's a lot of commentary out there is because Sigs, while still objectively good guns, have in fact taken a substantial quality hit ever since Ron Cohen started implementing his Kimber playbook there. This is mostly only a controversial statement among people who started buying Sigs within the last ten years and thus have quite a bit of an emotional investment in believing that nothing has changed for the worse. The truth is that under Cohen, Sig has progressively cut corners in the pursuit of profit maximization that would have once been unthinkable for that company. This is a company that now includes (randomly, apparently) garbage Checkmate magazines with some of its new guns to save a couple of bucks. Do you really think the cheapening stops there? Hardly. MIM can be done very well, but Sig has frequently sourced some really low-quality stuff (from the likes of Indo-MIM) to cut costs more, with QC and functional issues resulting -- and it hardly need be said that none of the savings has been passed on to the consumer. Quite the contrary. It's a good thing that Sigforum only holds a few months worth of posts, because there would be plenty more info about problems with various models at different times to pull up in a Google search if it were like TFL.

Anyway, none of this should really be any surprise. This is exactly what Cohen did at Kimber. He probably saved Sig from bankruptcy, on the one hand, but his approach now consists of trading on Sig's previously hard-earned reputation for excellence to sell guns that are a good distance from older American Sigs in quality at prices that largely make them unimpressive values. Sig is selling more guns than ever, though, so his volume model certainly works on that level.
 
There are reasons to buy an older Sig over a newer Sig. Do some research and you can see the changes made at Sig under Cohen. Some have been good for Sig others have not. In the end Sig still makes a pretty good pistol.
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Yep. Pretty much this.
 
This is mostly only a controversial statement among people who started buying Sigs within the last ten years and thus have quite a bit of an emotional investment in believing that nothing has changed for the worse.
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Talk about speculation, check this action out! I could also speculate that the seeming pedestal that West German and German SIGs are put on has a lot to do with rose-colored glasses as a result of nostalgia.

I've owned over a dozen SIGs, including West German, German, and Exeter SIGs. I will 100% agree that SIG after Cohen took over had some QC issues for a number of years. I will also argue that what I have seen in the last few years since the new facility in Newington was opened seems to have remedied that to a very large extent (at least on the pistol front which is what this thread and subforum are about). Are there still lemons? No doubt, but as others here have said SIG is now pushing a volume that was frankly impossible for them in the 90s. Even if the percentage of problems remained the same as the great days of yore, there would be more lemons simply from the amount of product being manufactured (expected value of issues is the total number produced x the probability of an issue). And frankly had they not changed SIG may have folded.

I'll always still love classic West German SIGs (my '94 P228 isn't going anywhere). But if someone told me I had to use a new production SIG I wouldn't be any more worried than anything else on the market and I would feel better than some options.
 
The Sig P226 probably has the best trigger of any DA/SA gun made. And gets better with use. Also it is an awesome gun, In my opinion one of the best combat handguns ever made
 
I have to agree, that out of all the DA/SA handguns I've fired so far (to include my CZ75) The Sig P226 by far had the most comfortable DA trigger I've ever fired. I called the store today, and they told me, as fas they knew nothing was ever done to the gun other than the usual maintenance.

I'm a huge fan of military service arms, so for me, the P226 is an absolute must have for my (slowly) growing collection of firearms.

I'm glad that it appears that most of what I've been seeing/reading (granted these reviews were old, some dating back as early as 2001) appears to be something of the past. The P226 I fired worked flawlessly, despite it being a rental.

I'll just have to save my pennies I suppose and take my chances.
 
I have 3 SIGs, had a 4th that broke beyond repair. It was a German 226 with the folded slide, and the "mud cuts" on the frame rails. The frame rails failed along the rear, breaking off at the thinnest part. My US/German hybrids have been perfect so far. I do not own any full-US-made guns, so can't speak from experience on them. However, I really don't buy into this fear of US-made SIGs, and think it is all a bunch of crap. How many US SIGs are in the country now? Do you hear of widespread problems? Hasn't the slide assembly of the P229 been made in the US since the '90s? I have an AE prefix 229 in 357 that has been 100% perfect since I've owned it. I believe it was an early US-made/assembled model.

If I went from personal experience only, I would feel the opposite about SIG quality. I have (and had, I guess) models from various periods of production...1980s, 1995, 2001, and 2009. The '09 is a 226 9mm, same caliber as the one that broke on me. It's much better than the broken one so far.
 
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