Hanging with the cool kids - the cheap edition.

Clobbersauras

Clobbersauras

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I needed a reliable back up pistol for an upcoming course.

I primarily shoot a Glock, and probably should have just bought a back up G17. But I like guns and learning new things. AND, all the cool kids are shooting TDA's. So I wanted a TDA.

I like Sig's. I've owned two 226's and I can shoot them fairly well. I've been lucky to have access to an older model 226 this year and have put about 500 rounds through it over various range sessions. So I decided I wanted a Sig 226R. I started doing research and found that new Sig 226 series has some spotty QC issues, and they cost about a gazillion dollars.

Enter the Norc NP22. I put 150 rounds through this one yesterday.


It ran fine. It was inexpensive and I could get into one (with mags and a quality holster) for about $700. Which is almost half the price of a new Sig and gear. It's hard to justify spending money on a real Sig, and purchasing an NP22 is a solid FU to Sig's QC and general jackassery lately.

DA trigger pull is heavier than the Sig. SA pull is ridiculously good for a gun this inexpensive, and it's better than any Sig I've fired. I did a bunch of DA press outs and it performed fine. Reset didn't totally piss me off. I'll wait until I get more rounds through it before I decide on the SRT. I may order a 17lb main spring to clean up the DA pull.

Sights were okay, but it shot left. No, it wasn't me. :D They need some paint, which is an easy fix. It's as accurate as my Glock at 25 and 7yrds. Grips need more aggressive texture, which I can do myself.

I'll report back when I have 2k rounds through it.
 
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My old man has one of the early NP22's (no rail) from about 10 years ago. It is still shooting great! He has put about 7,000 rounds through it.
 
The rear sight is a little sharp but other than that it's actually not bad. I haven't torn it down yet, but I will eventually and post some pics. I'll try to do a comparison to a real Sig someday.

One thing I have noted is that the barrel doesn't lock up as tight as the Sig. It locks up much tighter than my NP29, and marginally better than my Glock.
 
I've owned 5 Sigs before and right now the closest thing I have to a Sig is NP34! It's my second one and I'll try to keep this one. :)
 
I had a chance to do some dry fire with it tonight. It presents as fast as my Glock, though I really need some texture to get a good solid grip out of the holster.

Here's the new Solely Canadian holster. I'm really liking it so far, it locks in nicely and presents smooth. It's more difficult to get a hard register on the slide with my index finger out of the holster. The higher bore axis is the culprit.


The TLR1 fits nicely. The NP22 is quite noticeably heavier than the G17.


Some pics of the frame and small parts. They actually look decent and notice the larger locking block with rails. Yes, it's slightly dirty. It won't be cleaned again for 2000 rounds.




I'm less impressed with the slide, pretty rough internally...



Barrel, recoil spring and guide rod rate a solid "meh".




I did a bunch of mag changes during dry fire. I was surprised at how smooth and consistent it was. I was consistently beating my par time, which I still struggle with on the Glock. The mag well is smaller front to back than the Glock, width is the same. But what really smoothed out the mag insertions is that the Sig mags are much more tapered than Glock mags.


More to come.
 
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timandkimandshea said:
Why the reluctance to clean it? If it's that dirty now, in 2000 rounds it is going to be super dirty? I'm not being a smart ass, I am genuinely curious.
T
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2000 rounds without maintenance has become a sort of benchmark for pistol testing. It was popularized by Todd Green at Pistol-Training.com.

It represents moderately good value in assessing a pistol - theoretically you could have a gun that, on account of its self-cannibalizing frame rails and sloppy tolerances would go 2000 rounds without cleaning etc but would lock up completely at 2001, shooting like hell the whole time; you could also have a gun that needed to be cleaned and oiled every 1000 rounds but if given that simple maintenance would run forever and shoot with olympic accuracy. Obviously in that situation you'd be better off with the gun that required simple maintenance, and the 2000 round test wouldn't tell you that.

But in practise it's pretty effective at telling you which guns are going to run well, because anybody who can work shoelaces isn't doing it in a complete vacuum; if you're doing a 2000 round test, chances are you're also assessing other aspects of the pistol as you go.
 
timandkimandshea said:
Why the reluctance to clean it? If it's that dirty now, in 2000 rounds it is going to be super dirty? I'm not being a smart ass, I am genuinely curious.
T
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I really couldn't explain it any better than Misanthropist (most people couldn't).

I kinda expect not to have problems with this pistol through 2000 rounds. It's a sloppy execution of a time tested design and at first glance it doesn't look like they screwed it up that badly. If I do experience any failures I expect it will be with the small parts.

I'm interested to see how the frame rails hold up. Apparently the improved locking block is supposed to cure the cracking problem - yeah, we'll see.
 
It's funny that a Sig I shot the other day had far more problems than the Norc copy. I've never seen such a weak extractor spring before
 
^^ Ugh, the Ron Cohen legacy.

Also responsible for this:
1911-45-ZOM%20ZombieSig.gif

and that:
images

Burn it with fire:
MiniRedDot-detail3.jpg

and oh my God, the Sig 226 "Tribal" edition:
SIG-SAUER-P226-Tribal-courtesy-The-Truth-About-Guns.jpg
 
You can still get German SIG's.... Some decent deals on used ones from a few dealers on here, Armacote bring in new ones from Germany frequently as well. Not sure what the deal is with USA SIG.... only have German in my safe!
 
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