*Warning! Not for the faint of heart*
So I went to the range yesterday to test four new Mec-Gar 18 round Sig 226 magazines. It had rained earlier and no one was there, besides it being a cool 100 or so degrees. I had brought my Glock 19 and Sig p226 along with 200 rounds of 9mm. After I had shot a few mags I decided to do something I had always wanted to do.. A dirt test on the Glock and Sig.
Sig 226 Test
I walked out from under the awning and kicked around the sandy dirt until I had a sufficient supply of lose grit to bury a gun under. I cleared the Sig 226 (no magazine in the gun), locked the slide open, and dropped it into the dirt. I kicked it around until I felt it was dirty enough, and then I buried it in the grit. I then kicked it out of the dirt pile, picked it up, cleared the barrel of obstructions, shook the gun out, and loaded it. I thumbed the slide release and of course it didn't go all the way into battery. Tap rack. I pulled the trigger and it went bang! But did not go back into battery fully. I pressed the back of the slide and it went into battery. It went bang again, and again did not go into battery. This process was repeated for almost the entire magazine, and then it started working properly. I didn't have many malfunctions after that for a couple magazines, and I rapidly emptied a magazine with no malfunctions. I was very happy with the Sig's performance. My recoil spring has always felt weak with the Sig and if it had been stronger I believe the gun might have done a little better. But I was still very pleased.
(Doing this test was fun but detail stripping and cleaning the Sig was a long and not so fun process)
Glock 19 Test
The Glock was cleared, magazine removed, slide locked open, and was thrown into the same pile of gritty sand/dirt as the Sig. After clearing the barrel and shaking the gun off, I thumbed the slide release. It went fully into battery. It fired, but the trigger would not reset. Tap rack. The trigger reset. It fired again, and the trigger did not reset. I tapped it and the trigger reset. This process was repeated and did not get fixed at the range. The trigger safety blade was stuck to the rearward position after the trigger was pulled. There is sand and grit in the trigger itself, behind the safety blade I assume. The Glock was detail stripped and cleaned also.
In Conclusion
Now to compare the performance of both guns..
The Sig p226 would not go into battery for a magazine or so. It then began functioning and only not going fully into battery maybe once or twice per mag. I am very impressed with this gun and would recommend it to anyone.
The Glock 19 has a stiffer spring than the Sig and went fully into battery every time. The trigger would not reset once fired, and the trigger safety basically failed. If the sticky grit had not been in the trigger, the gun most likey would've functioned flawlessly. I'd recommend it to anyone too.
When I cleaned these guns.. It was amazing that they still functioned. Both the Glock and the Sig are masterpieces of design. Several small pebbles came out of the Sig when it was stripped, and part of a pine needle was stuck in the firing mechanism. Still worked. The Glock was just as dirty and if the trigger had not gotten sticky grit in it, I believe it would have functioned flawlessly. Both guns were caked with sandy dirt.
Thought you folks would be interested in that little adventure. I am not posting this to say "A Glock is less reliable than a Sig" or anything like that. Just a data point for you to look at
I almost forgot to mention, I emptied a Mec-Gar 18 round mag and threw it in the dirt and kicked it around. Worked flawlessly, I am very impressed.
Thanks all
Edited to add: This was the first time these guns have been fired since they were cleaned. I used grease to lubricate them. This caused an interesting problem in which there was so much dirt and crap in the action that the grease actually trapped the dirt, sand, and small rocks in the gun instead of the dirt flying out with recoil.
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