Which do you guys recommend? I want night sights either way.

- The Sig seems to have a better reputation in terms of reliability, but the high caps are very expensive. I would only use 10 round mags until the crime bill expires. I'd doubt a trigger job would be necessary with one of these guns. They break in nicely after 500 rounds.

- I picked up a Vertec Elite IA a week ago, and I was very impressed. It needs night sights, which Ernst Langdon could install, and what else would it need? I know I can get Asian high caps or old factory high caps between $30-40 if I shop around, which is a huge plus. What about replacement rubber magazine pads (Langdon has them for $19 a piece, OUCH), replacement springs (Wolffe I presume?) and replacement followers? Should I pick up a Brownells catalog? It seems that Berettas are a pain in the sense that they have a lot of tiny springs which make gun smiths mad as hell. The Vertec does feel like a 1911 though, which I like a lot.

Thanks,

I bought the Beretta Vertec Elite IA about a month ago, along with custom Blade-tech gear and factory Hi-caps.  I went to the range and fired about 100rnds through the gun before I realized that it was a poor substitute for a SIG.  I put the whole Beretta package up for sale that afternoon.  Sporting Arms found me a SIG P226R in 9mm, and I couldn't be happier.

My Berettas generally have slightly better triggers than my SIGs.  My P226 (an 80's vintage model) had a particularly offensive DA pull.  The Beretta's pull can be easily lightened with the D-model spring, and smoothed out with some polishing.  There is an area on the SIG hammers that can be stoned to get a lighter pull that doesn't stack quite as much.

I'm not too crazy about the SIG bar-dot sights, but if you're putting night sights on them, that's not an issue.  I would recommend getting some Mepros or some sights that have a white ring around the tritium, because my SigLite sights tend to be hard to pick up in daylight without it.

I would say that they are about equally reliable, at least in my experience.  They'll both feed quite a range of ammo and I haven't broken any parts yet.  I do prefer the Beretta's Bruniton finish, as it's pretty tough and hard to abrade.  If I were going to buy another SIG, it would be one with a stainless slide, or the factory nickel plate.

Quoted: My Berettas generally have slightly better triggers than my SIGs.

No way! Really?

I have never shot a Beretta Vertec Elite but some of the 92FS's I have shot had horrendous triggers in DA and SA mode!

Most of the Sigs I have handled atleast had surprisingly crisp SA triggers.

The only Vertec I shot did have a pretty rough DA trigger, though SA was fine.  

I think the SIGs have an SA trigger that is way too light after that heavy DA pull.  It is not uncommon at all for me to light one off accidentally when transitioning to SA mode.

Both are fine guns. My personal choice would be the Sig.