This little gun has always intrigued me. Seems like a package looking for a place. I don’t see them around much and I don’t see too many pictures of them in the pic threads. They only hold eight rounds of 9mm and seven rounds of 40/357s. And they are not cheap. $850+ from what I’ve seen. It’s a single stack gun that’s actually .020" wider than a G19.
I am sure they are good little guns, and I am sure there are people out there who have them and like them… just seems like they are looking for their niche. Doesn’t seem to do anything particularly well. Maybe I’m missing something. I guess it’s one of the smaller DA/SA guns around, competing with the P2000SK…
I have owned both and prefer the P2000SK. But both are fine firearms. Mine were a P239 .40 DA/SA, and I also had a P2000Sk in .40 and one in 9mm, both in LEM.
Compared to more modern offerings, I suppose they are a less than ideal choice for many. I have been issued the 9mm and .40 versions in the past for plain cloths ops. They are very light in recoil compared to other guns of their size, they are super accurate, and super reliable. The grip angle is less steep for better feeding from the magazine, so compared to a standard sized Sig your point of aim gets dropped a tad with the P239. I really disliked the factor plastic grips, so Hogue wrap-arounds are a must. The slide is fairly thick, but when it comes to concealing the more important part of the gun is the thinness of the grip which the P239 does well. As far as Sigs go, the P239 conceals better than a P228/P229.
If you are issued a SIG 228/229/226 the 239 makes sense for off duty or plain clothes. If you aren’t bound to it, there are other viable options i.e. P2SK and G26/27/19/23. I’ve owned one and it’s was truly a laser, however I’ve always leaned more towards Glock and recently MP in this size for weight, capacity and the ability to carry & use G17/22 mags.
When I carried SIG this was the gun that got carried daily, locally and on the road I carried a P229 both in .357 SIG.
It was small enough for appendix carry, no print and comfortable but large enough to get a full grip and control recoil. Extremely accurate, reliable and it handled the .357 SIG cartridge well.
Though it was short on capacity that didn’t matter all that much to me. What I was concerned about was how well it performed, reliability and longevity of the actual gun. My main carry load was the Speer 125 Gr. GDHP. I carried that gun daily in all types of weather/environmental conditions. I never had any issues with rust or failures from said conditions. At the time I was a firm believer in shoot what you carry in regards to ammunition. So it was fed a steady diet of 125 Gr. GDHP weekly (If I only had the ability to do that now…).
By the time I made the switch to Glock, I had recorded 11,453 rounds down the tube. The only parts that were replaced in the gun were; trigger spring and decocker spring. My normal maintenance consisted of standard cleaning and lubing of the gun and replacement recoil springs at the 2500 round mark. At the time my lube choice was standard CLP.
There were no signs of galling, splitting or chipping of the frame. The rails were worn but completely within spec and serviceable. Barrel lug was solid and showed no signs of deformation. I tried the grease thing on the rails but I didn’t find that it did anything better for me than what my maintenance standards already did for me.
If I didn’t move away from SIG I would still be carrying this gun. The only reason I moved to Glock was because of the easy user friendly design, parts and (For me) it was idiot proof.
I don’t think you can go wrong with a P239 IMHO for daily carry. I would recommend it in either 9 or .357 SIG. I found that the 40 was intolerable to shoot out of that gun. Surprisingly the .357 SIG was very smooth and the recoil was very manageable. YMMV
I don’t know that it’s looking for a niche so much as it’s niche has been filled with better hardware over the last last couple decades. I used to want one in a bad way back when having something “different” was important to me.
I carried one off duty for a few years before switching to a P228 or G19. The weight to firepower ratio wasn’t that great. 8 +1 rounds of 9mm in that heavy and thick of a gun didn’t make sense to me. My biggest complaint was the difficulty I had in pulling off a smooth reload. The skinny mags/magwell were not designed for speed. I have a much easier time stuffing a tapered mag into a mag well.
I carried a P239 in 9mm DA/SA for many years. It’s small but full featured, very accurate and reliable. Never a hiccup or mis-step in all those years.
That said, it’s weight to round ratio isn’t that good. I eventually replaced mine with an HK P2000SK in 9mm DA/SA and haven’t looked back. Just as reliable, just as accurate and the SK fully loaded with 10+1 is lighter than the P239 empty. And the SK accepts full capacity P30 magazines.
It was good in it’s time, but today I think there are better options.
I was going to say the same. Had one back in college I picked up off a buddy for a song. IMO it’s a great, reliable pistol it’s just obsolescent given recent advances in pistol design. Kinda like how a S&W Model 15 is still a damn fine gun but it wouldn’t be your first choice for duty use given the fact Glocks, M&Ps, etc etc exist.
My wife likes it, that what it offers us. She hates my Glocks and prefers the DA/SA of her 239. She shoots it fairly well and I think she likes to flaunt that I bought her a Sig. I might try to find her a 228 as she doesn’t carry on her person (yet). Her 239 is a car/night stand pistol.
I honestly don’t understand why anyone would still use a DA/SA pistol for defense anymore. All you have to do is a few drills using a striker/and or SA VS. a DA/SA and you’ll see the results on paper and on the time clock. Issued guns I see there is no choice obviously,so get proficient.
I guess some like the ability of follow up shots should the round not go off.
I am a big fan of the HK light LEM after getting a couple of them. Good, glock like predictable trigger with the ability to still make a shot after the spring is decomressed.
Sig triggers are a love them or hate them system. I absolutely love Sigs short reset DA/SA trigger. I also like the ability to ride the hammer into the holster for AIWB. That being said I’ve transitioned to Glocks for carry simply because of the weight savings. I’ve also found that I can shoot a Glock just fine compared to a Sig.
I love that its a compact pistol that is actually fun too shoot. I’ve run it hard, fast and long, carried and shoot till it was dirty never had a failure in 5k rds. I ended up selling it due to financial issues but the gun is the Rockstar of compacts and sub compacts. Not many you’d want to shoot 500 rds in one day in. The 239 is.
I have carried a p239 for about 12 years, and recently switched to a ppq. I like metal framed pistols but the ppq feels like it was made for me, and i can shoot it better than any other pistol. I feel the 239 is a solid pistol that only lacks capacity, I found the weight to be a positive for shooting and felt it concealed well . I have owned 2 and both were very accurate and dead reliable. As far as the sig hate out of 5 Sig’s I have owned, only 1 German, the only one I had issues with was the mosquito. It was junk but the others, even the US made ones performed flawlessly. YMMV.
