REVIEW: SIG Sauer P226

The first two handguns I ever shot were 9mms, but there’s never been a 9mm reviewed for Plinkers. Though I didn't need an excuse to try out a new gun, I rented the SIG Sauer P226 on our latest outing.

The P226 is a full-size, semi-auto handgun available in 9mm, .40S&W and .357Sig. The gun I rented was a 9mm and featured a stainless steel slide with a matte black Nitron finish.

The P226 is a double-action/single-action with a decocking lever and an exposed hammer. When you chamber a round, the gun goes into single-action mode with the hammer cocked and only a short, light trigger pull required to fire the gun. To carry the gun in a safer state, you can depress the decocking lever. This lowers the hammer safely and puts the gun into double-action mode with a longer, heavier trigger pull required to both cock the gun and fire the gun. Upon firing in double-action mode, the gun returns to single-action.

This gun feels great in the hand. It has nice stippling on the handgrip and the controls are all easily reached with the thumb of the shooting hand. A variety of magazines are available for the P226. The magazine I used was a double-stack 10-round magazine, but 15- and 20-round magazines are also available.

So how does it shoot? Great. It took me a couple magazines to get the feel for it, but I found that if I did my part, it performed very well. For this shoot, I went through two boxes of Magtech 115gr. FMJs and allowed my compatriots to go through a third. I found that when I was being sloppy or shooting left-handed (I’m a righty) my ten rounds would frame the target. In a secure stance, though, it was not difficult to put all ten in the black. The sights were fairly standard and allowed a decent sight picture while the weight of the gun and general ergonomics made recoil very manageable allowing for quick and steady follow-ups.

The fit and finish of the P226 were excellent. You can tell that this is a well-made gun. It’s no wonder this is a very popular gun with law enforcement and various government agencies. Incidentally, if a civilian wants one, they run from $700-900 depending on the configuration.

One final note—when the Department of Defense looked into replacing the .45 1911 back in 1984, two finalists remained at the end of the trials—the SIG P226 and the Beretta 92. Though both guns did extremely well, the Beretta apparently won out largely due to its lower cost. Maybe we’ll have to get our hands on a Beretta and do our own comparison.