The Gun Digest Book of Sig-Sauer. Massad Ayoob
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on the hip during a long tour of duty, and its comfort and discretion in concealed carry. Similarly, the instructional staff sang its praises. The troops shot it well, found it quick and easy to learn, and were able to easily maintain it in perfect condition.
In the end, the only reason the Vermont State Police traded in their P228s was that the agency found the same fault with it that Law and Brookesmith had. It was a 9mm, and they decided that the more potent .40 S&W caliber would be a better choice. The VSP traded up to the SIG P229 in .40 caliber. They still carry the same gun on and off duty, in uniform or in plainclothes. They still appreciate compactness with firepower as afforded by a double-stack compact pistol. And they still swear by their SIGs.
America’s armed citizens also liked the P228. From the time of its introduction to the coming of the high-capacity magazine ban in 1994, we saw a great many of them in the civilian classes at Lethal Force Institute. The owners were usually licensed to carry concealed unless they came from a state with no provision for such a permit, and they appreciated the P228’s concealability as much as any plainclothes cop, and found the small, high-capacity pistol substantial enough for the added function of home defense. Once again, the dual-purpose thing kicked in: The carry gun could also function admirably as the house gun.
… which when inserted, better fits the hands of some shooters.
After the Clinton magazine ban, we saw a shift in what might be called “SIG demographics” among the civilian students. Before, we had seen both the P226 and the P228 in copious numbers. Gradually, we saw the P226s replaced by P228s, P220 .45s, and P239s when the latter became available. The civilian market had decided, reasonably enough, that a full-size 10-plus-one-shot pistol was less efficient and therefore less desirable than a full-size 15-plus-one-shot pistol. The P228, on the other hand, suffered less by comparison. Proportionally, a 10-plus-one-shot compact pistol is not so much less efficient than a 13-plus-one-shot compact pistol.
However, while some citizens who formerly would have purchased P226s went to the P228, I had a sense that more were going to the P220 in .45 ACP and particularly the “personal size” P239 when it came out. A distinctly smaller gun than the P228 and holding only two less rounds of 9mm ammunition, the P239 in that caliber seemed a more advantageous design to a number of buyers who were interested in that caliber. The compactness of the P239 coupled with the power of its two other optional chamberings, .40 S&W and .357 SIG, switched still more buyers from the P228 to the P239.
Today, the SIG P228 remains an excellent pistol. Even at inflated “post-ban” prices, pre-ban magazines of full capacity were absolutely worth it to private citizens who appreciated the pistol’s reliability, accuracy, compactness, and shooting characteristics.
The P228 is the concealed carry choice of John Hoelschen, a Special Forces trainer whose teaching encompasses CQB, unarmed combat, and field treatment of gunshot trauma. John has won the demanding National Tactical Invitational with his personal P228. When John Hoelschen talks, wise people listen. When he acts, wise people follow his actions.
For many years, the P228 was the preferred sidearm of Duane Thomas, a gun writer who shoots a lot, competes, and teaches. He performs well in all these endeavors, and he takes his personal self-defense very seriously. Duane spoke dryly of his P228’s “almost boring reliability,” and in the end, that says a lot.
P228 Idiosyncrasies
All standard advice for the SIG-Sauer system applies. Remember that with the shorter grip frame, as with all auto pistols that have this feature, there is a chance of the flesh of the pinkie finger being pinched between the magazine floorplate and the bottom edge of the frame during a fast reload. Learn to keep that finger out of the way during the loading/ reloading process.
SIG magazines are preferred. MecGar is the only other brand of magazine I would trust in the P228 pistol. SIG now offers an attachment for P226 magazines that allows them to fit in the P228 without a gap in the frame. The larger magazines work fine. This attachment gives the shooter a surer grip, and is also more esthetically pleasing. It has been suggested that this adapter also acts as a “magazine stop” to keep the mag from traveling too far upward when slammed into the gun. I suppose that’s true, but my experience is that even trying to jam the pistol by vigorously slamming a P226 magazine into a P228, I have been unable to cause a problem. The tapered magazine, by its nature, does not want to over-travel, a problem which occurs epidemically in short-butt 1911 compacts when loaded at slide-lock with single-stack Government Model magazines which do not have the natural detent effect of the double-stack SIG’s tapered magazines. Because the P226 was in production much longer before the ban on full capacity magazines, there are more pre-ban P226 magazines than pre-ban P228 magazines available on the legal market.
Some shooters have commented that in general, the P226 action feels smoother and lighter than that of the P228. While that may have been true to a minor degree in the early days of the P228, in recent production runs the P226 and P228 are virtually indistinguishable from one another in this regard. Both are very smooth, with very crisp and controllable single-action pulls and a proper re-set distance for defensive work.
The P228 seems to be extraordinarily reliable with a broad range of ammunition. The 147-grain 9mm subsonic, which I’ve seen cause sluggish cycling and even malfunctions in some competitive brands, doesn’t seem to bother any of the SIGs including this one. The 115-grain bullet at 1350 feet per second, which has established such an enviable “stopping power” record in real world shootings and test shootings of animals, works perfectly in the P228. This round has been known to occasionally cycle a P225’s slide so fast that it will close before picking up the next round from its single-stack magazine. This does not seem to happen with the P228, whether you use pre-ban, post-ban, or LEO magazines. The military’s hot NATO ammo – hotter than domestic +P+, if you look at the pressure tests – cycles just fine in the M11/P228, as the military has found for years. There are no reports from the military of the M11/P228 failing to stand up as expected to this high-powered ammunition.
Using the same ammunition, I don’t find the P228 to kick any more than the P226. This sounds counter-intuitive, because the larger and heavier pistol is supposed to absorb more of the recoil impulse than the smaller and lighter one, but it’s simply an honest and true observation. Some shooters even perceive that the P228 jumps less than its bigger brother, theorizing that the shorter slide is traveling less distance and therefore moving the pistol less during the cycling process. All this is highly subjective. Suffice to say that the P228 is an extremely light-kicking handgun.
In Summary
Well conceived and well executed, the SIG P228 is a splendid example of the compact, high-capacity double-action 9mm pistol. It is extremely reliable and eminently shootable. Delivering a 2-inch group for five shots from a barricade position, and showing potential for sub-1-inch groups at the same 25-yard distance, it is one of the most accurate of its breed. The P228 is, overall, an excellent handgun.
References
1. Law, Richard and Brookesmith, Peter, The Fighting Handgun, London: Arms and Armour Press, 1996, P.157.
2. Mullin, Timothy J., The 100 Greatest Combat Pistols, Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 1994, P. 385.
3. Mullin, Ibid.
Chapter 5
The SIG P229
Smith & Wesson and Winchester jointly introduced the .40 S&W cartridge in January of 1990 at the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade) Show in Las Vegas. I was there. Instantly, the industry jumped on the bandwagon of this new “compromise cartridge.”
But