The SIG P226 Legion: A quick overview

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Dragonfly

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I’ve always liked the P226 since I saw it on the cover of a Guns & Ammo magazine back in the mid-1980s, and I’ve owned a few over the years (most recently an Extreme I picked up over the summer) so I was intrigued by the new Legion line. I know the Exeter SIGs don’t have the reputation of the German pistols, and some of the Marketing hype behind the Legion line might be a little over-the-top, but there are some very nice well-thought-out features on the pistol. I picked up a DA/SA model with the decocker. I’ve owned a SAO SIG, and didn’t really care for the controls—the safety and slide release seemed too close together for me. I am not a huge fan of DA/SA pistols in general, but this’ll be a range-use only fun pistol, and unless my life takes a dramatic turn for the worse I’m unlikely to need it for anything else.

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The pistol has a very nice dark grey finish that’s a bit lighter shade than the usual Nitron slide/anodized frame finish. It’s “flatter” than it looked in pictures, but is blemish-free (I’ve seen some shooters post pictures of their Legion with flaws in the finish). There are forward slide serrations, like the Extreme. I really like the look of the pistol.

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The frontstrap of the grip is checkered with grippy but not too sharp checkering, compared with horizontal lines on standard P226s.

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The bottom of the triggerguard is checkered for some reason. I’ve got no use for this myself, but at least it doesn’t bug me.

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The grips are a pleasant surprise—they seem a bit narrower side-to-side than factory grips, although I’ve got none here to compare with. They have the same profile as regular P226 grips, which I like. Even though I’ve got small hands I didn’t care for the E2 grips—I found they moved my hand down too far on the grip, exacerbating the high bore line. These grips a quite grippy without being too aggressive, and there are three levels of checkering—coarsest checkering on the backstrap, medium on the sides, and very light checkering on the “thumb pads” at the top of the grip panels. They’re quite nice.

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The slide stop and decocker and low-profile compared with the usual controls. The Legion is the top picture above, my Extreme below it. I’m guessing that this is to make a more snag-free pistol? Or maybe to get them out of the way of shooters’ thumbs? In any case I prefer the larger ones—I’ll see how the low profile controls work at the range. You can also see the slight beavertail on the Legion compared with the more traditional profile of the Extreme. I prefer the non-beavertail look, myself, and don’t find that the beavertail helps any with me. At least this one’s a bit more restrained than some of the SIG beavertails!

And now onto the two features that really make the pistol worth it for me.

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The sights are night sights, but the rear ones have a black outline instead of the typical white, and the front has a large, bright green dot around the night sight. I usually don't like night sights for range use, but I’m looking forward to these. The rear dots are still visible in the sight picture, but are more subtle, while the front sight really stands out. I took these pictures at sunset on an overcast November day and the dot was still nice and eye-catching.

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(Legion on top, Extreme with Short Reach Trigger below)

The trigger is perhaps the best feature. I’m not sure but it looks to be a bit slimmer than than the standard SIG trigger, but it’s thicker than the Short Reach Trigger. It’s manageable in DA mode (although a bit long for me) but perfect reach in SA mode. The trigger pulls themselves are very nice—the DA is smooth and noticeably lighter (maybe a pound or two?) than the stock DA pull, but the SA pull is much nice, even compared to the Short Reset Trigger. It’s very high crisp, but what I like best is that there’s very little overtravel. It’s a very good trigger. I made a brief video demonstrating them below.



You can also see the slight undercut at the rear of the trigger guard to allow for a slightly higher grip—this is similar to the X5 frame.

So—early impressions are very favorable. This is not a cheap pistol, even as SIGs go, but for me the grips, sights, and trigger make it worthwhile. I'll report back once I've had a chance to take it to the range.

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Good review.

I've taken my P-226 Legion to the range only once, but that was enough for me to determine that it just might be my all-time favorite pistol (and I've been a 1911 guy for more than 40 years). Though I was never a fan of railed pistols, there's so much good about the Legions that I can live with the rail. Bottom line for me: awesome ergonomics, superb trigger, fantastic accuracy, outstanding sights ...
My first Legion (229) and a 225-A1:
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Nice, informative writeup. The trigger on the Legion I tried was simply spectacular. My German P226 has a great trigger, but the legion was just wonderful. I'm trying to save up for an SAO variant.
 
The Legion is definitely a nice pistol, but there are some features that I really don't care much for. Two you have mentioned: the miniaturized controls and the attenuated beaver tail. The small decocker lever I could live with although I like the regular one better. The tiny slide stop lever is a real PITA, however. And the beaver tail is just there for looks, IMO. It really does nothing to help with recoil control (at least for me), and basically just adds weight, length, and potential to snag.

There are some other features I can take or leave. These include the additional frame and slide work and the finish. The slight relief in the frame at the rear underside of the trigger guard is a nice touch, although on the one Legion I shot it really didn't seem to have a noticeable impact. The front strap checkering is likewise OK. I wouldn't mind having either of these features on my P229R. The checkering on the underside of the trigger guard and the cocking serrations on the front of the slide do not add value for me. I do not do press checks with my hand that close to the muzzle. The finish is OK as long as you get one without the irregularity or more severe blemishes that have been reported by some Legion owners. But overall I prefer the black Nitron finish. And there have been concerns about the durability of the Legion PVD finish expressed by some owners.

I agree that the grips, sights, and trigger are very good. These are features that can be added to most any P226 or 229 by the way. Although the exact grips that come on the Legion are not available, Houge G10 Piranha grips are very close. The sights are SIG's X Ray sights and are available from SIG Sauer and other on-line vendors. And the trigger is Bruce Gray's Grayguns P-SAIT trigger. If your SIG does not have the short reset trigger kit (SRT) they are available from quite a few internet retailers.

I added X Ray sights, the P-SAIT trigger, a SIG short reset trigger kit (which is a modified sear and safety lever, not a trigger), and G10 Piranha grips to my P229R. After shopping around a bit the cost of parts came to $300 (sights $115, trigger $70, SRT $45, grips $70). These are all easy modifications and the trigger on my pistol is now actually superior to the one Legion 229 I have had the opportunity to shoot. So if you have a stock P226 and 229 and like the Legion, you can have most of the Legion's best features, if you wish.
 
The Legion is definitely a nice pistol, but there are some features that I really don't care much for. Two you have mentioned: the miniaturized controls and the attenuated beaver tail. The small decocker lever I could live with although I like the regular one better. The tiny slide stop lever is a real PITA, however. And the beaver tail is just there for looks, IMO. It really does nothing to help with recoil control (at least for me), and basically just adds weight, length, and potential to snag.
I've tried the decocker with gloves (shooting my 229 Legion) on a couple occasions, and haven't had issues; though, as a regular SIG-shooter, I'm used to the location of this control lever. As far as the "tiny" slide stop -- I've found that I rarely, if ever, use any SIG P-series pistol's slide stop as a slide release -- I suspect most dedicated SIG-shooters use the sling-shot method for chambering a round from slide-lock. Even so, this little-bitty slide stop still seems functional to me, even when wearing gloves. And as for the beaver tail, well hell, it looks good and I can't see that it really adds any appreciable weight or length ... potential to snag, meh, perhaps a tad, but if one practices drawing from concealment and pays attention to one's clothing, I doubt this is a problematic consideration.
 
Great write up on the Legion P226. I picked one up back in the beginning of August and have put in the ball park of 1,000 rounds through it since then. I liked it enough to reach out to my LGS to ask them to get me a Legion P229 sight unseen and have about 750 rounds through it.

Of both I can say they are wonderful to shoot, the triggers really do feel better than your standard Sig in terms of being smoother. I'm not totally sure I'd say that they're lighter, but I do very much like physical profile of the Gray Guns trigger on the Legions versus a standard Sig. The sights are outstanding, too. As for the reduced controls, I call them a blessing and a curse at the same time. On the plus side of that coin, they're out of the way and for someone like me who is a 1911 gun it helps mitigate my thumb from riding the slide stop and preventing the slide from locking on an empty mag. On the minus, it's a little tougher to manipulate the slide stop when reloading or when manually locking the slide open.
 
Very nice review and awesome pics!. I've not shot the 226 legion but I have and carry the 229 legion and it's an amazing pistol. I have the gray guns kit in my M11A1 and it seems just as good.
 
The sights are night sights, but the rear ones have a black outline instead of the typical white, and the front has a large, bright green dot around the night sight.
These are SIG's new X-RAY3 sights (TG-H3)

OP - in your third picture (down from the top) it appears that there is some light beneath the front sight blade. Does the front sight stand that proud of the top of the slide or is it just the angle of the picture?
 
Thanks, I've seen the same thing when they equipped models with the Tru-Glo sight sets.

There must be some small variance between the specs they send to after market suppliers (sights) and the specs they mill slide to above the dovetail.

All they'd have to do is cut the dovetail deeper. I understand why they have the gap for the rear sight, but don't understand why they don't correct the front sight cut
 
I've noticed this for years on SIG pistols equipped with both factory and aftermarket night-sights ... and have never thought it was something requiring "correct the front sight cut." The sights on SIG pistols are typically sturdy, durable and don't affect functioning in the slightest.
 
I've noticed this for years on SIG pistols equipped with both factory and aftermarket night-sights ... and have never thought it was something requiring "correct the front sight cut."
Perhaps that is why they don't go to the expense to correct it.

Here is how I think the front sight should fit the slide

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...and it isn't just the premium X-5 line that has correctly fitted front blades, there is this .22lr conversion upper
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but I'm pretty old school, I even had the slide of my 220 machined to set the rear sight so it wouldn't snag

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I tend to agree with 9mmepihany's view—I'd prefer if the sight sat flush against the top of the slide but to me it's more of an irritant than a serious concern (although it does bug a little!) . My club was holding its last smallbore match this morning so I went out a little early to try a few rounds through the SIG. Conditions weren’t bad for an 8:30AM Sunday in mid-November; the temperature was 6°C (43°F) and calm winds.

Reliability was 100%, of course (are there even any modern centre-fire semi-autos that aren’t?). I was using Sellier & Bellot 124 gr. FMJ ammunition—I really like S&B’s 9mm loads, and they’re reasonably priced around here. Recoil was mild and muzzle flip very manageable—I have not found the SIG's high bore axis to pose much of an issue when shooting. The Legion grips were very helpful here—even better than the G10 on the Extreme. I’ve had some grips that grate your hand while still not providing a solid grip, but the Legion grips provide solid grip while still being comfortable. The front sight was easy to pick up, but didn’t have the “pop” I was expecting, although wearing sunglasses in the light overcast of the early morning may have muted its appearance.

The video and target pic below shows the first two strings of ten rounds through the pistol—I like setting up at 10m, and firing ten rounds at a moderately brisk pace just to get a good first impression of the pistol. The group (it’s the centre one on the target) was pretty good, with a couple of flyers. Years of shooting mostly USPs, Glocks and M&Ps have accustomed me to a longer reset so the short reset through me off a bit. For the second set of ten I focussed more on the trigger reset and the group tightened up nicely. The SIG shows the same behaviour as most three-dot H&Ks that I’ve fired where the rounds go where the front dot is (or even a bit lower for me) rather than the top of the sight is. I finished by by shooting a few double taps—I was pleased with the controllability of the pistol



Here's the target with the first two groups.

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I had a quick chance to try the pistol today standing, unsupported 25m. My main range purpose was to try out my new IWI CTAR but I had a bit of time to try a few five round groups. The temperature was just above freezing—it was one of those cold, damp days you can get on the East Coast this time of year so not conducive to optimal shooting.

Here's the first group...not bad but not great.

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I took a bit more time with the second group and was pleased with the result (size-wise, at least...I need to work on my windage!)

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(as proof, here's an unedited one-cut video (three minutes long!) showing the before and after target, all five shots and the distance shot).

I'm happy with this result—my eyesight issues (cataracts, mostly but also recent (uncorrected) far-sightedness) don't help things any so I probably can't shoot much better than this, and slow-fire at longer distances has never been my forté. The sights were well-suited, actually for longer shooting as long as I ignored the dots and focussed on keeping the front blade centred within the rear notch. Competing in smallbore rifle for the past several years has taught me to slow way down when shooting for accuracy. One thing to note—the small slide stop continues to bug—especially with gloves on. I wish they'd have kept the larger one.

To get all that slow shooting out of my system I had to finish off with something more to my pace.
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