I had the opportunity to try a fellow CGN'er's restricted P230. I had never shot one before, and I quite liked it. He was also fine with me taking some pics and some videos of it, so here they are. I've done this a little bit as a comparison with the P239, but I'm trying to get away from the total head-to-head break-down threads, as I have done quite a lot of that in the years I've been here:
This is what it looks like. Apparantly the grips are OEM. The barrel was done by Joe Dlask. The slide says "9mm Police" (which is 9x18, as far as I know), but the gun is .380ACP (9x17). The gun is marked "W.Germany", so it is pre-1989, but I've never figured out the date-coding on SIGs. It is not the same as the 0-9 = A to J system that HK uses:
For those of you who don't know how these work (and I was in that category up until today). There are two levers on this side of the gun. The one toward the front in the take-down, the rear one is a de-cocker. There is no slide-stop lever. The inserted (empty) magazine locks the slide back. To release the slide or you either insert a loaded magazine (and pull back), or take the magazine out alltogether (and pull back). It actually works well. It is a little bit similar to the HK P7, which although it has that dinky little thing you can push back to lock the slide back without the mag, I always just use the mag. Note also that, like the HK P7 PSP, the P230 is a heel release mag.
Some comparison shots with my P239. In these you can see the difference between the .380ACP and 9mm rounds. You can also see that the P230 magazine holds only 7 rounds. The P239 mag holds 8. The P239 is sporting some oil splatter with gun powder residue up near the muzzle.
So how does it shoot? Well, quite well. I need more practice with this design though. Unfortuanately these are not all P230 targets. I shot these groups off-hand at 10 yards.
Top left: 10 rounds with my mutant NP-34/P228.
Top right: 10 rounds with my P229 (in the middle that is 2 touching, and 4 touching. This gun is such a workhorse!!)
Lower left: 7 rounds with the P230. Showing a tendacy to go left, but keeping them in the circle. (I believe I was pulling the gun just slightly to the left. I could probably sort this out fairly fast just improving my weak-hand thumb technique. The gun is small though, so I think it would take awhile to get a feel for it. And, as I say, I only shot... I think... two or three 7 rounds mags through the gun. This was one of them).
Lower right: is an insanely tight 8 round grouping with the P239. I know it doesn't look like 8 hits, but they are there if you look at it close enough (in person). Now If I just could have dropped that high one down a bit!!
The P239 is proving itself to be a real tack-driver. This is another group I shot with it today. This was 8 rounds, going around the wheel, shooting a target and moving to the next. When I came back around I basically hit my own bullet hole 3 out of 4 times.
Here are some new Youtube videos from today. Hopefully these are working for you guys. It seems that they sometimes don't work depending on what browser you are using and how it is set up... but the videos are there and are available. I find Firefox works well, Crome is o.k. too, Explorer... mostly good for being attacked I think.
P230 #1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-vM4-2eICA
P230#2: (I like how this vide shows the casings being fired out... mostly forward... and high speed. Kinda reminds me of a SIG rifle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsAO4WKfhx4&feature=channel
P239#2: (Ejected casings are more normal with this gun)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iTdCsVGee4&feature=channel
P239#3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r3OviT7_cE&feature=channel
P.S. - If anyone has a restricted P230 or P232 they want to sell me, please let me know. I told the owner of this one that I will buy it if he decides to sell it.
This is what it looks like. Apparantly the grips are OEM. The barrel was done by Joe Dlask. The slide says "9mm Police" (which is 9x18, as far as I know), but the gun is .380ACP (9x17). The gun is marked "W.Germany", so it is pre-1989, but I've never figured out the date-coding on SIGs. It is not the same as the 0-9 = A to J system that HK uses:
For those of you who don't know how these work (and I was in that category up until today). There are two levers on this side of the gun. The one toward the front in the take-down, the rear one is a de-cocker. There is no slide-stop lever. The inserted (empty) magazine locks the slide back. To release the slide or you either insert a loaded magazine (and pull back), or take the magazine out alltogether (and pull back). It actually works well. It is a little bit similar to the HK P7, which although it has that dinky little thing you can push back to lock the slide back without the mag, I always just use the mag. Note also that, like the HK P7 PSP, the P230 is a heel release mag.
Some comparison shots with my P239. In these you can see the difference between the .380ACP and 9mm rounds. You can also see that the P230 magazine holds only 7 rounds. The P239 mag holds 8. The P239 is sporting some oil splatter with gun powder residue up near the muzzle.
So how does it shoot? Well, quite well. I need more practice with this design though. Unfortuanately these are not all P230 targets. I shot these groups off-hand at 10 yards.
Top left: 10 rounds with my mutant NP-34/P228.
Top right: 10 rounds with my P229 (in the middle that is 2 touching, and 4 touching. This gun is such a workhorse!!)
Lower left: 7 rounds with the P230. Showing a tendacy to go left, but keeping them in the circle. (I believe I was pulling the gun just slightly to the left. I could probably sort this out fairly fast just improving my weak-hand thumb technique. The gun is small though, so I think it would take awhile to get a feel for it. And, as I say, I only shot... I think... two or three 7 rounds mags through the gun. This was one of them).
Lower right: is an insanely tight 8 round grouping with the P239. I know it doesn't look like 8 hits, but they are there if you look at it close enough (in person). Now If I just could have dropped that high one down a bit!!
The P239 is proving itself to be a real tack-driver. This is another group I shot with it today. This was 8 rounds, going around the wheel, shooting a target and moving to the next. When I came back around I basically hit my own bullet hole 3 out of 4 times.
Here are some new Youtube videos from today. Hopefully these are working for you guys. It seems that they sometimes don't work depending on what browser you are using and how it is set up... but the videos are there and are available. I find Firefox works well, Crome is o.k. too, Explorer... mostly good for being attacked I think.
P230 #1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-vM4-2eICA
P230#2: (I like how this vide shows the casings being fired out... mostly forward... and high speed. Kinda reminds me of a SIG rifle)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsAO4WKfhx4&feature=channel
P239#2: (Ejected casings are more normal with this gun)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iTdCsVGee4&feature=channel
P239#3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r3OviT7_cE&feature=channel
P.S. - If anyone has a restricted P230 or P232 they want to sell me, please let me know. I told the owner of this one that I will buy it if he decides to sell it.
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. I think the 'round the clock' drill gives you pretty good feedback on how well the pistol points for you. It seems to be an excellent all-round pistol.
