Sig P229 Elite Dark Range Report

[GI_Jared]

Just got in my new Sig P229 Elite Dark (.40 cal) and tested it at the range today. The gun shot great and I was pretty impressed with its accuracy. I was mainly using regular Federal 180gr FMJ ammo, and at 15 yards my average groupings were around 3". At 25 yards my groupings were averaging 4-5", with the exception of the grouping in the picture below. I tested some on my defense ammo, which is Winchester 165 grain PDX1 JHP and almost shot a 2" grouping from a standing position at 25 yards.

So everything is great, except the gun shoots way low. I have the adjustable rear sight as high as it will go and my shots are 7-10" low. I am holding the sights level and have the front sight post covering the point of aim. I did a little research and apparently I am not the only one with an Elite p229 that has this same problem. I will probably be calling Sig customer service on Monday to ask about this problem and will most likely be switching to a shorter front sight post. You can probably see from the picture that the front sight post is very tall on this gun and it also doesn't have a number stamped on it like normal Sig sights.

Anyone else had these issues with the Elite series of Sig pistols?



In this picture I am showing where I was aiming and where it hit. Each square is an 1"x1"

 

[maddy345]

I have a P229 Elite in .40 built in 2006. The #6 front with a #8 rear Siglite will fix your problem. The adjustable sights that came with your Elite are junk.

Get Sig to ship the slide back to them and have them swap the sight on THEIR dime.

 

[GI_Jared]

That will be the plan, although I don't mind the adjustable rear sight. The elevation setting is nice, but for windage it has two small set screws. I have heard from others that they like to come loose and even Sig recommends putting blue lock tight on them. I wish the rear adjustable sight was more like my Glock adjustable sights, where both elevation and windage is set with an allen key.

 

[danfive555]

Do you usually shoot point-of-aim?

I have the same pistol and became very accurate after a bit of dedicated practice. I didn't even know the sights were adjustable.

I'm not aiming high or low (up to 15 yards).

 

[maddy345]

Yes. Ace the front sight in front of what you want to hit.

 

[GI_Jared]

So after the last two post I guess they want to know how I aim. I put the bullseye directly behind the front sight post. Just like I drew it in the photo.

 

[JO JO]

I have a p229 dak shoot very well with this I know this is a different triger then yours
but 229s are a top of line gun, do you have much experence with the 40 cal ? you might
want to try the loading up with live rounds and a dummy round in the mag, when the
dummy round is in the pipe you can see if you are anticapating the recoil and pulling
your shots down ?

 

[GI_Jared]

I really don't think I am dipping the front of the gun when I pull the trigger, the trigger pull is really light. I also have a Glock 21SF and don't have any problems with that gun at all.

I also had a buddy shoot this gun yesterday and while his grouping were a little higher they were still low. I think changing out the front sight post to a shorter one will solve the issue, and you can see in the Sig photos that they normally put a shorter front sight on the 229, so I don't know why they switched it for the elite dark.

vs

 

[GI_Jared]

I talked to Sig customer service this morning and they told me that the reason the Elite Dark has such a tall front sight post is because there is also a threaded barrel version of this gun, and that when there is a silencer attached they wanted the front sight post to be above the silencer (Not looking into it). I asked why my pistol had this taller post when it doesn't have a threaded barrel and they said that they just installed it on all of the Elite Darks.

I was then told that the standard P229s all have number 8 rear sights and number 6 front sights, and that if I went to a local gun shop and compared the sight heights (to see if my sight was actually taller) that they would send me a new number 6 sight post for free, but if I wanted a number 8 front sight post that I would have to pay $45 for it. I told the guy that you can obviously see from the photos on their website that the sight posts are taller, but I guess that wasn't good enough.

So I headed off and went to two local shops and all of there bran new Sig P229s had number 8 front sights and number 8 rear sights. I asked if they had changed out the sights or modified the guns in any way, and was told that this how they came from the factory.

I will post another update when I get back a hold of the customer service rep that I was dealing with.

 

[GI_Jared]

Talked to another Sig customer service rep last night and they are sending me a new #8 Siglite front sight to install on my pistol.

 

[GI_Jared]

Finally got back to the range yesterday after I installed the #8 front sight on my Sig. I shot the pistol with the front resting on a sandbag just to make sure I got rid of any shooter error in terms of dipping the muzzle. The #8 front sight is perfect and my rear elevation settings are now set right in the middle, instead of maxed out at the top as they were with the standard front sight that came with the gun.

As for my accuracy, I wasn't able to pull off any 3" groupings at 25 yards like the first range trip. I was averaging 3" groupings at 15yards and 6" groupings at 25yards from a standing position.

All in all, i'm glad Sig hooked me up with the new sight for free, and I am very satisfied with this pistol. However, I don't find it very wise on the part of Sig to ship all of the 229 elite dark pistols with a front sight that is made to shoot over the top of a suppressor. Especially when only one of the models ships with a threaded barrel.

 

[maddy345]

Sig 9mms come with #8 front and rears. .40s some with #6 and #8 sights.