If you’ve seen some of my other other posts here you’ll know I’m a big fan of 1970s and 1980s 9mm pistols (plus a couple of their contemporaries). My first exposure to the P226 was on the cover of the May 1985 Gun & Ammo (that publication was a pretty big influence on me back then!) and I was really taken by the look of the pistol, despite author Jan Libourel stating in the article “It really strains the old saying, "Handsome is as handsome does," to its limits. I was mightily impressed by this pistol's performance, but it will be quite a while before I can regard it as a thing of beauty.” My grandmother got me this (now well-worn!) book the following year for my 21st birthday which only increased my interest.
But, back when I was getting into shooting in the mid-1980s the gun selection around here was pretty slim, and P226s were going for more than twice as much as the CZ75 I ended up getting (which itself was a pretty good gun!) so I was without a P226 until the early 2010s. I’ve picked up (and sold) a three railed models, which I liked OK, and also a Legion, which I really liked, but I still longed for the classic lines of the West German original. Of course, they do come up for sale fairly often, but I’ve found that many of them are now well-worn. When I saw this 29 year old (but unfired!) example pop up for sale on the EE I couldn’t resist. It’s been well-stored—it looks just like it left the factory! The “chin” of the slide has West German proof marks:
I’ve done a bit of research and found that these marks indicate the pistol was proofed at the Kiel Proof House (near the SIG factory) using a “Nitro Beschuss” proof load. The eagle proof mark indicates that the pistol was proofed in West Germany (or Germany) and the KB denotes a manufacture year of 1991. Which is one year post-reunification in Germany—I’ve read that the 1990 Reunification Treaty allowed previous West German companies to continue using the “Made in West Germany” designation until 1995.
The frame also has the eagle proof (and they really stamped the “5” in the serial number!), and you can see the “scalloped” portion of the slide rail that I’ve read was either intended to provide a recess for mud to collect in and allow the slide to move freely, or else intended to provide a space for more rail grease. You can find lots of references online to rumours of high-use frames cracking because of these recesses but I’ve not seen an example. I’m likely not going to shoot this one enough to find out!
Compared to my Legion the DA trigger pull is much heavier (due to a very stout hammer spring, and the SA reset is the typical long reset followed by another fairly log take-up—the SA pull on the Legion was much better! The medium-reach trigger was nicer too, this one has a reach that’s just about maximum for me. The grips are better than expected…I was thinking of swapping them out but the feel surprisingly good.
As a shooter, there's no question that the Legion was superior—better sights, grips and (especially) trigger, But there's something very satisfying in picking up one of my original dream guns.
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