Review of the SIG SAUER .22LR Conversion Kit
For the P-226 [ also available P-220,P229R,P228
P229 …………
With the rising costs of ammo, I think SIG Sauer has finally hit a Grand Slam with their design of a highly accurate .22LR conversion kit for their Duty Pistols !! The following is an in depth look a the test firing of a new kit that fits my very old P-226.
With the kit installed, the P-226 looks just like the Duty weapon ….. the color of the Aluminum Conversion SLIDE matches perfectly the frame of my Old P-226 bought back in 1985. The first hint that the conversion kit is installed is the appearance of the STAINLESS STEEL barrel that protrudes the front of the slide by a heavy 1/16 of an inch. The CROWN is very well protected by having the rifling being set back a good 1/16” from the front edge followed by a slight beveling of the crown itself. It is obvious SIG was trying to protect the accuracy of a very well designed pistol.
Installation of the CONVERSION SLIDE takes only seconds and operates exactly like your old 9mm SLIDE. The Slide comes with a very nice set of WHITE 3-DOT sights that are adjustable for both height & Windage. The sights appear to be made by LPA. My pistol came sighted in for 25 yards as I found the POI of the bullets hitting 4” high at 10 Yards. The interesting fact that I found about the Conversion kit is that when I adjusted the sights to be dead on at 10 yards ………… then turned on my laser grips [ Crimson Trace ] that were also set for 10 yards for the 9mm rounds – both were the SAME = POA. No changes were required to my Laser grips switching back and forth between the two Calibers!
Accuracy: Was excellent ………… I used a bore Snake down the barrel after every 20 rounds and the pistol’s barrel just kept dropping bullets on top of one another…… out to the 10 yard line. I was VERY surprised at this level of accuracy from this kind of set-up [ no bull barrel ].
Performance: Was flawless …………. Shooting various ammo from the ONE supplied Magazine. The pistol loved the Remington High Velocity VIPER ammo ……… but amazingly performed perfectly with regular Winchester Super X ammo. I can see the logic and wisdom of SIG using the all ALUMINUM Slide, to reduce weight thereby allowing the use of ammo not falling into the high performance, super velocity category. At first glance, it is hard to imagine that large SLIDE being operated by a standard pressure .22LR bullet……….. but it works perfectly !!
NUTS & BOLTS :
The extractor – SIG provides a nice large extractor claw for this Slide ! They also use a clever extractor spring [ full size ] that travels inside a tunnel inside the Slide. Not trying to rely on a TINY spring to control this extractor is a great design feature IMHO. It looks like a roll PIN holds the extractor spring inside the Slide.
The BARREL - It looks like SIG used a Money saving method to construct the conversion’s kit CHAMBER & Barrel. If you don’t look close, it appears the barrel & CHAMBER were machined from ONE BLOCK of Steel ……… but it appears to me that SIG Silver Soldered the barrel into the CHAMBER. Not a big deal for this caliber, but if quality control is not strictly controlled at this point – problems could arise. As an example, the inside of the chamber area shows signs of the Silver Solder process & the mating of the two parts. If this soldering process is not carefully controlled, I can see where a rough chamber could be produced. This can be avoided by using a final reaming or polishing process that guarantees against a rough SEAM inside the CHAMBER. Time will tell, if this becomes a problem ?
CHAMBER - This piece is a very solid looking part ……… and very nicely engraved with the company’s name. On my kit, the Slide does NOT lock back on an empty Mag. – a design Flaw ?? I will be contacting SIG to see if the conversion kit is suppose to operate in this fashion. The danger posed by the Slide NOT locking back on the last round, is the potential for damage to the barrel’s chamber face from being hit by the firing pin should it be released on an empty chamber. However, on my pistol it seems a tiny slot has been machined out of the chamber face where the firing pin strikes. This might be used to prevent peening of the chamber face by the firing pin, should the shooter lose count of how many rounds he/she has fired. Regardless, I don’t recommend the owner dry firing this weapon – even though it has this “feature” cut into the barrel’s chamber face. If there is one FLAW in the design of this fine Conversion Kit – it would be the inability of the Slide to lock back on an empty MAGAZINE.
Magazine – ONE 10 round Magazine is supplied with the kit. The magazine is made entirely of Black Polymer. It fit snuggly into my P-226’s frame. The spring – when empty – is a bit weak; in that the magazine doesn’t want to eject from the gun with any kind of force. If the frame is held upright, with magazine pointing down, the magazine will drop cleanly from the pistol. The shooter will also notice the magazine doesn’t want to lock firmly into the magazine catch because of the lack of back pressure from the magazine spring. I did NOT find any of this to pose a problem; just trying to mention the different handling qualities of this KIT.
CONCLUSION : I am very happy with my purchase of this conversion kit. It allows for close combat training with a duty frame pistol with the same reliability as my 9mm Slide………….. and offers a wonderfully accurate target .22 if I have a mind to shoot Bulls Eye. Except for the one flaw that I mentioned [ empty chamber Lock-back ] this pistol Caliber Conversion Kit is a real winner.
JF.
For the P-226 [ also available P-220,P229R,P228
P229 …………
With the rising costs of ammo, I think SIG Sauer has finally hit a Grand Slam with their design of a highly accurate .22LR conversion kit for their Duty Pistols !! The following is an in depth look a the test firing of a new kit that fits my very old P-226.
With the kit installed, the P-226 looks just like the Duty weapon ….. the color of the Aluminum Conversion SLIDE matches perfectly the frame of my Old P-226 bought back in 1985. The first hint that the conversion kit is installed is the appearance of the STAINLESS STEEL barrel that protrudes the front of the slide by a heavy 1/16 of an inch. The CROWN is very well protected by having the rifling being set back a good 1/16” from the front edge followed by a slight beveling of the crown itself. It is obvious SIG was trying to protect the accuracy of a very well designed pistol.
Installation of the CONVERSION SLIDE takes only seconds and operates exactly like your old 9mm SLIDE. The Slide comes with a very nice set of WHITE 3-DOT sights that are adjustable for both height & Windage. The sights appear to be made by LPA. My pistol came sighted in for 25 yards as I found the POI of the bullets hitting 4” high at 10 Yards. The interesting fact that I found about the Conversion kit is that when I adjusted the sights to be dead on at 10 yards ………… then turned on my laser grips [ Crimson Trace ] that were also set for 10 yards for the 9mm rounds – both were the SAME = POA. No changes were required to my Laser grips switching back and forth between the two Calibers!
Accuracy: Was excellent ………… I used a bore Snake down the barrel after every 20 rounds and the pistol’s barrel just kept dropping bullets on top of one another…… out to the 10 yard line. I was VERY surprised at this level of accuracy from this kind of set-up [ no bull barrel ].
Performance: Was flawless …………. Shooting various ammo from the ONE supplied Magazine. The pistol loved the Remington High Velocity VIPER ammo ……… but amazingly performed perfectly with regular Winchester Super X ammo. I can see the logic and wisdom of SIG using the all ALUMINUM Slide, to reduce weight thereby allowing the use of ammo not falling into the high performance, super velocity category. At first glance, it is hard to imagine that large SLIDE being operated by a standard pressure .22LR bullet……….. but it works perfectly !!
NUTS & BOLTS :
The extractor – SIG provides a nice large extractor claw for this Slide ! They also use a clever extractor spring [ full size ] that travels inside a tunnel inside the Slide. Not trying to rely on a TINY spring to control this extractor is a great design feature IMHO. It looks like a roll PIN holds the extractor spring inside the Slide.
The BARREL - It looks like SIG used a Money saving method to construct the conversion’s kit CHAMBER & Barrel. If you don’t look close, it appears the barrel & CHAMBER were machined from ONE BLOCK of Steel ……… but it appears to me that SIG Silver Soldered the barrel into the CHAMBER. Not a big deal for this caliber, but if quality control is not strictly controlled at this point – problems could arise. As an example, the inside of the chamber area shows signs of the Silver Solder process & the mating of the two parts. If this soldering process is not carefully controlled, I can see where a rough chamber could be produced. This can be avoided by using a final reaming or polishing process that guarantees against a rough SEAM inside the CHAMBER. Time will tell, if this becomes a problem ?
CHAMBER - This piece is a very solid looking part ……… and very nicely engraved with the company’s name. On my kit, the Slide does NOT lock back on an empty Mag. – a design Flaw ?? I will be contacting SIG to see if the conversion kit is suppose to operate in this fashion. The danger posed by the Slide NOT locking back on the last round, is the potential for damage to the barrel’s chamber face from being hit by the firing pin should it be released on an empty chamber. However, on my pistol it seems a tiny slot has been machined out of the chamber face where the firing pin strikes. This might be used to prevent peening of the chamber face by the firing pin, should the shooter lose count of how many rounds he/she has fired. Regardless, I don’t recommend the owner dry firing this weapon – even though it has this “feature” cut into the barrel’s chamber face. If there is one FLAW in the design of this fine Conversion Kit – it would be the inability of the Slide to lock back on an empty MAGAZINE.
Magazine – ONE 10 round Magazine is supplied with the kit. The magazine is made entirely of Black Polymer. It fit snuggly into my P-226’s frame. The spring – when empty – is a bit weak; in that the magazine doesn’t want to eject from the gun with any kind of force. If the frame is held upright, with magazine pointing down, the magazine will drop cleanly from the pistol. The shooter will also notice the magazine doesn’t want to lock firmly into the magazine catch because of the lack of back pressure from the magazine spring. I did NOT find any of this to pose a problem; just trying to mention the different handling qualities of this KIT.
CONCLUSION : I am very happy with my purchase of this conversion kit. It allows for close combat training with a duty frame pistol with the same reliability as my 9mm Slide………….. and offers a wonderfully accurate target .22 if I have a mind to shoot Bulls Eye. Except for the one flaw that I mentioned [ empty chamber Lock-back ] this pistol Caliber Conversion Kit is a real winner.
JF.
