orangeninja
Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2003
- Messages
- 3,117
Recently I was in a gun shop that actually had all of the above guns IN STOCK (probably for like 15 minutes but I digress). Anyhow, I decided that I needed a midsized compact 9mm because I have several .40's already but no 9's. I was able to fondle, dry fire and field strip (except the S&W or Glock) each of the guns and do a real A/B comparison. Initially I went into the store to get the Glock. Honestly I own 2 Glock 23s, 1 Glock 26, and a Glock 27. Needless to say, Glock has nothing to prove as far as I am concerned. But when I priced the Glock the $650 price tag just seemed a bit on the steep side for what it is. Nice pistol, but not a $700+ OTD pistol. For that kind of scratch I'll just buy a 9mm conversion and call it a day. So the Glock priced itself right out of competition, right off the bat, but the price wasn't the only thing...it was also a Gen 4. Now I can't put my thumb on it exactly, but maybe I've become so accustomed to a Gen 3 that the Gen 4 just seems...I don't know...off. Add to that the mixed reviews on the Gen 4 19's having extractor issues and I decided it wasn't for me at this time.
So I moved on to the S&W. Admittedly I am not a fan of S&W period but I was impressed with the trigger on the one I had. Even still, for the price, the gun did not seem better than the Glock by any stretch of the imagination and was priced identically. I don't know much about their reliability, I do know that their service life is fairly recent, and I was not able to find a wealth of magazines for them like the Glock. The value just wasn't there.
Onto the XD. What can I say about an XD. I've owned at least 4 over the past many years and have always found them to be largely reliable, though they do tend to rust up if not properly cared for (or at least mine did). Magazines and holsters are mostly plentiful (even by today's standards) and aftermarket support seems to be strong. Even still, the XD grip reminds me of a Sig meets 1911, except trading in the 1911 crisp trigger pull for a spongy, not quite Glock like, single action pull. I really thought long and hard on the XD. In fact I even had them keep it out of the case because I had every intention of buying it but then I saw the Sig.
The Sig was $50 less than the XD, which was $50 less than the S&W, which was $50 less than the Glock. However, the Sig came with only 1 high cap magazine versus all the others coming with 2. So even at $150 off, I knew I'd be tossing in another $50 to $100 for another magazine or two. I have also owned a Sig Pro in the past. Specifically a pair of 2340's that I acquired from CDNN way, way back in the day. At the time they were my favorite pistol except with 2 major problems. One, they were discontinued and magazines and holsters were nonexistent for them. And two, I couldn't find any extra magazines for them (this was during the infamous Clinton assault weapons ban and 12 round .40 cal mags were nowhere to be found). So I sold them and stuck with my 229s, never looking back. Well here was a 2022, which I knew from research had been adopted by the French Police (to the tune of over a quarter million units), the DEA (though I have no idea which unit or how many), the Colombian Police (probably courtesy of the DEA) and a small 10,000 unit order by the U.S. Army. I also knew that magazines had become far, far more plentiful...perhaps as a result of the government contracts, perhaps as a result of the assault weapons ban sunset, probably a bit of both.
So I take the Sig apart and sure enough, true to the Sig name the gun is just flawless. Not a machine mark or niggle to be seen anywhere. The DA trigger was smooth and long (like the P series) and the single action trigger was just like I remembered. I had the large size Sig Pro grips somewhere in a box at my house, the gun was priced right and the trigger left the XD in the dirt. It was a no brainer, I bought the Sig.
Upon getting home I cleaned the gun up and switched out the grips to the large one I had from my long lost 2340s...and man I am here to tell you, it's like an old friend coming home after years gone by. The trigger is smoothing out nicely with DA dry fire and the gun has become my favorite (yes over my Glocks and P-Series). I'll post a range report soon.
One thing that does bug me however is all the bad press this gun seems to attract. Not only is it the most underrated pistol perhaps of all time, it is also the most misunderstood. Almost everyone, including the venerable Gun Test magazine folks, compare this gun to the Sig P-series of weapons. Well let me clarify this mistake for everyone here and now. It is not a P-series weapon. The gun is designed differently, it takes different mags, it field strips differently and it has a different purpose. Sig did not create this gun to compete with other Sigs, they created this gun to compete with Glocks, XDs and Smith M&P series and to that end they have excelled engineering wise, and failed miserably in the marketing.
Comparing this gun to a P-series pistol is like comparing a Toyota to a Lexus, both are built by the same company, both will get you from A to B, both have legendary reliability, but they are purpose built for an entirely different market demographic. The Sig Pro is my favorite gun BECAUSE it is not a P-series. It does not have the weight, I am less concerned about it being stolen or broken, it does not require the same frequency of lubrication and maintenance (don't run a P-series dry...trust me). But what it does do, it does exceedingly well. It is most certainly a Sig in every respect, with outstanding quality and workmanship you would expect in a Sig. Just respect it for the purpose for which it was built.
Anyhow, if you are out and about...looking for a mid sized compact 9mm, check out the 2022, you might be glad you did.
So I moved on to the S&W. Admittedly I am not a fan of S&W period but I was impressed with the trigger on the one I had. Even still, for the price, the gun did not seem better than the Glock by any stretch of the imagination and was priced identically. I don't know much about their reliability, I do know that their service life is fairly recent, and I was not able to find a wealth of magazines for them like the Glock. The value just wasn't there.
Onto the XD. What can I say about an XD. I've owned at least 4 over the past many years and have always found them to be largely reliable, though they do tend to rust up if not properly cared for (or at least mine did). Magazines and holsters are mostly plentiful (even by today's standards) and aftermarket support seems to be strong. Even still, the XD grip reminds me of a Sig meets 1911, except trading in the 1911 crisp trigger pull for a spongy, not quite Glock like, single action pull. I really thought long and hard on the XD. In fact I even had them keep it out of the case because I had every intention of buying it but then I saw the Sig.
The Sig was $50 less than the XD, which was $50 less than the S&W, which was $50 less than the Glock. However, the Sig came with only 1 high cap magazine versus all the others coming with 2. So even at $150 off, I knew I'd be tossing in another $50 to $100 for another magazine or two. I have also owned a Sig Pro in the past. Specifically a pair of 2340's that I acquired from CDNN way, way back in the day. At the time they were my favorite pistol except with 2 major problems. One, they were discontinued and magazines and holsters were nonexistent for them. And two, I couldn't find any extra magazines for them (this was during the infamous Clinton assault weapons ban and 12 round .40 cal mags were nowhere to be found). So I sold them and stuck with my 229s, never looking back. Well here was a 2022, which I knew from research had been adopted by the French Police (to the tune of over a quarter million units), the DEA (though I have no idea which unit or how many), the Colombian Police (probably courtesy of the DEA) and a small 10,000 unit order by the U.S. Army. I also knew that magazines had become far, far more plentiful...perhaps as a result of the government contracts, perhaps as a result of the assault weapons ban sunset, probably a bit of both.
So I take the Sig apart and sure enough, true to the Sig name the gun is just flawless. Not a machine mark or niggle to be seen anywhere. The DA trigger was smooth and long (like the P series) and the single action trigger was just like I remembered. I had the large size Sig Pro grips somewhere in a box at my house, the gun was priced right and the trigger left the XD in the dirt. It was a no brainer, I bought the Sig.
Upon getting home I cleaned the gun up and switched out the grips to the large one I had from my long lost 2340s...and man I am here to tell you, it's like an old friend coming home after years gone by. The trigger is smoothing out nicely with DA dry fire and the gun has become my favorite (yes over my Glocks and P-Series). I'll post a range report soon.
One thing that does bug me however is all the bad press this gun seems to attract. Not only is it the most underrated pistol perhaps of all time, it is also the most misunderstood. Almost everyone, including the venerable Gun Test magazine folks, compare this gun to the Sig P-series of weapons. Well let me clarify this mistake for everyone here and now. It is not a P-series weapon. The gun is designed differently, it takes different mags, it field strips differently and it has a different purpose. Sig did not create this gun to compete with other Sigs, they created this gun to compete with Glocks, XDs and Smith M&P series and to that end they have excelled engineering wise, and failed miserably in the marketing.
Comparing this gun to a P-series pistol is like comparing a Toyota to a Lexus, both are built by the same company, both will get you from A to B, both have legendary reliability, but they are purpose built for an entirely different market demographic. The Sig Pro is my favorite gun BECAUSE it is not a P-series. It does not have the weight, I am less concerned about it being stolen or broken, it does not require the same frequency of lubrication and maintenance (don't run a P-series dry...trust me). But what it does do, it does exceedingly well. It is most certainly a Sig in every respect, with outstanding quality and workmanship you would expect in a Sig. Just respect it for the purpose for which it was built.
Anyhow, if you are out and about...looking for a mid sized compact 9mm, check out the 2022, you might be glad you did.
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Maryland has a seven day wait period that is up to about 40 days now with the state police being inundated with gun purchase paperwork. Anyway, I hope to bring mine home soon. 
