congrats on your new sig. They are excellent pistols, utterly reliable and quite accurate. My 220 shoots every bit as well as my gold cup Colt 1911 and is alot less tempermental. Not to mention that the rear sight pivot pin keeps breaking every couple hundred rounds. Comparing the Sig to the Glock is like comparing a Honda to a BMW: the Honda is reliable transportation but the BMW is much more refined. Enjoy your Sig.

I have a SIG 226 that I bought back in 1990 or so. NIB ~$400 with 4 factoy 15 rd mags. It was my first real pistol and I still love it. It has never jammed, stove piped, FTE, FTF etc. The trigger is very crisp and it is a beautiful weapon to own/shoot. Good luck with yours,
KILO -OUT

Eric: Congrats. I bought a Sig P239 .40 about a month ago. Love it. Very easy to carry and conceal, shoots like a dream. Finally found a holster for it that I like, so I'll be putting the Beretta away (as a carry piece) until the colder weather rolls around. Found the Bianchi Minimalist at a place called C & EJs on the 'net for $29.95.

Welcome to the Club ETH.

Bought a Sig P220 a year and a half ago, and have 3000 rounds through it.

Congrats! I've had a Sig 228 for about 10 years now. It has "Made in W. Germany" on the slide. Back when there was a West Germany. I kid you not, I have never had a malfuction with it. So far I've put about 6-7 thousand rounds throught it. The only problem is that the recoil spring is set up for ++P rounds, so when I feed it "range" ammo, the empty cases land on my head. Oh well. But put Corbons or any other defense ammo, and the cases shoot off to the side with authority.

I love my Sig.

Excellent purchase, Eric. I had a P229 and sold it several years ago to purchase another gun. I would have to say it was a bad idea. Out of all the pistols I have owned (Glock, HK, Kimber), it was one of the best. It functioned flawlessly no matter what kind of POS ammo I used.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Sig. If you hear of any other good deals, let me know!

Originally Posted By mayday: The only problem is that the recoil spring is set up for ++P rounds, so when I feed it "range" ammo, the empty cases land on my head.

Mayday, that's actually a feature for reloaders. You're supposed to tape a kitchen colander to your hat to catch the brass.

Out of all the handguns I have owned, the P228 is my favorite. In the 9 years I've owned it, I have not had one single problem with it. Great Pistol.

Have a P228, P229, and a P220. Eric, you are going to love it. I have a friend who is a Glockaholic, but his girlfriend bought a P228 and after he fired it, he bought one of his own and now has his Glocks for sale. He says it is the sweetest shooting out-of-the-box pistol he has ever fired. He is looking to buy every Sig he can find, especially P228s.

How much did you pay, Eric?

Eric the (how does this guy have time to do any real work?) Hun:

The P228 is an excellent weapon. I agree that the .40 S&W is a better way to go nowadays for personal defense. However, one of the nice things about 9MM, like the .223, is that ammo is relatively cheap – so you can shoot it more!

Let me bore you with some Sig info:

You can tell the date your Sig was proofed, which should get you near the date it was made, by the markings on the bottom of the front part of the slide (near the hole for the recoil spring guide). I believe these marking are described in a FAQ in the Sig part of our Handgun forum. If not, they’re standard European proof markings and should be pretty easy to track down.

You can also get a general idea of its age by the city and state listed on the left side of the slide. IIRC, “Chantilly VA” is mid 80’s, “Herndon VA’ is late 80’s, and “Exeter NH” is about 1991 and on.

The sights are available with different heights for both front and rear. Look very closely and you should see very small numbers on your sights.

When reassembling, put the tight end of the recoil spring on the recoil spring guide first. Remember, “tight is right”.

The mag catch is reversible. It’s also easy to screw up reversing it.

A “short” trigger is available for folks with short fingers. However, IMO it makes the pull feel a bit heavier (I guess by changing the leverage angle a bit).

Sigs like to be “wet”, i.e., well lubricated. Normally, they are extremely reliable - but if they get totally dry, they will sometimes fail to go into slide lock with an empty mag.

You probably have one of two finishes. Either blued (actually a black oxide) or what Sig calls a “K-Kote”, which is a plastic finish. Unfortunately, neither finish is very good. It doesn’t take much for a Sig with either finish to start looking ratty.

The top of the rearward part of the barrel will get banged up a little from hitting the slide. This wear is visible through the ejection port when the slide is in battery – it appears maybe an inch from the rear end of the barrel. This is normal wear.

The underside of the right edge of the slide also gets banged up where the disconnector part of the drawbar strikes it. Sometimes this looks pretty bad - but again it is normal wear.

The hammer face will get quite worn on the top edge by the rail part of the breechblock. You can see the start of this wear in an almost new P228. After extensive firing, this wear can turn into a good-sized notch on the edge of the hammer. This is normal wear; however, I think it’s a good idea to keep the rail and hammer face well lubricated to minimize this wear.

Lost grip screws are a common problem – keep an eye on them. They also like to rust.

(continued)

(additional rambling)

Sig mags sometimes crack along the weld at the top, rear of the mag (near the primer of the top cartridge). This crack is visible with a loaded mag since the top round tends to push the mag lips apart. It may not be visible with an unloaded mag unless you place a finger between the mag lips and push them apart a bit.

The trigger return spring is the most common part to break. This is a “U” shaped wire spring located under the right grip. They’re cheap – so it’s not a bad idea to have a spare or two of it. Literally the only other part to ever break is the drawbar, but it’s a little expensive to buy as a spare.

The slide is made from a piece of stamped sheet metal welded to a “nose” in front. This weld is not visible and I’ve never heard of this weld failing.

The P228 has two roll pins (one inside another) that hold the breechblock to the slide. These are visible on either side of the slide in the slide serrations area. These will sometimes start walking out. If so, the best bet is to replace them.

These roll pins have a “C” cross-section – the open part of the two pins (at 3 o’clock on the above “C”) should be more or less opposite each other. That is, if the outer pin’s opening is at 12 o’clock, the inner pin’s opening should be at about 6 o’clock.

Probably the worst thing about the Sig is the long, heavy trigger, which is not well suited to improvement. Also, it is virtually impossible to shoot it using the trigger-reset concept (where you fire a round, then release the trigger just enough to reset the sear and then fire again). Unfortunately, the Sig trigger has to travel a long way to reset.

The P228 is now sold only as a LEO only firearm. All sorts of angry bandwidth has been wasted over this fact. The reality is that Sig is now selling the P229 in 9MM. It no longer wants to market the P228, but must continue to support LE agencies that have previously adopted the P228 and needs replacements.

I apologize for the long post, but - as you can see - I’m a big fan of Sigs.

Yea my HK with 4000 rounds through is NIB as well.

Its funny how all my weapons and everyone else's is NIB.

I have a 229 and love it.

I just do not like the long trigger travel.

Very accurate though.

Congrats

Congrats.
Try the 225 next.

ARH

SIG is the best. Have a had a 220 for about 12 years now. Very accurate for a combat auto, and goes bang EVERY time I pull the trigger (unless it's empty), IMHO, a very good quality in a defensive weapon.

Nick

Same here. An added benefit is I can throw a .45 round at someone and it would still hurt a lot.

As all have said above, nice pistol and sounds like a nice price too, Eric. Congrats. I wanted to buy one of these back in 91, and didn't for some strange reason...think it had something to do with money...lol. I've regretted it, although I have many glocks, taurus, ruger, various .45s, I still want a sig. As an aside I had a pistol instructor tell me one time, that although SIG"s are great guns, Glocks are easier to shoot faster accurately. When you get a chance to shoot it, let us know. Enjoy

First of all: your "Sig" is really a "Sig Sauer". (A minor but critical point: the only real SIG handgun that I know of is the Sig P210)

I own 2 Sig Sauers (or "Sig"'s as you term them): a P220 and a P226. Both have functioned flawlessly and are almost as accurate as my 1911's. So I am very happy.

Of course they aren't nearly as good as the Sig P210: but I am happy.

I wish I had a Browning Hi Power Mk III chambered in 40 S&W. No particular reason..it's just that it was John Moses Browning's last firearm. (With some improvements)

Very happy. Ten years and no problems.

However, for a nightstand weapon I would go with a machinepistol (20-30 capacity).

I'm using a P-220 in .38 Super as a carry weapon.
Good, reliable pistols.

One think I hate about my Sig220 is the swivel to break down the pistol. My Beretta 92f's is super simple to turn, the Sig usually kills my fingernails trying to turn that damn thing.

Other than that, excellent gun.

Great deal!

I too just bought my first sig- a sig pro in .357

it is the most accurate pistol i have ever fired! The more I shoot it, the more accurate it gets, or at least i get

Enjoy the BMW of handguns

All I can say Eric is it's about time you discovered Sigs. They rock! Watch-Six

ETH,
I hope Mrs. Glock918 does not see your post, as I think she has been bit by the Sig Sauer bug. I bought her a Glock 23 years ago for her to have around the house. Now that KY has CCW for her, she needed a carry gun. I then got her a .38 (Taurus Ultra Light). She liked it ok, but then a fellow officer had a Sig Sauer P230 for sale. She shot it, I bought it (then sold .38). The only thing I don't like is its .380. I know, shot placement. I wish I could talk her into a .40 Sig Sauer. I think she likes the slim grip and light recoil most. Oh well, it may not be a Glock (can you tell that is my favorite?) but at least its QUALITY!!

BTW,199, thanks for the info. This is a newer Sig Sauer, stamped "EXETER-NH"

Art (I'm not as cool as ETH, but my wife has a Sig!) in KY

I have a P226 in .40. Love it. Have fun.