After saying that, I should take cover as the Sig critics take aim. I am hoping the P250 breaks this bad reputation. I have already heard
I was sold on P250 (compact 9mm) because of its ergonomics and its function. I tried a Glock, which I shot well, but never felt comfortable point shooting. While examining my new P250 in the store, it just felt right. It took me seconds to disassemble the weapon (to the clerk’s horror “sir please don’t disassemble the weapon! we don’t have a Sig armorer on site!”) and the parts seemed like quality material. I intend to scrape up at least 500 rounds of various 9mm (this is my first 9mm too) and I will post my findings later.
Sig is still capable of building a good gun…they simply are not as good at it as they used to be. In the old days if you went into a gunstore and plunked down a considerable chunk of change for a P226 you were purchasing a gun that was going to run for an acceptable service life right out of the box. After the management shift and increased focus on profitability (at the expense of QC) you now plunk down a considerable chunk of change for a gun that might run for an acceptable service life right out of the box. Then again, today I was in class with a gentleman who plunked down almost a grand on a P226 e2 with a trigger that wouldn’t reset out of the box. At the old Sig, that probably wouldn’t have happened.
Sig can still build some great guns…they just aren’t as good at it as they used to be.
As for salvaging Sig’s reputation, I sincerely doubt the P250 will be the gun that accomplishes that. We’ll certainly be interested in hearing how your pistol performs, but the P250 has been undergoing testing for some high profile pistol contracts and it has failed miserably. The Air Marshalls are transitioning to the P250 and from what I’ve heard that’s not going very well either.
The “critics” aren’t being critical because they are anti-Sig…they are just acknowledging the reality of the current situation at Sig. They aren’t the company they once were. All gun companies go through highs and lows and periods where they make great stuff and make stuff that isn’t so great. It’s impossible to name any large handgun manufacturer that hasn’t had those peaks and valleys.
Actually, I take that back…there are some gun companies who have never hit a peak, but that’s another conversation.
The 250 has always been interesting to me. The only thing I didn’t like was the long reset of the trigger. I found that in fast firing I would sometimes short stroke the trigger.
SIG went from being a company that could not market their products to save their lives but made damn boring dependable blocky black pistols that ran like almost nothing else to a company that totally depends on the “gun of the month” mentality and can’t QC a gun to save their lives but will still charge you a premium.
And this comes from a former died in the wool SIG nut. I have seen some of the SIG departments around here try to transition to the 250 but as soon as FI put the officers on the clock and starts to pressure them they start short stroking the 2nd and 3rd shot.
I used to be a die hard Sig fan until the last year or so. I owned several models and witnessed my frame rails eroding before my eyes with minimal round counts. I average between 15-20 thousand rounds per year and my Sigs were not up to task. I have since switched to all polymer pistols and couldn’t be happier.
Sig is a mediocre manufacturer that demands HK quality prices, they simply are not worth the premium. I hope your P250 performs better than my did.
The 250 is the worst SIG made. The reason why you see it pushed here so heavily is because no one in Europe will buy it. This is referred to as a clue!
Of all the SIG’s to buy, you bought the worst one. If anything, you should have got the E2.
You said you shot the Glock well. This is one of the best combat pistols ever made. Why you didn’t choose this gun is beyond me (especially since you could have gotten it for $399).
Hopefully your P250 works out well for you. I own several newer Sigs, and am issued a 2004 DHS contract P229. The DHS gun is considered by many to be one of the top pistols made by Sig prior to the management change of 2005. I’ve never had any problems what so ever with the DHS gun, or my 2003 P239. My 2008 P229 has run similarly to the DHS gun, and has similar wear patterns. However, my 2007 P226 9mm had a slide stop lever that was out of spec and caused failures to lock back on an empty magazine. The problem was corrected after I replaced it with a newer one made by a different vendor. Sig has changed small parts vendors multiple times in the last 5 years.
I’m a Sig armorer, and overall it appears that the durability of parts seems to be better pre 2005. Unfortunately, Sigs are turning into less of a pistol that you take out of the box and go into combat, and more of a project pistol. You closely monitor them for the first couple of thousand rounds, and if there are no problems and no unusual wear patterns then you are good to go. Most of the time, your pistol will be fine.
If I wasn’t required to use Sigs on duty, I would likely carry H&K.
For clarification, the European SIG P250 DCc does not (or at least initially did not) have the gimmicky drop in fire control pack of the U.S. variant. If I recall correctly, the only police department to adopt it is the Hong Kong Police.
When you get your 250, examine it thoroughly. A couple weeks ago, I was looking at SIG’s “2Sum package” which has the 250 full size and 250 compact. Out of the 3 packages my range had in stock:
Set #1. The guide rod and recoil spring was missing from the full size pistol.
Set #2. The firing pin was missing from the full size and the night sights had fallen off of the compact frame.
Set #3. The night sights had fallen off of the full size pistol.
Yep old SiG was good, new SIG’s QC is awful…if it exists at all.
I’ll only talk about my personal experience with my Sig 250 (subcompact) discounting anything I have read or heard in gunshops. So far it has been as reliable and accurate as any other polymer gun I own (G17, G35, M&P and two XD’s).
I listen to people dismiss this gun out of hand as if it is a Sigma and wonder if they have ever really wrung one out as opposed to passing judgement from afar. While I accept that my sample size of one is small I’d say that past on my own personal experience it’s a good little gun and one that I’d have no issues trusting my families life with. YMMV.
I ran a two-tone for about 3,000-rounds and had several light primer strikes. Contacted Sig and there was no fix, they blamed it on the ammo. I was using Speer Gold Dots, BTW. The problem was an under powered main spring and some on Sigforum was using lock washers to increase spring tension to alleviate the light strikes. I soon sold it and will not look back at Sig.
Sig is still capable of building a good gun…they simply are not as good at it as they used to be. In the old days if you went into a gunstore and plunked down a considerable chunk of change for a P226 you were purchasing a gun that was going to run for an acceptable service life right out of the box. After the management shift and increased focus on profitability (at the expense of QC) you now plunk down a considerable chunk of change for a gun that might run for an acceptable service life right out of the box.
I tried a Glock, which I shot well, but never felt comfortable point shooting.
I think you should have made your purchase decision based on the former and not the latter. If “point shooting” is that important to you, then it’s something that you can train on any gun, especially if you stick to that particular platform.
In any case, it seems like the P250 line is doing more to hurt their reputation than improve it. They have NO excuse to let the quality on a gun they’ve been producing for 20+ years to wane, and I’d rather them focus on getting that shit sorted out before they attempt to bring yet another product to the market.
It seems a lot companies are doing too much lately and are getting too wrapped up on marketing. People are drunk for new product releases and some companies are more than happy to give people a swig, quality be damned. Give us 3 GREAT handguns rather than 7 mediocre ones.
It’s very sad to see all the threads that pop up with Sig failures, here and elsewhere. Their pistols were one of three brands that I’d have said would be good to go ‘out of the box’. Now, who knows what you’re gonna get.
While it may be the gun, this is frequently the shooter. I would make sure that you weren’t inadvertently brushing against the slide catch under recoil.
Try to consciously move your thumb away from the slide catch on your last round, and see if you still get the same results.
I looked at One before My HK 45c Purchase ,I am glad I went with HK ,I was a SIG die hard Owning P220,P228,P232 I sold all these and Now only have One P230 from 95 ,Most of the people I shoot with ,the ones with Newer Sig’s They where Having issues :eek:.Springs and wearing .
I hope your P250 is one that runs Like a champ ,I hope to see a report Of what you think.
I’m an armorer for an agency with about (250) P226’s that we’ve had since the late 90’s in continuous service. They’ve given nothing short of outstanding reliability despite heavy use. I’ve not dealt with newer/more recent Sig’s so do not know of this lower QC issue mentioned above. I can only attest to the guns I’ve used and serviced and they’ve been supremely reliable. They are however guns that are 5 to 10 yrs in age.
If Sig has let QC slip i hope they correct this quickly…
I have a SigPro in 9mm and really like it. Carried a P226 issued to me in the summer of '98 daily for 12 yrs and had zero problems with it.