1KPerDay
Member
I've literally been waiting 30 years to own one of these. I'll tell the story here because some might appreciate it. When I was 13 or 14 I used to send out to every gun company and distributor for catalogs (remember those?) because I loved to read and peruse photos and drool over guns. One of them, and I'm not sure what it was but in my memory it may have been a Dillon catalog (but was probably a SIG brochure... I can't find it in my collection of detritus and doubt I ever will), had a photograph of this incredibly purposeful, evil-looking, sexy pistol, the likes of which I'd never seen before. It was a P225 and I stared at and studied that trigger and trigger guard for hours. Okay, I admit it, I'm weird. But the design was (and remains) fascinating to me.
I'd never heard of SIG-Sauer and had no idea even what to call it. It seemed so... foreign from the antique colts, bolt action deer rifles, and Smith & Wesson revolvers that were my dad's guns of choice. This is the first firearm that I remember ever lusting after. I had no idea how or where to acquire one; I just knew I wanted one. Even if only to hold and look at.
Well the recent release of some "Police trade-in" P225s from Sportsman's outdoor warehouse for a semi-reasonable price was the impetus I needed. I have almost no spending money and I will have to donate plasma and brown-bag lunch for a few months to pay for it but after picking up the pistol, examining, and shooting it yesterday, I know I did the right thing. It is immensely satisfying to behold, and to hold. It isn't perfect, but no great love ever is.
Minor nits:
There is a small amount of wear on the top and front corners of the slide but overall the upper looks very good. The barrel has the SIG smiley wear and the bluing is worn off the top of the hood, and judging by the rest of the pistol, I wonder if perhaps it was swapped with another at some point, but I suppose the pistol was likely just well cared for. The frame looks nearly flawless, with a small amount of rubbing along the front right flat, a small scratch in the left rail groove, and some wear around the magwell. There is a tiny amount of discoloration, which may have been the beginning of rust, on the takedown lever flat, inside, and the bottoms of the mags have some small amounts of rust. Both mags have Pachmayr basepads which I actually appreciate, as I have large hands and inserting the mags fully would otherwise require the use of a thumb.
The mag baseplates extend forward of the frontstrap and interfere somewhat with my pinky (as I said I have XL hands) and make me wish I could grind them back... does anyone offer replacement baseplates with a shorter front lip?
The only remaining ergonomic complaint is a strange and unexpected one: the triangular hump on the left grip panel below the decocking groove bothers my right middle finger when I wrap around aggressively. I note that the G10 and aluminum grips offered for this model don't have this hump and I suppose I may eventually purchase a set, though I strongly prefer the aesthetics of the original grips.
I shot 8 mags worth of 124 ball through it and hit nearly every shot... the sights are worn-out 3-dot night sights which I don't prefer and they may hit to a slightly different POI than my other SIGs, but I'll figure it out. In any case, hits were easy and repetitive.
The trigger was a very nice surprise. The DA is smooth and no heavier than my very nice, well-broken-in German P226, as opposed to somewhat gritty and stiff like my less-used, older German P220 (which has gotten better but still isn't stellar), and the SA break is as good as my German P226, which is saying something, and the reset is shorter. I haven't checked to see if it has the SRT guts but I doubt it... it simply has a great trigger. I also like that the trigger has no grooves its face. Recoil is negligible, the grip (other than the mag baseplate) fits my hand like a glove, and all the controls fall easily to hand. I reeeeeally like this pistol.
Pics follow; any gunk you see on the rails is gunk, not wear, with the exception of the aforementioned scratch.
I'd never heard of SIG-Sauer and had no idea even what to call it. It seemed so... foreign from the antique colts, bolt action deer rifles, and Smith & Wesson revolvers that were my dad's guns of choice. This is the first firearm that I remember ever lusting after. I had no idea how or where to acquire one; I just knew I wanted one. Even if only to hold and look at.
Well the recent release of some "Police trade-in" P225s from Sportsman's outdoor warehouse for a semi-reasonable price was the impetus I needed. I have almost no spending money and I will have to donate plasma and brown-bag lunch for a few months to pay for it but after picking up the pistol, examining, and shooting it yesterday, I know I did the right thing. It is immensely satisfying to behold, and to hold. It isn't perfect, but no great love ever is.
Minor nits:
There is a small amount of wear on the top and front corners of the slide but overall the upper looks very good. The barrel has the SIG smiley wear and the bluing is worn off the top of the hood, and judging by the rest of the pistol, I wonder if perhaps it was swapped with another at some point, but I suppose the pistol was likely just well cared for. The frame looks nearly flawless, with a small amount of rubbing along the front right flat, a small scratch in the left rail groove, and some wear around the magwell. There is a tiny amount of discoloration, which may have been the beginning of rust, on the takedown lever flat, inside, and the bottoms of the mags have some small amounts of rust. Both mags have Pachmayr basepads which I actually appreciate, as I have large hands and inserting the mags fully would otherwise require the use of a thumb.
The mag baseplates extend forward of the frontstrap and interfere somewhat with my pinky (as I said I have XL hands) and make me wish I could grind them back... does anyone offer replacement baseplates with a shorter front lip?
The only remaining ergonomic complaint is a strange and unexpected one: the triangular hump on the left grip panel below the decocking groove bothers my right middle finger when I wrap around aggressively. I note that the G10 and aluminum grips offered for this model don't have this hump and I suppose I may eventually purchase a set, though I strongly prefer the aesthetics of the original grips.
I shot 8 mags worth of 124 ball through it and hit nearly every shot... the sights are worn-out 3-dot night sights which I don't prefer and they may hit to a slightly different POI than my other SIGs, but I'll figure it out. In any case, hits were easy and repetitive.
The trigger was a very nice surprise. The DA is smooth and no heavier than my very nice, well-broken-in German P226, as opposed to somewhat gritty and stiff like my less-used, older German P220 (which has gotten better but still isn't stellar), and the SA break is as good as my German P226, which is saying something, and the reset is shorter. I haven't checked to see if it has the SRT guts but I doubt it... it simply has a great trigger. I also like that the trigger has no grooves its face. Recoil is negligible, the grip (other than the mag baseplate) fits my hand like a glove, and all the controls fall easily to hand. I reeeeeally like this pistol.
Pics follow; any gunk you see on the rails is gunk, not wear, with the exception of the aforementioned scratch.
