Sig Sauer P290

[Jack in Wilmington]

Originally Posted by MikeSp

The P229 is used by the Secret Service although I believe that they use them in .357 Sig caliber instead of .40 (The .357 Sig is a necked down .40, thus a faster but smaller bullet).

I find the P229 a lot of fun to shoot -- little recoil and easy to reacquire the target and prefer the .40 caliber version. I transferred my Glock 26 to one of my daughters who got her CCW and put my original regular P229 in its place in my vehicle and obtained the new P229 Elite Dark for home defense. IMHO, and this will bring about many disagreements, the P229 is the finest factory made pistol -- the slide is milled from a solid piece of ordnance steel. The P229 is not nearly as light as the P290 or P239 and not a lot smaller than the P226 that also has a sterling reputation among Homeland Security, Navy Seals, Coast Guard, and numerous police forces.

Take down for cleaning of the P229 or P226 takes about 20 seconds and as long to put it back together (a "little" longer for the 1911 crowd).

Sig makes a new .45 caliber P228 but have not seen any significant testing of it yet, but being a Sig, I would suspect it capable of firing 25,000+ rounds before a single failure to fire or eject. The military put something like 3,000,000 rounds through their P229's during testing.

For concealed carry, you may find the P229 a little too heavy -- the Glock 23 is lighter and in .40 caliber, carries one more round in the mag. There were some major issues with some of the new generation 4 Glocks -- both of the gen 4 Glock 23's that I ordered had slides that would stick halfway open and were refused and I read that some had failures to feed, and failures to eject. The earlier generation Glock 23's in .40 caliber were a pleasure to shoot although they did not have a crisp trigger break, but would probably be easier to conceal than the heavier P229 and recoil was about the same when I owned both at the same time.

MikeSp

Thanks Mike, a lot of food for thought so to speak. I'm going to check the place out this afternoon. I'd like to take some classes on firearm safety and I'll check on that while I'm there.

[wawa_chan]

Originally Posted by Jack in Wilmington

I'll try a P229 and see how I like the feel. Which models do you own Mike? The P238 could be something I want to check into also, any experience with that gun? Thanks, Jack

Jack: I have the P238. It's a great pistol but should be known that it's single action (SA) only operation. Are you planning to carry this in the future? If so and this is your first pistol then I strongly suggest against it. PM me if you have any questions about the P238.

Brian

EDIT: Sorry I missed you being in the service and qualifying on the 45. P238 same action design, just in 380ACP. Similar to the Colt Mustang.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I went to the range the other week and it was very crowded and I felt very much out of my element, so I got some info and left. I haven't had a chance to go back when it was less busy. I'm probably not looking to carry when I do buy something. We rarely go out at night and we're hardly ever in what would be called a bad part of town. I need to talk to my neighbor and find out when he's going to the range. I'll feel better with someone that sort of knows the ropes.

[NJPOLKER]

Originally Posted by AKA_Hyfi

I have the 229 and it is the most fun and easy gun to shoot that I own. I also own a Sig .380 but forget the model #.

The .40 is a good self defense gun over a 9mm or .45 because of the velocity and how the bullets can expand. A 9 or 45 can go thru a person or two and the walls where with the right hollow point, it will go in making an inch hole and come out the back about 3/4 of a foot but not continue thru walls and other bodies. The kickback is also much less than a 9 or 45 making it very easy for a woman to shoot. My wife does pretty good with it but believe it or not, she shoots the Dan Wesson .357 w/6" barrel the best.

I highly recommend the Sig 229 and so do many many Law Enforcement Agencies.

I am sure you know this but penetration largely depends on the type of projectile and velocity. . And of course the object being penetrated. I am a fan of pre-fragmented projectiles.
Sigs are great guns no doubt. If I were to buy a D/A handgun it would be a Sig.
GOD BLESS AMERICA

[radman]

If you do end up with this model, opt for the extended mags. Otherwise the grip is too small for most hands and it feels awkward.