This past week I found myself in my favorite gun shop with a $220 credit. I had returned a gun stock that turned out to be the wrong one for a Savage 111. Finding nothing for that amount I decided to kick in more to get more. I wandered over to the 9mm case and there it was.
As a background, I have shot SIGs since the mid-Eighties. My first two were West German stamped and pinned, a 220 European and a 226. Those guns served me well and without malfunction for many years. Since then I have added numerous SIGs including a 232, 239, P6, 2340 Blueline, 226 DAK, and BDA. The guns have been flawless. There have only been two SIGs that I got rid of; a P238 as it was one of the bad ones and a GSR as it was redundant to my other 1911’s. While I’m one of those guys who will go with a stamped and pinned SIG when possible I do not consider myself a SIG purist. I think that the SigPro Series is way underrated so that rules out being a purist. I must also admit that after my less than pleasing experience with the P238 I was just a little bit skeptical about buying a new SIG.
The P250 is a gun that has interested me for a long time. As you may know, the trigger group internals carries the serial number and is interchangeable between grips, slides, and barrels in multiple calibers and sizes. The gun is truly modular except for .45 which has its own sized components. I like guns that are modular. Barrel switching and different slide frame combinations have always been desirable to me. With Glock, Steyr, SIG, and S&W it has been possible to have multiple guns in one. SIG seemed to have taken that to a new level. But, the gun had teething problems and the initial pricepoint was certainly ambitious…way too ambitious. Having followed the progress with this pistol I felt confident that the initial issues had been ironed out. I knew that I should have waited with the P238, and in buying one early on I broke one of my cardinal rules: wait at least a year after a new gun is introduced to consider buying one. As to the early problems with the P250 and the ATF thing, that was then and this is now.
One other thing is that I shoot double action only semi autos extensively. They aren’t for everyone but once the skill was learned and mastered I found that I very much liked DAO pistols. Plus, they usually sell for less and I have gotten some great deals. On the other hand resale value is lower, but that isn’t really my concern.
So, having said $220 in my pocket I decided to snag a P250 subcompact in 9mm small grip for $399. This is a 2nd generation gun. The gun was produced in January 2011. I know, they go for even less than that, but I had the store credit and there it was. I chose the subcompact as this would be a good candidate for carry. The DAO trigger is also desirable to me for carry. I will be interested to compare the size of this gun to my PPS.
My initial impressions of the gun were quite positive. I have nothing against polymer and am just fine with a polymer SIG. The grip height is small requiring my pinky to be wrapped underneath the magazine. I’m fine with that. The grip is very ergonomic but I find that the lower edge of my thumb on my shooting hand tends to ride the mag release. There isn’t a lot of room here but I’m not concerned about accidentally dumping a mag. The contact with the release is minimal. One issue that I have is that the shape of the grip and the distance of my reach to the trigger causes my trigger finger to enter the trigger guard at a bit of a weird angle across and down on the trigger. More about that in a bit. Overall I find the size and the weight of the pistol to be quite good for carry and comfortable for shooting. The grip height seems quite compact for holding twelve rounds. The sights are three dot contrast which are quite large and very visible. The gun has a Nitron finish and overall appearance is very pleasing. The trigger module is simple to remove and reinstall. Some have complained about the grip seeming flimsy, but that is not my impression. Part of the beauty of plastic is being able to have comparable strength with less material and weight. I'm truly grateful that SIG canned the rail.
The trigger is the big factor with this pistol. I have found that every DAO pistol has its sweet spot on the trigger. The key, at least for me, is to move the trigger contact point away from the fingertip in towards the first joint. Where that point falls varies. When I learn to shoot a new DAO that is always my first step, finding that sweet spot. With the P250 it was a bit tricky. As I have said, my finger enters the trigger guard at a weird angle. There is no way around it for me as it is the ergonomics of the gun with my shooting hand. Rather than a relatively straight across the trigger orientation I find that my finger angles rather steeply downwards towards maybe a 7 o’clock position on the trigger. That greatly effects how much and how I could alter the position the trigger contact point on my trigger finger. That took quite a lot of figuring out and my first shots of 115 gr. Blazer brass were all over the place at 7 yards at an indoor range.
Finally, I found my sweet spot and I was grouping into maybe 4 inches, maybe five, with an occasional flyer. I wasn’t concerned with the lousy group size as I knew that with practice it would almost certainly tighten up a good bit. The problem was that the groups were about six inches low from point of aim. The POA was dead center on a six inch target. The groups were dead centered from right to left but consistently six inches low.
Before I say more, a bit about the trigger. It is a very smooth but very long pull. One can pull all the way through it or stage it. It’s a lot better than many DAO triggers than I’ve shot. Despite the weird angle of my finger on the trigger, which I feel hampered my progress, I will be able to master the trigger. If it was a bit shorter and lighter I think that the gun could benefit significantly, but I’m fine with it as it is. One drawback with the trigger that you hear about frequently is the long reset. Yup, it’s a long reset…very long. That said, I found that I could get off shots as quickly as I would ever want and at one point probably risked a warning from the range officer, one who doesn’t tolerate rapid fire other than double-taps. Only on one occasion did I approach anything like short-stroking and could just detect that I had gotten close to doing so. That lesson was quickly learned and wasn’t an issue after that.
When I have an issue with aim I first evaluate myself as the shooter. It seemed that whatever I did the groups remained six inches low and dead center. I ruled myself out of the equation as best I could and then compensated my point of aim to bring the shots dead center. If the problem was me I was at least able to compensate for it and group right on the bull. Oddly where I had been six inches low I only moved my sight up four inches to raise the POA six inches. I’m still trying to figure that one out. Five shot groups were now into four inches right over the bull. Not good for seven yards, but it was a start. As it turned out I had only a few full mags of shooting before I had gone through my 150 rounds. I had meant to bring some hollow points for reliability testing but forgot them. As to the low POA, I will work more with the pistol acclimating myself to the trigger as well as trying 124 gr. and 147 gr. ammo. That is an ammo switch that some others have reported on positively for the pistol shooting(often six inches) low. As a last resort, everything else ruled out, a different front sight can be installed.
As to reliability, the gun performed without a hitch. Felt recoil was pretty much what you would expect with a polymer subcompact, if not a bit less. Muzzle climb was nothing notable with the gun having recovered to shooting position by the time that the trigger had reset, or very nearly so. The gun was enjoyable to shoot. I found the grip quite positive and comfortable. The sights were more than adequate even under some lower light conditions. I did lightly brush the magazine release on a few occasions but not enough to dump the mag, but enough to be noticed and slightly annoying.
My overall impression is that the gun is a keeper. Is it perfect? No, it isn’t. Do I have other guns that will do pretty much the same thing? Yup, and they might do it even better. But, the fact remains that I’m quite pleased with the P250 subcompact. I think that in time, and with the practice that any DAO pistol takes to master, this will be a fine shooting and accurate little gun. It’s not a target pistol by any means, but I am sensing potential here to be more than adequate for most any self-defense role. As to its modular design, here is where I am having some issues.
When this gun was first introduced the retail was $650. As we know that has been reduced by a good bit to around $400. Without getting into the propriety of a $650 pricepoint I will say that for a $650 gun it might make sense to offer the ability to change grip/slide size and caliber for $329, less than half the price of a new gun. The $320 savings makes having one-a-half guns as opposed to two guns worth it. I may be wrong about this, but when they reduced the retail price of the whole gun they didn’t correspondingly reduce the price of the modular kits. So, I can change calibers and grip for $330 or I can have the whole gun for $70 more. To me that’s a no-brainer: I would go for a second whole gun every time. So, what sense does the modular aspect of the gun make other than maybe for agency sales? I think that for the modular kits to make sense they would have to be priced right at $200 or a bit south of that. Yup, $330 makes sense for a $650 gun, but, it makes little to no sense for a $400 gun.
I came to the foregoing conclusion when I found myself in that same gun shop a few days later considering buying a modular kit to convert the 9mm subcompact to a compact. Right next to the modular kit was a whole 9mm compact with medium grip, the exact gun that I was going to be able to convert to. Of course I came home with the whole compact rather than the modular kit. For $70 more for a whole gun there was no choice in the matter.
I do have plans to acquire a modular kit in 9mm full size and to convert my subcompact to 357 SIG. I can also tell you that if the kits remain priced above $200 I will opt to buy the whole gun, if at all. SIG needs to attend to this pricing issue for the series to have much of a chance at any future success at the lower pricepoint. Despite this, in a conversation with the owner of the shop I was told that their sales of the P250 is brisk.
As a background, I have shot SIGs since the mid-Eighties. My first two were West German stamped and pinned, a 220 European and a 226. Those guns served me well and without malfunction for many years. Since then I have added numerous SIGs including a 232, 239, P6, 2340 Blueline, 226 DAK, and BDA. The guns have been flawless. There have only been two SIGs that I got rid of; a P238 as it was one of the bad ones and a GSR as it was redundant to my other 1911’s. While I’m one of those guys who will go with a stamped and pinned SIG when possible I do not consider myself a SIG purist. I think that the SigPro Series is way underrated so that rules out being a purist. I must also admit that after my less than pleasing experience with the P238 I was just a little bit skeptical about buying a new SIG.
The P250 is a gun that has interested me for a long time. As you may know, the trigger group internals carries the serial number and is interchangeable between grips, slides, and barrels in multiple calibers and sizes. The gun is truly modular except for .45 which has its own sized components. I like guns that are modular. Barrel switching and different slide frame combinations have always been desirable to me. With Glock, Steyr, SIG, and S&W it has been possible to have multiple guns in one. SIG seemed to have taken that to a new level. But, the gun had teething problems and the initial pricepoint was certainly ambitious…way too ambitious. Having followed the progress with this pistol I felt confident that the initial issues had been ironed out. I knew that I should have waited with the P238, and in buying one early on I broke one of my cardinal rules: wait at least a year after a new gun is introduced to consider buying one. As to the early problems with the P250 and the ATF thing, that was then and this is now.
One other thing is that I shoot double action only semi autos extensively. They aren’t for everyone but once the skill was learned and mastered I found that I very much liked DAO pistols. Plus, they usually sell for less and I have gotten some great deals. On the other hand resale value is lower, but that isn’t really my concern.
So, having said $220 in my pocket I decided to snag a P250 subcompact in 9mm small grip for $399. This is a 2nd generation gun. The gun was produced in January 2011. I know, they go for even less than that, but I had the store credit and there it was. I chose the subcompact as this would be a good candidate for carry. The DAO trigger is also desirable to me for carry. I will be interested to compare the size of this gun to my PPS.
My initial impressions of the gun were quite positive. I have nothing against polymer and am just fine with a polymer SIG. The grip height is small requiring my pinky to be wrapped underneath the magazine. I’m fine with that. The grip is very ergonomic but I find that the lower edge of my thumb on my shooting hand tends to ride the mag release. There isn’t a lot of room here but I’m not concerned about accidentally dumping a mag. The contact with the release is minimal. One issue that I have is that the shape of the grip and the distance of my reach to the trigger causes my trigger finger to enter the trigger guard at a bit of a weird angle across and down on the trigger. More about that in a bit. Overall I find the size and the weight of the pistol to be quite good for carry and comfortable for shooting. The grip height seems quite compact for holding twelve rounds. The sights are three dot contrast which are quite large and very visible. The gun has a Nitron finish and overall appearance is very pleasing. The trigger module is simple to remove and reinstall. Some have complained about the grip seeming flimsy, but that is not my impression. Part of the beauty of plastic is being able to have comparable strength with less material and weight. I'm truly grateful that SIG canned the rail.
The trigger is the big factor with this pistol. I have found that every DAO pistol has its sweet spot on the trigger. The key, at least for me, is to move the trigger contact point away from the fingertip in towards the first joint. Where that point falls varies. When I learn to shoot a new DAO that is always my first step, finding that sweet spot. With the P250 it was a bit tricky. As I have said, my finger enters the trigger guard at a weird angle. There is no way around it for me as it is the ergonomics of the gun with my shooting hand. Rather than a relatively straight across the trigger orientation I find that my finger angles rather steeply downwards towards maybe a 7 o’clock position on the trigger. That greatly effects how much and how I could alter the position the trigger contact point on my trigger finger. That took quite a lot of figuring out and my first shots of 115 gr. Blazer brass were all over the place at 7 yards at an indoor range.
Finally, I found my sweet spot and I was grouping into maybe 4 inches, maybe five, with an occasional flyer. I wasn’t concerned with the lousy group size as I knew that with practice it would almost certainly tighten up a good bit. The problem was that the groups were about six inches low from point of aim. The POA was dead center on a six inch target. The groups were dead centered from right to left but consistently six inches low.
Before I say more, a bit about the trigger. It is a very smooth but very long pull. One can pull all the way through it or stage it. It’s a lot better than many DAO triggers than I’ve shot. Despite the weird angle of my finger on the trigger, which I feel hampered my progress, I will be able to master the trigger. If it was a bit shorter and lighter I think that the gun could benefit significantly, but I’m fine with it as it is. One drawback with the trigger that you hear about frequently is the long reset. Yup, it’s a long reset…very long. That said, I found that I could get off shots as quickly as I would ever want and at one point probably risked a warning from the range officer, one who doesn’t tolerate rapid fire other than double-taps. Only on one occasion did I approach anything like short-stroking and could just detect that I had gotten close to doing so. That lesson was quickly learned and wasn’t an issue after that.
When I have an issue with aim I first evaluate myself as the shooter. It seemed that whatever I did the groups remained six inches low and dead center. I ruled myself out of the equation as best I could and then compensated my point of aim to bring the shots dead center. If the problem was me I was at least able to compensate for it and group right on the bull. Oddly where I had been six inches low I only moved my sight up four inches to raise the POA six inches. I’m still trying to figure that one out. Five shot groups were now into four inches right over the bull. Not good for seven yards, but it was a start. As it turned out I had only a few full mags of shooting before I had gone through my 150 rounds. I had meant to bring some hollow points for reliability testing but forgot them. As to the low POA, I will work more with the pistol acclimating myself to the trigger as well as trying 124 gr. and 147 gr. ammo. That is an ammo switch that some others have reported on positively for the pistol shooting(often six inches) low. As a last resort, everything else ruled out, a different front sight can be installed.
As to reliability, the gun performed without a hitch. Felt recoil was pretty much what you would expect with a polymer subcompact, if not a bit less. Muzzle climb was nothing notable with the gun having recovered to shooting position by the time that the trigger had reset, or very nearly so. The gun was enjoyable to shoot. I found the grip quite positive and comfortable. The sights were more than adequate even under some lower light conditions. I did lightly brush the magazine release on a few occasions but not enough to dump the mag, but enough to be noticed and slightly annoying.
My overall impression is that the gun is a keeper. Is it perfect? No, it isn’t. Do I have other guns that will do pretty much the same thing? Yup, and they might do it even better. But, the fact remains that I’m quite pleased with the P250 subcompact. I think that in time, and with the practice that any DAO pistol takes to master, this will be a fine shooting and accurate little gun. It’s not a target pistol by any means, but I am sensing potential here to be more than adequate for most any self-defense role. As to its modular design, here is where I am having some issues.
When this gun was first introduced the retail was $650. As we know that has been reduced by a good bit to around $400. Without getting into the propriety of a $650 pricepoint I will say that for a $650 gun it might make sense to offer the ability to change grip/slide size and caliber for $329, less than half the price of a new gun. The $320 savings makes having one-a-half guns as opposed to two guns worth it. I may be wrong about this, but when they reduced the retail price of the whole gun they didn’t correspondingly reduce the price of the modular kits. So, I can change calibers and grip for $330 or I can have the whole gun for $70 more. To me that’s a no-brainer: I would go for a second whole gun every time. So, what sense does the modular aspect of the gun make other than maybe for agency sales? I think that for the modular kits to make sense they would have to be priced right at $200 or a bit south of that. Yup, $330 makes sense for a $650 gun, but, it makes little to no sense for a $400 gun.
I came to the foregoing conclusion when I found myself in that same gun shop a few days later considering buying a modular kit to convert the 9mm subcompact to a compact. Right next to the modular kit was a whole 9mm compact with medium grip, the exact gun that I was going to be able to convert to. Of course I came home with the whole compact rather than the modular kit. For $70 more for a whole gun there was no choice in the matter.
I do have plans to acquire a modular kit in 9mm full size and to convert my subcompact to 357 SIG. I can also tell you that if the kits remain priced above $200 I will opt to buy the whole gun, if at all. SIG needs to attend to this pricing issue for the series to have much of a chance at any future success at the lower pricepoint. Despite this, in a conversation with the owner of the shop I was told that their sales of the P250 is brisk.
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