Sig P230/P232 handling and recoil question

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Until recently, I have mostly just stayed away from .380 acp as a caliber. But, the recent surplus availability of the Beretta 81-series has changed that, for me -- I now enjoy shooting the Beretta 84 and 85 quite a lot.

Since I've gotten back into the caliber, I'm wondering about the Sig P230 or P232, that always impressed me as an incredibly sleek and beautiful pistol. I've never shot one.

I'm mainly curious about the recoil and shootability of the gun. One reason that I got away from blowback .380's in the first place, was my experience with similar sized, roughly "PPK-like" .380's, including the Astra Constable and the Beretta 70s. Both of those had recoil that made them unpleasant to shoot.

I'm wondering if the P230/P232 has a similar and unpleasant recoil feel, or if it's closer to the Beretta 81-series, that is really no problem at all.
 
It's much closer to the Beretta New Puma that preceded the 80 series.

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I find it very manageable and the grips chosen make the biggest changes in function. My 230 (bought in 1995) came with some very nice rubber grips and were the most comfortable. Unfortunately they also tended to catch against my cover shirt. Wood grips with a larger palm swell and checkering concealed better but still caught on my cover shirt at times so I also have some smooth Hogue grips for it.

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I used an aluminum framed p230 for a while as a back up gun. It was nice and light, but had a pretty sharp recoil impulse. I shot a buddies Stainless version (all steel) and it was much softer shooting.
 
Magazines are very expensive. $80-100 for factory mags if you can find them. They've been out of production for quite some time.

These are often overlooked at gun shows so if you see one at a table, you might see if the seller is willing to sell a mag or two off from the package. I doubt most resellers know what the mags are worth. but even if they hose you at $50 you still come away a winner.
 
Mine shoots accurate as all getup. 2.5 inch at ten yards the other day.
I use 8 round bersa thunder mags in mine. You have to do a slight mod, but they work great, hold an extra round. But they do not lock back the slide on empty.
Way cheaper than the OEM sig mags though!

Mines is the all stainless 230, and very comfortable to shoot. Mild recoil.
 
I have owned several of these. Every one tended to be a bit snappy. Still one of my favorites though!
 
I owned a 232 up until... Well, I don't rightly know- I traded it off sometime after I got back from Iraq in '04. I'd carried it a lot and shot it quite a bit. I really tried to love it or even like it, but it was that dang sharp recoil. I couldn't wrap my brain around why I could actually feel a bit of pain in my wrist bones that I didn't even get from my .41 or .357 Bain & Davis. I think I traded it towards my CZ PCR-D. Gotta admit- that 232 was a sexy son of a gun though.
 
Thanks for the insights. I'm thinking this will probably have to go on the "maybe some day" list. Back when it was designed, it sounds like they made the old "sacrifice shooting comfort for concealability" compromise, that was common. But in the present day, I'd place a lot more value on the shooting -- we now have stuff that is more practical for most day-to-day concealed carry, making that compromise somewhat less desirable.

Still, it really is a work of art. Maybe some day.
 
HighValleyRanch said:
These posts makes me chuckle.
Snappy is shooting .357 out of an 11 oz Smith & Wesson 360 scandium revolver.
Now that will wake you up.
Click to expand...
I have decided that my S&W Centennial 642 should go to some new Forever Home simply because shooting just a half box of not +P 38 Special ammo through the sucker leaves me with hand pain for the next day or two. I've lived too long so far to want to try shooting 38 Special +P or god forbid 357 out of a similar size and weight revolver. (1 Cor 13:11)

But right now my Detective Special (with the Pachmayr Compact grip) is on my hip.
 
When you just need a tool to save your butt in a hypothetical public parking garage, who cares about comfort?

But when the question morphs into "which handgun from my extensive collection shall I shoot today?" it starts to matter.
 
It has been awhile since I handled or even thought about these two, but I recall the grip on the 232 is different from the 230, and not as good. It had a tendency to feel like it wanted to slip out of my hand because of its shape. Never liked the feel of the 239 for a similar reason. Something to look for.
 
I don't know why I just thought about it, but I believe I'd take one of those little Bersa .380's over the 232 any day. Those aren't top of the line by any means, but they aren't what you'd call ugly either. The only similarities to the 232 is most of them are single stack, .380, concealable, and the bullet squirts out the noisy end. But they work and they're a lot more comfortable (for me) to shoot.
 
P230/232

The 230/232 was an authorized off-duty and back-up pistol for my agency. They were not issue, but could be privately purchased and carried once approved administratively and shot in qualification. They were very common.

As noted earlier, there were two versions, the stainless all steel model, and the blued alloy frame/steel slide version, which was lighter. The all steel stainless version was softer shooting, and was popular due to its corrosion resistance. In fact, I don't think I ever saw a blued/alloy version with any of my people, but a local PD also used the P-series and I encountered some there.

I was always a bit surprised shooting the .P203s, snappier than it seemed it should be, but certainly not unpleasant or abusive. About like shooting an all steel 5-shot snub .38 with full power ammo perhaps. There must have been similar perception from others, as the models produced in the last years of production had rubber/Pach like grips, likely to address the issue. My pistol had the hard plastic grips....I liked them, as they did not drag on a garment when carried concealed.

The P230s always seemed spookily accurate, maybe due to the fixed barrel, and certainly the good trigger DA/SA system. Reliable too, shot and saw fired a large amount of FMJ and HP ammo run through them. An armorer strip and clean was a pain. As noted, they are a sleek, handsome pistol...still have mine.
 
I have a Blue Sig P230 and it is really accurate for a gun of this size. I was at the range with a buddy of mine and he had the Bersa version of this pistol. I thought is Bersa has less recoil than my Sig. I ran three mags through my Sig and the web of my hand takes a beating with ball ammo.

Recoil is similar to what I feel on my Glock 43 9mm. As for the mags I found one on GB years ago for $35 so I picked it up. I tried a Promag, but it didn't feed right most of the time.

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The Beretta's in 32 are a bit larger, but they have about zero recoil.

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