“So,” he concludes, “if you’re one of those who prefers a large-capacity auto, you can’t really go wrong with the P226. In fact, while it’s certainly no secret that I’m not an advocate of the concept, I find the P226 to be a pleasant gun to shoot and prefer it hands-down over all other large-capacity DA 9mm pistols. It isn’t a cheap gun, but it’s well worth its price.” (5)
“The SIG pistols of any style are always quite accurate,” explains Mullin. “They vary from excellent to outstanding in my experience.” He concludes, “I agree with the SEALS: if you can, pick the SIG over the Beretta…You can’t go wrong by selecting this pistol if you are looking for a full-size battle pistol.” (6)
For many years, the P226 was standard with FBI SWAT and was issued to FBI Academy classes, as was the P228.
Karwan quantifies his appreciation of the big SIG 9mm. “Of all the high-capacity 9mm pistols, the P226 has one of the most comfortable and naturally pointing grip shapes. The trigger reach is a little long for some people with small hands but SIG offers an optional short trigger to help in that regard. With good ammunition the P226 is on the average one of the most accurate service pistols on the market. Its double-action trigger is quite smooth and reasonably light, making the transition from a long double-action first shot to the subsequent single-action shots easy to accomplish…The P226 is expensive compared to some of its competition but it is a superbly made, very accurate, and very reliable fighting handgun.” (7)
Since the thumb does not have to manipulate a safety catch on the frame or the slide, shooter with SIG P226 can take this extremely powerful “master grip” with thumb curled down and actually touching middle finger. It’s the strongest start for handgun retention if there’s a struggle for the gun, and no grasp is stronger when a pistol is fired one hand only. When thumb is curled down, it cannot ride the slide lock lever and prevent the slide from staying open on the last round, a common problem with some other right-handed grasp techniques.
Wiley Clapp brings both police and military experience to the table when he evaluates handguns, which is something he has done successfully full-time for a number of years now. In the Gun Digest Book of 9mm Handguns, he wrote, “Apparently the (P226’s) magazine was designed with considerable care, as the gun fired without a single glitch in the course of hundreds of rounds. When the magazine design is increased to nearly double capacity, the butt becomes thicker. In the 226, the thickening of the butt section is far less objectionable than in other guns, because the butt has been subtly re-contoured. The bulk is held to a minimum and the more rounded butt actually feels better than the original 220. That is not usually the case when a single-column design is altered to a double.”
Clapp goes on to say, “I fired the 226 extensively for this book. In the course of several hundred rounds downrange, I came to appreciate another feature of the pistol. The sights are excellent, among the best to be found on any of the myriad of handguns on today’s market. They are big enough to be seen, with a wide, deep notch and a prominent front ramped blade. Some versions of the SIG-Sauer pistols have sights highlighted with dots for better sight acquisition in low light situations. I don’t care for them. Double-action autoloaders have traditionally poor trigger pulls, at least in the DA mode. The 226 defies tradition in that the double-action pull on this pistol is very good. Once that first double-action shot is gone, the single-action trigger action for subsequent shots is fairly light, with only a small amount of creep. As the test results show, the 226 pistol is accurate, too.” (8)
The difference between two generations of P226. First Gen, top: Note that extractor is invisible, concealed inside the slide mechanism, and that the slide pin which holds the extractor is hollow. Current Gen, below, has beefed up extractor mounted outside the slide and securely pinned in place, and a solid steel pin has replaced the hollow one in slide.
Police History
When the big wave of police adoptions of high-capacity 9mm autos to replace traditional service revolvers hit in the early 1980s, SIG was there at the right time, in the right place, with the right product. The P226 took off like a rocket. What had started as a Three-way race between Beretta, SIG, and Smith & Wesson would soon become a wider field as Glock and Ruger entered the market.
Competition was fierce. There were major departments that approved or adopted all these brands. However, as an instructor teaching nationwide and around the world at that time, it was my perception that the SIG pulled ahead, with the P226 being the top seller during that period.
SIG P226 DAO is one of three 9mm pistols authorized by the New York City Police Department, and is seen by many officers as the most prestigious of the uniform guns on their “approved” list. It is almost certainly the most accurate of those three, as well.
Three styles of 9mm SIG P226 magazine. Top, a ten round “Clinton magazine,” once required for officers on NYPD, and useful for training or IDPA competition. Center: original 15 round SIG-Sauer P226 magazine. Below: Extended 20-round SIG P226 mag, popular with SWAT and Britain’s SAS.
The Feds went to the SIG big time in the 1980s. It was one of the very first autoloaders authorized by the FBI for field personnel, and the P226 quickly replaced the high-capacity 9mm auto by another maker on the SWAT teams in every local FBI office in the land. The Bureau had input from British SAS, which traded their trademark Browning Hi-Power 9mm autos for the P226, citing its greater durability and reliability. The ATF and the DEA adopted the SIG, too. So did Secret Service and Sky Marshals, though they both went with the smaller P228 version. The U.S. Marshal’s Service at that time gave its deputy federal marshals wide latitude in their choice of personal sidearm, and a huge number bought SIGs, often the P226.
The wartime draftee training doctrine of the military, the KISS principle (“Keep It Simple, Stupid!”) had rightly or wrongly become part and parcel of most American police handgun training. It was felt that there were enough new skills to learn in transitioning from a revolver to a semiautomatic pistol without throwing in one more, such as the manipulation of a thumb safety.
If the pistol came with a lever on the slide that performed the dual functions of a manual safety catch and a decocking lever, recruits were told that it was a decocking lever only. But, it wasn’t. If the officer used the typical U.S. military slide manipulation technique of grasping it overhand and jerking it to the rear, his thumb on one side and finger on the other tended to push the slide-mounted lever down into the “safe” position. Since he had been taught that the lever was a decocker, not a safety, by definition that officer had not been taught how to rapidly and reflexively off-safe an on safe gun. Thus, he would stand there pulling the trigger and wonder why his pistol was not firing.
The P226 is an extremely controllable gun, particularly in 9mm. The 9mm brass in the air shows that Ayoob is firing rapidly, but note that the muzzle